Chapter 4 - ETHAN HEARD HIS MOTHER’S VOICE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ELEVEN YEARS
Ethan watched the video four times.
Dominic only once.
That told me everything.
The first time, Ethan cried.
Quietly.
He wiped his face before the recording ended.
The second time, he listened for details.
The third, he paused when Isabella said his name.
The fourth, Dominic left the room.
I found him in the greenhouse.
The estate greenhouse had become one of the few places Dominic went when he did not want anyone following.
I followed anyway.
Sixteen years managing Moretti households taught me which rules were real.
He stood beside a citrus tree Isabella had planted.
Orange blossoms.
Of course.
His hands were in his coat pockets.
“Anna.”
“You knew I was here?”
“Yes.”
“You're becoming less mysterious.”
“Age.”
I stood several feet away.
Dominic stared through the glass.
“I should have known.”
There it was.
“Maybe.”
He turned sharply.
Not the answer he expected.
“You think I should have?”
“I think Isabella said she was afraid.”
“To Rachel.”
“Yes.”
“Not me.”
“That matters.”
He looked away.
I continued:
“But she also said Lorenzo thought you were too soft where Ethan was concerned.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“So?”
“So maybe Isabella feared what you would do.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know exactly what it means.”
Silence.
Eleven years earlier, Dominic Moretti was not the man standing before me now.
He was thirty-six.
His father recently dead.
A young son.
A criminal family still full of men who believed fear was management.
If Isabella had told him Lorenzo threatened her, Dominic might have responded with violence before evidence.
She may have been trying to protect him.
Or Ethan.
Or both.
Dominic stared at the citrus tree.
“I made my wife afraid to tell me she was afraid.”
The sentence was painful.
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
Again, I did not rescue him.
He nodded.
“Good.”
“What?”
“That you didn't say no.”
“I'm not paid to lie.”
“You're barely paid to listen anymore.”
That was partly true.
After the poisoning attempt, my role changed.
Household director.
Then estate director.
More authority.
Better salary.
My own office.
Dominic claimed it was because I had been doing the work anyway.
I claimed it took a near-assassination for him to notice.
We were both right.
His phone rang.
Marco.
They had found Rachel.
Dominic answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“Alive?”
My heart jumped.
Pause.
“Hospital?”
Another pause.
“We're coming.”
He ended the call.
“Where?”
“Mount Vernon.”
“What happened?”
“She walked into an urgent care center thirty minutes ago.”
“Condition?”
“Concussion.”
“Broken wrist.”
“Cuts.”
“She says Lorenzo’s man held her overnight.”
My stomach dropped.
“Lorenzo?”
“She named him.”
Dominic started walking.
Then stopped.
“Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“He stays.”
“No.”
He stared.
“Anna.”
“You can ask him.”
“I’m his father.”
“Yes.”
“And he is fourteen.”
“He just watched his dead mother warn you about the man who may have killed her.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“He does not need to see Rachel injured.”
“Then explain that.”
He stared for a long moment.
Then:
“You enjoy this.”
“Immensely.”
He almost smiled.
We found Ethan sitting beside Noah.
Lily was between them.
Noah held Isabella’s watch now.
Dominic had given it to him temporarily after the video because Noah said Rachel would recognize it when she woke.
Dominic entered.
“We found your mother.”
Noah shot to his feet.
“Where?”
“Hospital.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
The boy collapsed into Lily.
Not dramatically.
His knees simply stopped working.
She grabbed him.
Ethan did too.
Three children in one small knot.
Dominic looked away.
Then Ethan asked:
“Can we go?”
Dominic took a breath.
“Rachel is hurt.”
“How bad?”
“Not life-threatening.”
“Then yes?”
Dominic looked at me once.
I raised my eyebrows.
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Noah cried.
“I want Mom.”
“Of course.”
We went.
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and bad coffee.
Rachel lay in a private room with one wrist splinted and bruising along her cheek.
Noah ran to her.
She sobbed when she saw him.
I stayed by the door.
So did Dominic.
Ethan stood beside us.
Rachel finally looked up.
Her eyes found Dominic.
Everything changed.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Rachel.”
She stared at him.
“I’m sorry.”
His face hardened.
“For what?”
“Isabella.”
Ethan moved.
Dominic noticed.
Rachel did too.
“Ethan?”
He nodded.
She began crying again.
“You look like her.”
He swallowed.
“People say that.”
Rachel reached toward him.
Then stopped.
Permission.
Ethan walked closer.
She touched his cheek.
One finger.
“You were so little.”
His eyes filled.
“You knew my mom?”
“Yes.”
“Were you there when she died?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Dominic immediately said:
“Ethan.”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Dominic.
“He deserves to know.”
Dominic went still.
Then nodded.
Rachel looked at Ethan.
“Your mother called me that night.”
My skin prickled.
“What time?”
“About forty minutes before the crash.”
“She told me she was leaving the estate.”
“With me?”
Ethan asked.
Rachel’s face broke.
“Yes.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Ethan looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Rachel continued quickly:
“She didn't plan to disappear.”
“She wanted two nights.”
“Hotel.”
“Time to think.”
“She said she was going to tell Dominic after she reached somewhere secure.”
Dominic looked devastated.
“What was she afraid Lorenzo would do?”
Rachel swallowed.
“He had threatened custody.”
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
“He told Isabella that if she accused him publicly, the family would say she was unstable.”
My stomach turned.
Old tactic.
Different world.
“He said Dominic’s criminal reputation would make any custody fight ugly.”
“He told her Ethan could end up with Lorenzo’s side of the family while Dominic fought charges.”
Dominic whispered:
“He used me against her.”
Rachel nodded.
“Yes.”
Ethan stared.
“Did Dad know about the weapons?”
“No.”
Rachel answered immediately.
“Your mom believed he didn't.”
That mattered.
Dominic looked toward her.
“Why?”
“Because she had seen you shut down one of Lorenzo’s old routes six months earlier.”
Dominic remembered.
I saw it.
“He told me it was stolen freight.”
“It wasn't.”
Rachel’s voice tightened.
“It was weapons.”
“Lorenzo lied.”
Dominic looked sick.
Rachel continued:
“Isabella found invoices.”
“Then one of the drivers came to her privately.”
“He was scared.”
“She brought me because I had medical training and she thought he might be hurt.”
“What happened to him?”
Ethan asked.
Rachel looked away.
“He disappeared.”
Silence.
“Dead?”
“I don't know.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“Then Mom decided to tell police.”
“Yes.”
“What stopped her?”
Rachel started crying.
“The crash.”
The room froze.
Dominic asked:
“How?”
Rachel looked at him.
“I saw Lorenzo’s mechanic near her car that afternoon.”
“Name.”
“Peter D’Amico.”
Marco’s old predecessor.
I remembered him vaguely.
Dead now.
Supposed heart attack five years earlier.
Rachel continued:
“I told Isabella.”
“She said she would use another vehicle.”
“She did.”
“Then?”
“The replacement car came from the Bedford garage.”
Dominic went white.
Lorenzo’s property.
Ethan whispered:
“No.”
Rachel nodded.
“I begged her not to go.”
“She told me she couldn't live raising Ethan inside a family where fear decided what was true.”
My throat closed.
That sounded like Isabella.
Rachel looked toward Dominic.
“She gave me the watch.”
“The videos.”
“And a list of names.”
“What names?”
Dominic asked.
“People who knew.”
“Where is it?”
Rachel’s expression changed.
“That’s why Lorenzo took me.”
Dominic became still.
“He thinks you have it.”
“Yes.”
“Do you?”
Rachel looked at Noah.
Then at Ethan.
“No.”
Everyone froze.
“I gave it to someone else eleven years ago.”
“Who?”
Rachel’s answer surprised all of us.
“Dominic’s mother.”
Silence.
Teresa Moretti had been dead nine years.
Dominic’s mother.
Ethan’s grandmother.
A woman everyone remembered as gentle.
Quiet.
Devout.
Dominic stared.
“My mother knew?”
Rachel nodded.
“She said she would handle Lorenzo.”
“What happened?”
“I don't know.”
“You never spoke again?”
“No.”
Dominic looked as if the floor had shifted.
His wife had told Rachel.
Rachel told his mother.
His mother died two years later without ever telling Dominic.
Ethan whispered:
“So everybody knew except Dad.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Everybody was afraid of what he would do.”
The sentence entered Dominic like a knife.
He did not defend himself.
Good.
Then Rachel said:
“But Teresa left something.”
Dominic looked up.
“What?”
“She told me if Isabella died, I should never return to the Moretti estate unless Lorenzo started moving again.”
“Why?”
“Because she hid the names where only you would eventually find them.”
Dominic stared.
“Where?”
May you like
Rachel looked toward the watch in Noah’s hand.
“Inside Isabella’s grave.”
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