Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BECOME HER MOTHER
At twelve forty-three in the morning, Vanessa Whitmore stopped pretending to be offended.
She started pretending to be innocent.
There was a difference.
Claire watched it happen in the formal sitting room.
The birthday decorations remained visible through the open ballroom doors.
Pink ribbons.
White roses.
Silver balloons spelling LILY.
A banner reading HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY sagged slightly in the center because one corner had come loose.
It looked obscene now.
Like happiness staged above a crime scene.
Vanessa sat on a velvet chair with her arms folded tightly across her chest.
Dominic stood near the fireplace.
Detective Morris occupied the opposite corner.
Claire had not intended to remain.
Dominic had asked her to stay upstairs with Lily.
Then Lily had refused to sleep unless Claire stayed close enough to hear her.
So Claire sat in the hallway outside the sitting room, the bedroom monitor in her hand, listening through a partially open door.
She was not spying.
At least that was what she told herself.
“You saw the video,” Dominic said.
Vanessa’s chin lifted.
“I did.”
“You were in the storage room with Calder and Celeste.”
“Yes.”
“You had Lily’s bracelet.”
“Yes.”
“Explain.”
Vanessa exhaled sharply.
“Celeste told me the replacement bracelet had arrived.”
“What replacement bracelet?”
“The silver one.”
“The one identifying my daughter as having a mild dairy sensitivity instead of a potentially fatal nut allergy?”
Vanessa winced.
“I did not order that engraving.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic laughed quietly.
Claire had never heard a sound so empty.
“Try again.”
Vanessa leaned forward.
“I wanted a prettier bracelet for the photographs.”
“Why?”
“Because the blue one looked childish.”
“She is eight.”
“It clashed with the dress.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Do you hear yourself?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
Claire did not trust them.
“I made a stupid decision.”
“You removed medical identification from my child.”
“She was surrounded by a hundred people.”
“That makes it worse.”
“Calder was here.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“That is the second time someone has used Henry’s presence to explain why Lily was supposedly safe.”
Vanessa hesitated.
Dominic saw it.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No. That look was something.”
“I was going to say Henry knows Lily’s condition.”
“Then why did he bring a cake containing almond?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“And why did he have Rebecca’s bracelet?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I gave it to him.”
“Why?”
“He offered to have the clasp repaired.”
“The clasp was not broken.”
“I thought it was loose.”
“It was designed that way.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Claire did.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward the hallway.
Claire froze.
Dominic followed her gaze.
He had known Claire was there.
Of course he had.
“Do not bring her into this,” Vanessa said.
Dominic’s face changed.
“You brought my housemaid into this the moment she became the person standing between my daughter and a hospital.”
“She is enjoying this.”
Claire stood before she could stop herself.
“No.”
Vanessa glared through the open door.
Claire stepped into the room.
“I promise you, there is nothing enjoyable about wondering whether an eight-year-old child has been drugged inside her own home.”
“You know nothing about this family.”
“I know Lily.”
“You clean her room.”
“I know she hates peas, pretends not to like ballet because one girl at school teased her, sleeps with three stuffed rabbits but tells people she only has one, and still whispers goodnight to her mother’s picture.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
Dominic went utterly still.
Claire continued.
“I know she hides her inhaler because she hates people fussing over her. I know she gets headaches when she’s frightened. I know she asks the kitchen to save the crunchy ends of lasagna because those were her mother’s favorite.”
Vanessa looked away.
Claire’s voice softened.
“I know enough.”
Dominic stared at Claire for a long moment.
Something shifted in his face.
Then Detective Morris cleared his throat.
“We need to focus.”
Claire stepped back.
The detective looked at Vanessa.
“Where is Celeste?”
“I told you. I don’t know.”
“When did you last see her?”
“After the cake arrived.”
“What did she say?”
“That there was a delivery issue.”
“With the cake?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see Calder carrying another cake?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“I saw a box.”
“What did he say?”
“That Bellini’s had sent the wrong one and he picked up the replacement.”
Dominic’s voice cut through.
“And you believed my daughter’s physician had become a bakery deliveryman?”
Vanessa’s patience cracked.
“I was planning a party for a hundred people!”
“You had staff.”
“You told me to make it perfect!”
“No. You decided perfection mattered more than my daughter’s safety.”
Vanessa stood.
“I love Lily.”
“Do you?”
“Yes!”
“Then why did you drug her?”
Vanessa froze.
Claire felt the silence become physical.
“I did not drug Lily.”
“She says you gave her medicine.”
“Melatonin.”
The answer came too quickly.
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“You gave my eight-year-old daughter melatonin without asking me?”
“Henry said it was safe.”
“Her blood test did not show melatonin.”
Vanessa looked at Detective Morris.
“What did it show?”
Morris did not answer.
Dominic did.
“A prescription sedative.”
Vanessa slowly sat again.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“I never gave her a prescription sedative.”
“What was in the pink bottle?”
Vanessa’s lips parted.
“The bottle was pink. The liquid was clear.”
“Where is it?”
“In my bathroom.”
Dominic looked at Morris.
The detective nodded to another officer.
Within minutes, the bottle was recovered.
The label had been removed.
Vanessa stared at it.
“That’s what Henry gave me.”
Dominic’s gaze shifted.
“Calder gave you an unlabeled bottle of medication for my daughter?”
“He said it was a pediatric sleep aid.”
“And that seemed normal to you?”
“No.” Vanessa’s voice broke. “I thought it was herbal.”
Claire wanted to believe her.
For Lily’s sake.
Because the alternative meant the woman Lily’s father planned to marry had knowingly endangered her.
But Vanessa’s explanation sounded like someone building a bridge while already falling.
Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“Where?”
Everyone watched.
“When?”
His eyes moved toward Detective Morris.
“Keep the scene sealed.”
He ended the call.
“Celeste is dead.”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Claire felt cold.
Dominic continued.
“Police found her behind an abandoned restaurant off Route 46.”
Vanessa began shaking.
“No.”
Morris stepped closer.
“You knew her for six years.”
“She was my assistant.”
“Did she know anything that would cause someone to kill her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she have access to your finances?”
“Yes.”
“Your messages?”
“Yes.”
“Your schedule?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa stared at Dominic.
“Someone is setting me up.”
Dominic did not respond.
She stood.
“You have to see that.”
“What I see,” Dominic said, “is that Celeste helped receive a cake that could have put my daughter in the ICU, then appeared on video with you and Calder, and now she is dead.”
“I didn’t kill her!”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“You think it.”
“I think nothing yet.”
That frightened Claire more than if he had accused her.
Dominic was withholding judgment.
That meant somebody was still alive only because Lily was upstairs.
A phone vibrated.
This time it belonged to Detective Morris.
He answered, listened, then looked toward Dominic.
“Calder’s attorney is downstairs.”
“Henry has an attorney already?”
“He called one thirty minutes ago.”
Dominic gave a humorless smile.
“That was fast.”
Vanessa whispered, “Maybe because he knows you.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Meaning?”
“People know what happens when Dominic Romano thinks someone betrayed him.”
The accusation hung in the room.
Claire knew the rumors.
Everyone did.
But Dominic did not explode.
He simply said, “Tonight, Henry should be afraid of the police.”
Morris left to speak to Calder.
Claire started toward the hallway.
Dominic stopped her.
“Claire.”
She turned.
“Lily said something else earlier.”
His face hardened.
“What?”
“She said Vanessa does not like her talking about Rebecca.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Dominic looked at her.
“She removed Rebecca’s photograph from your room,” Claire continued.
Dominic’s expression became unreadable.
“I thought Lily put it away.”
Vanessa whispered, “You were suffering.”
“It was my wife.”
“I was trying to help you move on.”
“You do not erase the dead to make room for yourself.”
“I was supposed to marry you.”
“That did not make Rebecca disappear.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
“You kept me waiting three years.”
Claire looked away.
This was no longer only a criminal investigation.
It was a relationship breaking apart in front of her.
Vanessa’s voice rose.
“You asked me into this house. You asked me to love that little girl. You let everyone compare me to Rebecca every day and then acted surprised when I tried to make something here belong to me.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“Lily is not something to compete for.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes!”
“You changed her bracelet for a photograph.”
“I made a terrible mistake.”
“You medicated her without telling me.”
“Because she couldn’t sleep!”
“She couldn’t sleep because you kept trying to turn this house into something she didn’t recognize.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then her eyes shifted toward Claire.
There was hatred there now.
Pure and unhidden.
“You think she’s better?”
Dominic’s face changed.
Claire’s pulse jumped.
“Vanessa,” he warned.
“You think I don’t see it?”
“See what?”
“The way you look at her.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Dominic’s expression became dangerous.
“That is not relevant.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“That means yes.”
Claire took a step back.
“This conversation is not about me.”
“No,” Vanessa said. “It became about you the moment you decided you were Lily’s mother.”
Claire flinched.
“I never did.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I am not lying.”
“You braid her hair. Read to her. Sit beside her when she’s sick. You get to be the sweet one because you don’t have to make decisions.”
Claire’s voice went cold.
“Keeping her alive is a decision.”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
Dominic stepped between them.
“Enough.”
A cry came through the monitor.
“Claire?”
Lily.
Claire turned immediately.
She hurried upstairs.
Dominic followed.
Lily sat upright in bed, pale.
“My tummy hurts.”
Claire touched her forehead.
Dominic crouched beside her.
“What hurts?”
“Here.”
She pointed just below her ribs.
Dominic’s face tightened.
Claire looked at him.
“It may be anxiety.”
“It may not.”
They called the specialist.
Within ten minutes, Lily was being prepared for transport to the hospital for observation.
As paramedics moved her onto a stretcher, Vanessa approached.
“Lily.”
The child looked at her.
Vanessa reached out.
Lily recoiled.
“Don’t give me medicine.”
Vanessa went white.
Dominic saw it.
Everyone did.
He stepped between them.
“You’re not coming with us.”
Vanessa stared.
“I’m supposed to be her mother.”
“No.”
Dominic’s answer was immediate.
“You were supposed to become my wife.”
The distinction was devastating.
He followed Lily toward the ambulance.
Claire moved to remain behind.
Dominic turned.
“You’re coming.”
She blinked.
“Sir—”
“Dominic.”
It was the first time he had corrected her.
“Lily wants you.”
That was the reason he gave.
Claire knew it was enough.
At the hospital, Lily’s pain proved harmless.
Stress.
Exhaustion.
An empty stomach.
Her toxicology report was not harmless.
The medication in her blood matched the contents of the pink bottle.
A sedative prescribed in rare cases for adults.
Not children.
The prescription number led back to Dr. Calder.
But the patient name was not Lily Romano.
It was Vanessa Whitmore.
Claire was standing beside Dominic when Detective Morris delivered the news.
Dominic turned slowly.
“Vanessa had a prescription?”
“Yes.”
“From Calder?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Refilled twice in the last three months.”
Dominic stared through the hospital window at Lily sleeping.
“Why would Calder prescribe it to Vanessa?”
Morris hesitated.
“That’s the interesting part.”
Dominic looked at him.
“According to the pharmacy, Vanessa never picked it up.”
“Who did?”
“Celeste.”
Claire felt cold.
Morris continued.
“And the first prescription was issued four days after Dominic Romano changed his will.”
Dominic went completely still.
Claire looked at him.
“What changed?”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he looked through the glass at his daughter.
“I placed controlling ownership of my legitimate companies into a trust.”
“For Lily?”
“Yes.”
Morris asked the question Claire suddenly did not want answered.
“What happens to the trust if Lily dies before she turns eighteen?”
Dominic’s face lost all color.
May you like
He whispered one name.
“Vanessa.”
