Chapter 2 - THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH|
Dominic read the message three times.
Emily's handwriting was unmistakable. The letters leaned slightly to the right, and she always crossed the letter T too low. He had seen those same habits in birthday cards, grocery notes, and the last letter she had written before her death.
But Emily had never mentioned Serena.
At the time Emily died, Serena had been a stranger to the Vitale family.
Dominic folded the paper carefully.
“Marcus!”
The office door opened almost immediately.
Marcus Reed had served Dominic for eleven years. He was a broad-shouldered former Marine with a calm voice and the unsettling ability to notice details other men missed.
“What happened?”
Dominic handed him the photographs.
Marcus examined them, his expression growing darker with each image.
“These were taken inside the mansion?”
“Apparently.”
“That's impossible. We replaced the internal cameras six months ago.”
“Then somebody has access to the system.”
Marcus glanced at Rose.
“Did she see anyone installing equipment?”
Rose shook her head.
“They don't need cameras everywhere.”
Both men looked at her.
Rose pointed toward the ceiling.
“Serena has a little silver thing. She puts it near the flowers. Sometimes she leaves it in your office.”
Dominic remembered a silver decorative object Serena had placed on his desk several weeks earlier. She had called it a vintage paperweight.
He had accepted it without a second thought.
“Find it,” he ordered Marcus. “And don't alert anyone who works here.”
Marcus left immediately.
Dominic crouched in front of Rose.
“Sweetheart, I need to ask you something difficult. When you say Serena wants you taken away, did you hear her say that herself?”
Rose nodded.
“She told the man with the wolf ring.”
“Where?”
“In the room with Mommy's picture.”
Dominic felt a sharp ache beneath his ribs.
Emily's portrait hung in the eastern sitting room. After her death, he had kept the room almost exactly as she left it. Rose sometimes slept there when nightmares woke her, and Dominic had never objected.
“Did the man hurt you?”
“No.”
“Did he speak to you?”
Rose hesitated.
“He asked me where Mommy kept the blue key.”
Dominic went very still.
“What blue key?”
“I don't know. I told him Mommy didn't have a key. Then he said I was a clever little liar.”
Dominic stood.
He had spent two years believing Emily's death was the result of a tragic highway accident. The police had found no evidence of foul play. The driver of the other vehicle had died at the scene, and the investigation had eventually closed.
But Emily had left a warning.
Someone had searched for a key.
And now that same person was asking a five-year-old child questions about her mother.
“Rose, I need you to promise me something. Until I tell you otherwise, don't go anywhere alone. Not even with Serena. Not even with someone you think you know.”
Rose's eyes filled with tears.
“Are you mad at me?”
The question struck him harder than any threat.
“No.”
“Because I told you about her?”
Dominic knelt and gently brushed a curl away from her face.
“You did exactly the right thing.”
She threw her arms around his neck.
For a few seconds, he allowed himself to hold her like the child she was, not the heir to a dangerous family name.
Then his phone vibrated.
Marcus had sent a photograph of the silver paperweight.
A tiny lens was concealed beneath its base.
Dominic stared at it.
The object had been positioned to record his desk, the entrance to his private office, and the reflection of the hallway in a framed mirror.
Whoever installed it had known precisely where he would sit.
Another message appeared.
The device transmits to an external server. We're tracing the destination.
Dominic replied with a single instruction.
Keep it running. Feed them false information.
If Serena believed her surveillance remained undiscovered, she might reveal who was directing her.
That evening, Dominic invited Serena to dinner.
He wore a dark suit and greeted her with the same affectionate smile he had given her for eighteen months. Rose sat beside him, unusually quiet.
Serena kissed his cheek.
“You seem tense.”
“Long day.”
“Business trouble?”
“Something like that.”
Serena glanced at Rose.
“And how is our little princess?”
Rose lowered her eyes.
“Fine.”
Serena reached across the table to touch the child's hand.
Rose recoiled so violently that her water glass tipped over.
The room fell silent.
Serena's smile disappeared for a fraction of a second.
“Rose, darling, what's wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Did I frighten you?”
Rose looked at Dominic.
He watched Serena's face carefully.
A genuine concern would have softened her expression. Instead, something cold flickered behind her eyes before the familiar smile returned.
Dominic stood.
“Dinner is over. Rose, go upstairs with Mrs. Alvarez.”
The housekeeper led the child away.
Serena waited until the door closed.
“What's going on, Dominic?”
He poured himself a drink.
“Tell me about the Wolf Ring.”
The glass stopped halfway to her lips.
It lasted less than a second.
Then Serena laughed.
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“Interesting. I haven't told you where I found it.”
Serena slowly set down her glass.
Dominic watched the blood drain from her face.
For the first time since he had met her, she looked genuinely afraid.
Then she leaned forward and whispered, “If Rose told you about the ring, you need to get her out of this house before midnight.”
“Why?”
Serena's eyes darted toward the closed door.
“Because the man wearing it isn't coming for you, Dominic.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“He's coming for the girl.”
