Chapter 4 - THE LAST WITNESS
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The bracelet belonged to Clare's grandmother. It had gone missing from the Romano mansion after Alexander's father, Vittorio, died. Clare had assumed it had been packed away with the rest of her things during a renovation. Now it lay on the porch of Willow Lane, cold and damp, beside a warning about a witness.
She called Evelyn Brooks before she called Alexander.
“Don't investigate this alone,” Evelyn said. “And don't assume the note is true. Whoever left it wants you frightened enough to make a mistake.”
“It's working.”
“Fear is information. It isn't an instruction.”
Evelyn arranged for a private investigator named Daniel Price to meet them at her office. Daniel had spent years working financial crimes before leaving the police. He was careful, methodical, and had no interest in impressing Clare with stories about the Romano family.
He examined the bracelet, the note, and the trust documents.
“Your husband's father died in a traffic accident,” Daniel said. “The official report says his car left the road during heavy rain. There was a passenger, a driver named Samuel Ortega. He survived the crash but disappeared from public records within weeks.”
“Was he the witness?” Clare asked.
“Possibly. The file was sealed after a settlement.”
“Who paid it?”
Daniel tapped the trust paperwork. “A company linked to the Romano shipping group.”
Clare felt the floor tilt beneath her. “Alexander told me his father died before he could reach the hospital.”
“That may be true. It doesn't answer why the passenger vanished.”
They decided not to approach Alexander until Daniel could verify the records. Clare returned to Willow Lane with a list of questions and the uneasy feeling that the story she had been told about her husband's family was only a polished surface.
That evening, Vanessa called from a private number.
“I heard you're staying in your grandmother's old house,” she said warmly. “How nostalgic.”
“Why did you visit a clinic six months ago?”
A short silence followed. “You have been looking at things you don't understand.”
“Then explain them.”
“Alexander's family has secrets that can swallow people whole. I would hate for you and the baby to become collateral damage.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It's advice from a woman who knows what it means to survive powerful men.”
Clare ended the call.
An hour later, Daniel sent a message: He had found a recent address for Samuel Ortega, who was living under his own name in a coastal town two hours away. Before Clare could respond, another message arrived.
Someone searched my car while I was inside the courthouse. They took the original notes. I'm safe, but this is bigger than I thought.
Clare called Alexander despite herself. He answered immediately.
“Are you safe?”
“Someone is threatening me.”
“I know. My security team saw a car near Willow Lane.”
“You were watching the house after I told you not to.”
“I had one man on the road, not at the property. He was there because I was afraid.”
“You don't get to turn fear into permission.”
“I know.” His voice sounded exhausted. “Tell me what happened.”
She told him about the bracelet and the witness. He went silent when she said Samuel Ortega's name.
“Clare, don't go near him.”
“Why?”
“Because he was my father's driver, and the last time anyone tried to find him, a man ended up in the hospital.”
“Did your father die in an accident?”
Alexander's breathing changed. “I was twenty-two. I was told it was an accident.”
“Do you believe that?”
“I don't know what I believe anymore.”
Before Clare could answer, a crash sounded from the front of Willow Lane. The lights went out. A window shattered in the living room.
Alexander shouted through the phone, “Get away from the windows!”
Clare crouched beside the kitchen island, one hand over her belly, as footsteps crossed the porch.
Then a voice outside called her name.
May you like
It was Samuel Ortega.
“Clare,” he shouted. “I know who ordered the crash—and he's still alive.”
