Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO BETRAYED HIS BEST FRIEND|
Dominic Rinaldi arrived at the Moretti estate shortly after two in the afternoon.
I was carrying fresh towels toward the second-floor bedrooms when I heard his voice in the entrance hall.
"Luca, I've been trying to reach you."
He sounded irritated rather than worried.
Almost offended.
Dominic was fifty-two, broad-shouldered, and impeccably dressed.
He had worked beside Luca for nearly twenty years.
According to the household staff, he had been present when Benjamin was born.
He had stood at Caroline's funeral.
He had even carried one corner of her casket.
I stopped halfway down the stairs.
Luca stood near the fireplace with Elena and Marco beside him.
"Come into the study, Dominic."
Dominic glanced at the security officers.
"What's going on?"
"Something we should have discussed a long time ago."
I couldn't see his face clearly.
But I noticed how quickly his right hand moved toward his jacket pocket.
Marco stepped forward.
"Leave your phone on the table, please."
Dominic laughed.
"Are you serious?"
Luca didn't smile.
"Very."
I continued toward the linen room.
But before I reached it, Luca called my name.
"Claire."
I turned.
"Yes, sir?"
"Please stay with Benjamin until I finish."
"Of course."
I found Benjamin sitting on the rug in his bedroom, drawing with colored pencils.
He had drawn a house with three people standing outside.
One was a tall man.
One was a small boy.
The third figure wore a blue dress.
"Who's that?" I asked gently.
"Mommy."
He pointed at the woman.
"That's how she looked when we went to the beach."
I smiled.
"It's beautiful."
Benjamin studied his picture.
"Can people still be a family when somebody dies?"
I sat beside him.
"Yes, sweetheart."
"Even if you can't see them anymore?"
"Especially then."
He thought for a moment.
"Then Daddy doesn't need a new wife to make us a family."
I swallowed.
"No, he doesn't."
Benjamin set down his blue pencil.
"Vanessa said he would."
I looked at him.
"She said Daddy needed someone who could give him better children."
The words struck me like a slap.
"Benjamin, there is nothing wrong with you."
He stared at the drawing.
"She said I was too much trouble."
I moved closer.
"You are a little boy who deserves to be loved."
His lower lip trembled.
"You really think so?"
"I know so."
He leaned against my shoulder.
Downstairs, a door suddenly slammed.
I heard Dominic's voice rise.
"You're going to believe a woman who's been dead for three years?"
Benjamin flinched.
Then Luca answered.
"Don't you dare speak about Caroline that way."
Another silence.
I hurried to close Benjamin's door.
But the boy caught my sleeve.
"Miss Claire, is Uncle Dominic angry?"
I froze.
Benjamin had called him Uncle Dominic for as long as he could remember.
"Your daddy is handling it."
He looked frightened.
"Uncle Dominic told me something yesterday."
I sat back down.
"What did he say?"
Benjamin twisted the edge of his shirt.
"He said sometimes people have to leave so other people can be happy."
My stomach tightened.
"Did he say who had to leave?"
Benjamin nodded.
"Me."
I stared at him.
Then he added something worse.
"He said I shouldn't tell Daddy because Daddy already felt guilty about Mommy."
I felt cold all over.
For three years, Dominic had been a trusted member of this household.
He had used that trust to manipulate a grieving child.
I stood.
"Benjamin, stay here for a moment."
I hurried downstairs.
The study door was open.
Dominic stood facing Luca with a thin smile.
"Caroline became obsessed with financial records."
Luca's expression remained controlled.
"She recorded you threatening her."
Dominic's smile disappeared.
"You found that?"
The words escaped before he could stop them.
Elena looked up.
Luca took one step forward.
"How did you know there was a recording?"
Dominic quickly recovered.
"Because Caroline recorded conversations constantly."
Luca shook his head.
"No, she didn't."
Dominic glanced toward the door.
I stepped into view.
"Mr. Moretti, Benjamin told me something."
Luca turned immediately.
"What?"
I repeated the child's words.
Every one of them.
Dominic's face hardened.
"She's a maid, Luca."
The contempt in his voice sounded painfully familiar.
Vanessa had used the same excuse.
As though my job made me less capable of telling the truth.
Luca looked at Dominic.
"Claire has been more honest with me in twenty-four hours than you've been in twenty years."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Be careful, Luca."
"Is that a threat?"
"It's advice."
Luca nodded toward Elena.
"She's already preserved the financial records, and the authorities have been contacted."
For the first time, Dominic looked genuinely alarmed.
"You brought investigators into family business?"
"You stole from my son."
Dominic laughed bitterly.
"You have no idea what I've done to keep this empire standing."
Luca stepped closer.
"Then maybe it's time everyone found out."
Dominic stared at him.
For several seconds, the two men looked like strangers.
Then Dominic straightened his jacket.
"You think Vanessa was working alone?"
Luca didn't answer.
Dominic smiled again.
"You canceled the wedding."
"Yes."
"You think that ends everything?"
"It ends your access to my family."
Dominic slowly shook his head.
"Caroline thought she could walk away from this business, too."
The room fell silent.
Luca's face changed.
"What did you say?"
Dominic glanced at Elena and Marco.
Then he took a step backward.
"Nothing."
But we had all heard him.
Caroline hadn't been trying to walk away from a marriage.
She had been trying to expose a crime.
And Dominic had just connected her death to that decision.
Luca ordered Marco to escort him from the property.
Nobody touched him unnecessarily.
Nobody threatened him.
But Dominic's position inside the Moretti organization was finished.
As he passed me in the doorway, he stopped.
"You're making a mistake, Claire."
My pulse raced.
"What do you mean?"
He leaned slightly closer.
"People who get involved in things they don't understand usually lose more than their jobs."
Then he walked away.
Ten minutes later, my phone vibrated.
The message came from an unknown number.
Your mother still lives in the same apartment, doesn't she?
I stared at the screen.
My hands began shaking.
Another message appeared.
May you like
Stay out of this, Claire, or she becomes part of it.
For the first time since I had placed that plate in front of Benjamin, I wondered whether telling the truth might cost someone I loved her life.
