Chapter 4 - VANESSA HAD NOT BEEN TRYING TO KILL ELEANOR QUICKLY
Patricia Lane asked for a lawyer before giving a full statement.
Good.
Dominic wanted to hear everything immediately.
His attorney refused to let him near her.
Better.
So Dominic waited.
He hated waiting.
Hannah noticed.
“You’re pacing.”
“I know.”
“You’re wearing a path into an expensive floor.”
“I own the house.”
“Congratulations.”
Eleanor had been discharged by then.
She sat in the library with a heart monitor patch, furious that everyone treated walking ten feet as a medical event.
Walter brought tea.
Hannah checked the cup before handing it over.
Eleanor stared.
“Are we doing this forever?”
“For now.”
“I miss wine.”
“You nearly died from a medicated Cabernet.”
“Exactly. It was memorable.”
Dominic rubbed his face.
“Mother.”
“What?”
“You are not funny.”
“I disagree.”
The house had changed in forty-eight hours.
Vanessa was gone.
Her belongings locked in a separate wing pending supervised removal.
Patricia’s medication cabinet sealed.
Every staff access credential changed.
Food and drink handling restricted.
No one drank from a glass that had been left unattended.
Dominic’s home suddenly felt like a crime scene.
Maybe it had been one for months.
Then Marcus entered.
“Patricia’s attorney approved release of a summary.”
Dominic stood.
Hannah remained beside Eleanor.
Marcus read.
Patricia admitted she had adjusted Eleanor’s digoxin tablets several times over the previous ten weeks.
Not enough to cause sudden death.
Enough to create intermittent symptoms.
Weakness.
Confusion.
Irregular heartbeat.
Fatigue.
Why?
Vanessa told her Eleanor’s cardiologist had approved changes.
Patricia doubted it.
Asked for documentation.
Vanessa produced emails appearing to come from Dr. Keller.
Forged.
Patricia followed instructions twice.
Then stopped.
Vanessa threatened to expose Patricia’s past.
“What past?” Dominic asked.
Marcus continued.
Eight years earlier, Patricia had diverted opioid medication while addicted after spinal surgery.
She entered treatment.
License restored under monitoring.
The record was restricted but not erased.
Vanessa obtained it through Whitmore systems.
She threatened to send it to employers and regulators as proof Patricia had relapsed.
Patricia became frightened.
Then Vanessa asked her to provide liquid digoxin from an old clinical supply.
Patricia refused.
Luca Moretti visited her apartment.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“What did he do?”
“No physical violence.”
“He showed photographs of Patricia’s daughter leaving school.”
Silence.
Hannah went cold.
There.
Another person controlled through someone they loved.
Patricia gave them the medication.
She believed they wanted to make Eleanor appear medically unstable.
Not kill her.
Why medically unstable?
Eleanor controlled a family voting trust equal to nineteen percent of Moretti Shipping’s private shares.
Under the trust, if Eleanor became medically incapacitated, Dominic became temporary proxy.
But if Dominic married and triggered the planned Whitmore capital merger, a new corporate voting agreement would place a portion of combined family assets into a board structure.
Luca would chair operations.
Vanessa’s father would control two seats.
Dominic stared.
“They needed the marriage.”
“Yes.”
“And Mother unable to object.”
“Yes.”
“But not dead.”
“Apparently not at first.”
Eleanor leaned back.
“How considerate.”
Hannah ignored the joke.
“What changed last night?”
Marcus looked toward her.
“Patricia believes Vanessa increased the dose without Luca’s approval.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor had told Vanessa yesterday afternoon she intended to oppose the wedding agreement.”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
“After the gala.”
He stared.
Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
“You have a bad habit of finding out things before I schedule the conversation.”
Hannah almost smiled.
Marcus continued.
“Patricia says the liquid in the wine was stronger than previous doses.”
“She panicked.”
“Vanessa told her Eleanor would only become ill.”
“Patricia didn’t believe her.”
“She fled.”
“Why not call police?”
“She thought Luca’s people were watching her.”
“They were.”
Dominic’s expression became dangerous.
“Hannah took the glass.”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa understood that.”
“Yes.”
“So she beat the witness in front of a hundred fifty people.”
Marcus nodded.
“Arrogance.”
Hannah spoke.
“Not only.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
“She needed people to see me as disobedient.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“If I later said the wine was tampered with, witnesses would remember me as a maid who caused a scene.”
“An angry employee.”
“Someone Dominic’s fiancée had disciplined.”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“Reputation first.”
“Evidence second.”
Hannah nodded.
Dominic thought about the guests.
The attorney studying cuff links.
Banker watching marble.
No one intervening.
Then:
“Who knew the glass was contaminated?”
“Vanessa.”
“Patricia.”
“Luca maybe.”
“Anyone else?”
“Unknown.”
Good.
Dominic turned to Marcus.
“Find Luca.”
“Already looking.”
“Where was he during the gala?”
“Arrived at eight.”
“Left at ten twenty.”
“The assault happened at eleven seventeen.”
Dominic frowned.
“So he was gone.”
“Yes.”
“Phone?”
“Off.”
“Car?”
“At O’Hare long-term parking.”
“Flight?”
“None under his name.”
He was running too.
Dominic’s first instinct:
Dock crews.
Warehouses.
Every Moretti contact.
Hunt.
Hannah saw it.
“You’re doing the face.”
He looked at her.
“What face?”
“The one where somebody is about to have a terrible night because you’re angry.”
Eleanor laughed.
“I like her.”
Dominic ignored both.
“What do you recommend?”
“Police.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Dominic stared at Hannah.
“You are in a mafia boss’s library recommending police.”
“Yes.”
“Bold.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Practical.”
He hated that she was right.
Luca and Vanessa had committed crimes touching regulated medication, elder abuse, assault, coercion, corporate fraud.
A private revenge would bury evidence.
A public investigation could expose it.
Dominic called his attorney.
“Cooperate.”
The lawyer became silent.
“With?”
“Police.”
“Dominic.”
“You heard me.”
“Entirely?”
“On this.”
Good.
Limits.
Moretti Shipping had legitimate and illegitimate parts.
Dominic understood one investigation could spread.
Maybe that was overdue too.
Hannah watched him end the call.
“That cost you.”
“What?”
“Something.”
She was too observant.
“Maybe.”
Then Eleanor asked:
“What happens to the wedding?”
Dominic looked at her.
“What wedding?”
“Good answer.”
His engagement to Vanessa ended without speech.
No social media.
No statement beyond counsel.
Her ring remained hers unless legal proceedings touched it.
Dominic did not care.
Then Hannah stood.
“I need to leave.”
Every head turned.
Dominic frowned.
“Leave where?”
“Home.”
“You live in staff quarters.”
“Not anymore.”
“What?”
“I resigned.”
“When?”
“Five minutes ago.”
Eleanor looked offended.
“To whom?”
“Walter.”
“Traitor,” Eleanor muttered.
Dominic stood.
“Why?”
Hannah’s face tightened.
“Because I came here to watch your mother long enough to know whether the medical records issue was real.”
“It is.”
“Yes.”
“Then stay.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa assaulted me.”
“Luca may know who I am.”
“Patricia’s statement puts my name inside an active investigation.”
“And if I stay as your maid, every choice becomes contaminated by whether I need your paycheck.”
Dominic stared.
“I can make you medical staff.”
“No.”
“Consultant.”
“No.”
“Private nurse for Mother.”
“No.”
Eleanor raised one finger.
“I would actually like that.”
“No.”
Hannah almost smiled.
Then to Dominic:
“I want my nursing career back.”
There.
“What do you need?”
“Nothing from you.”
His jaw tightened.
“Hannah.”
“I have an attorney working on my licensing investigation.”
“I have evidence now.”
“Whitmore access logs.”
“Vanessa’s threat.”
“Patricia’s testimony.”
“I can fight it.”
“I don’t need you to arrange it.”
He heard what she was really saying.
Do not turn rescue into ownership.
“Fine.”
The word hurt.
“Where will you go?”
“My apartment.”
“Safe?”
“No idea.”
“Then let Marcus inspect it.”
She opened her mouth.
He raised a hand.
“Ask.”
Corrected.
“Would you allow Marcus or a security company you choose to check your apartment before you return?”
Hannah stared.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
Small win.
Not possession.
Eleanor watched them with far too much interest.
Hannah gathered her coat.
Dominic stopped her at the library door.
“Your wrist.”
“It’s fine.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I have a follow-up appointment tomorrow.”
“With?”
“My doctor.”
“Good.”
She hesitated.
Then:
“Dominic.”
First time she had used his name.
He felt it.
“What?”
“Do not punish Vanessa for hitting me.”
His eyes hardened.
“Why?”
“Because assault has a process now.”
“Evidence.”
“Witnesses.”
“Police.”
“Let that work.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
Hannah looked at him.
“Then you still do not get to make my pain permission for violence.”
He said nothing.
She continued.
“If you hurt her because she hurt me, that doesn’t restore anything to me.”
“It just makes me the reason you decided to become violent.”
That sentence followed him for years.
He nodded once.
“Understood.”
Hannah left.
Two hours later, Marcus called.
Her apartment door had been forced.
Nothing valuable taken.
One thing missing.
Her old nursing-school photograph with Thomas Reed.
And on her kitchen table, someone had left the diamond bracelet Dominic had given Vanessa.
A message lay beneath it.
HE COULDN’T SAVE YOUR FATHER.
HE WON’T SAVE YOU.
Dominic read the photograph Marcus sent.
Then closed his eyes.
May you like
Vanessa was not only hiding.
She was trying to turn the debt between Dominic and Hannah into a weapon.
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