Chapter 4 - The Secret Inside Elena's Music Box|
Every person in the dining room turned toward Lily.
Cassandra looked as though someone had pulled the ground from beneath her feet.
Gabriel slowly approached his daughter.
"What real papers, sweetheart?"
Lily glanced at Cassandra.
I could see the fear returning to her face.
For three weeks, Cassandra had convinced her that speaking up would only make things worse.
And tonight, Lily had already risked everything by telling the truth.
I knelt beside her.
"It's okay, sweetheart."
She looked at me.
"You're not mad?"
I shook my head.
"Never."
Her lips trembled.
"Even if I touched something I wasn't supposed to?"
Gabriel crouched on her other side.
"Lily, whatever happened, you're not in trouble."
She swallowed.
"Promise?"
He held out his little finger.
"Promise."
She hooked hers around it.
Then she whispered, "Mommy's music box."
Gabriel went still.
I knew the music box.
It was a small ivory-colored box decorated with painted blue flowers.
Elena Romano had received it from her grandmother when she was seventeen.
Lily kept it on her bedroom dresser.
Every night before bed, she wound it carefully and listened to its delicate melody.
Sometimes she talked to the photograph of her mother beside it.
I had heard her whisper about school.
About missing her.
About how much she wished they could have one more afternoon together.
But what did that music box have to do with Gabriel's business documents?
Lily twisted the ribbon on her dress.
"Yesterday, Cassandra came into my room."
Cassandra immediately interrupted.
"Gabriel, she's confused."
Gabriel didn't look at her.
"Keep going, Lily."
The little girl drew a shaky breath.
"She told me Daddy wanted Mommy's things packed away."
Gabriel closed his eyes briefly.
Lily continued.
"She said I wasn't allowed to keep the music box anymore."
I felt sick.
Gabriel opened his eyes.
"What happened next?"
"I cried."
Lily looked down.
"She got mad and said crying wouldn't change anything."
My fingers curled against my apron.
"Then she took the box downstairs."
Cassandra shook her head.
"She's making this up."
Lily began trembling again.
Gabriel placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"You're safe."
She nodded.
"Later, I went downstairs to get it back."
"Where did you find it?"
"In your office."
Gabriel frowned.
Lily glanced toward Cassandra.
"She was standing beside your desk with Uncle Raymond."
Raymond slowly moved toward the fireplace.
Daniel took one step in his direction.
Raymond stopped.
Lily continued.
"They were looking at papers."
She swallowed.
"And Cassandra put some inside Mommy's music box."
A strange silence settled over the room.
Gabriel looked at Cassandra.
"Why?"
She didn't answer.
Raymond cleared his throat.
"Because children invent stories."
Lily's eyes filled again.
"No, I don't."
Gabriel immediately turned back toward her.
"Nobody is accusing you of anything, baby."
He looked at Daniel.
"Go to Lily's room and bring me the music box."
Daniel nodded.
But Lily suddenly grabbed his sleeve.
"It's not there."
Gabriel frowned.
"Where is it?"
Lily whispered, "I hid it."
Cassandra stared.
"You little—"
"Finish that sentence," Gabriel said quietly.
Cassandra stopped.
His expression was terrifying.
Not because he looked violent.
Because his anger had become completely controlled.
He turned toward Lily.
"Where did you hide it?"
She glanced at me.
"In Natalie's room."
I blinked.
"My room?"
Lily nodded.
"Under your bed."
I tried to remember.
Yesterday evening, I had returned to my small room above the laundry wing.
Everything had looked normal.
Except for the little blue blanket Lily sometimes borrowed when she wanted to sit with me.
It had been folded beside my bed.
I hadn't thought anything of it.
Now I understood.
She had used the blanket to conceal the box.
I looked at her.
"You were protecting it."
She nodded.
"Mommy said special things should be kept somewhere safe."
Gabriel's eyes glistened.
For a moment, he looked nothing like the feared head of the Romano organization.
He looked like a father who had been missing too much of his daughter's life.
"Daniel," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"Bring the box."
Daniel left with another security officer.
Raymond suddenly laughed.
"This is absurd."
Marianne folded her arms.
"Then you shouldn't mind waiting."
Victor stepped beside Gabriel.
"While we wait, I would like to examine the document substitutions."
Raymond sneered.
"You're not representing me."
"No," Victor replied.
"And judging by what I've heard, you should contact someone who is."
Several guests exchanged nervous glances.
The police had not arrived yet.
But nobody was trying to leave.
I suspected some of them were too stunned to move.
Others knew they had witnessed something that could change the Romano family forever.
Cassandra sank into a chair.
She looked smaller now.
Her expensive red silk dress seemed almost ridiculous beneath the chandeliers.
A few hours earlier, she had believed this evening would make her the most powerful woman in the room.
Now she couldn't even make her fiancé look at her.
Lily tugged at my sleeve.
"Natalie?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Are you going to lose your job?"
My heart twisted.
I knelt.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because Uncle Raymond said bad things happen when people tell secrets."
Gabriel heard her.
He turned slowly.
"Raymond."
His brother looked up.
"Did you threaten my daughter?"
Raymond rolled his eyes.
"Gabriel, for God's sake."
"Answer the question."
Raymond hesitated.
"She overheard a private conversation."
"Did you threaten her?"
"I told her to mind her own business."
Gabriel stared.
"You threatened an eleven-year-old girl with violence against someone she loves."
Raymond looked toward me.
"You're making this sound much worse than it was."
I felt Lily press closer.
Gabriel's voice dropped.
"How much worse would you prefer it to sound?"
Nobody answered.
Then footsteps approached.
Daniel returned carrying a small object wrapped in a blue blanket.
Lily immediately reached for it.
"My box."
He handed it to Gabriel.
Gabriel removed the blanket.
The ivory music box looked fragile in his large hands.
A tiny painted bluebird decorated its lid.
He traced the bird with his thumb.
"Elena loved this."
Lily nodded.
"She said the bird meant someone was watching over me."
Gabriel swallowed.
Then he opened the lid.
The familiar melody began playing.
For one heartbreaking moment, nobody moved.
Even Cassandra seemed to understand the significance of the sound.
Gabriel removed the small velvet tray inside.
Underneath lay several folded sheets of paper.
Victor leaned closer.
Gabriel carefully unfolded the first.
His eyes narrowed.
Then he unfolded another.
Marianne stepped beside him.
"Those are the original signature pages."
Gabriel nodded.
"And the original authorization."
Victor quickly compared them with Raymond's documents.
His expression changed.
"Here."
He pointed toward a clause.
"The original limits Raymond's authority to routine administrative approvals during Gabriel's trip."
Marianne looked at the substituted version.
"The altered one transfers complete executive control."
Victor nodded.
"And the signature page was attached to a different agreement."
Raymond's face turned gray.
Gabriel held up the original papers.
"Why hide these?"
Cassandra stared at the floor.
Marianne answered.
"Because destroying them would create questions if the originals were ever requested."
Victor nodded.
"Concealing them in a private family possession gave them temporary control over the evidence."
I looked at the tiny music box.
A dead mother's keepsake.
A frightened daughter's treasure.
And now the thing that might save an entire family.
Lily whispered, "Did I do something good?"
Gabriel immediately knelt.
He placed the music box gently on the table.
Then he pulled his daughter into his arms.
"You did something very brave."
She held him tightly.
"I was scared."
"I know."
"I thought Cassandra would take Mommy away from me."
Gabriel's face broke.
"Nobody can take your mother away from your heart."
Lily began crying.
He kissed her forehead.
"And nobody is ever taking you away from me."
I turned my head, fighting tears.
But Marianne was examining the remaining papers.
Suddenly, she stopped.
"Gabriel."
He looked up.
Her voice changed.
"There's something else."
She held up a narrow sheet that had been folded separately.
It wasn't a business authorization.
It was a handwritten letter.
The envelope was addressed to Gabriel.
And the handwriting was unmistakably Elena's.
Gabriel slowly reached for it.
"Where did this come from?"
Lily looked confused.
"I don't know."
Marianne turned the envelope over.
The seal had been broken.
Someone had already read it.
Gabriel opened the letter.
He read the first line.
Then he stopped breathing.
I watched the color drain from his face.
His hand trembled.
Victor touched his shoulder.
"Gabriel?"
He didn't answer.
His eyes moved down the page.
Then he looked directly at Raymond.
For the first time that evening, his controlled expression shattered.
"What did you do?"
Raymond went absolutely still.
Gabriel took a step toward him.
"Elena wrote this three years ago."
Raymond shook his head.
"Gabriel, listen—"
"She wrote it the week before she died."
Cassandra covered her mouth.
Gabriel looked down at the letter again.
When he spoke, his voice was barely audible.
"She was afraid of you."
Raymond swallowed.
Gabriel lifted the page.
May you like
And in front of every guest, he read his late wife's final warning.
"If anything happens to me, don't believe Raymond when he tells you it was an accident."
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