Chapter 5 - THE MAID THEY TRIED TO DESTROY|
“She's not mentally incapable!”
The words burst out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Nora looked at me.
“Claire, I agree there's serious reason to question that allegation.”
But Olivia had already begun crying.
“Will they take my baby?”
Her question was so quiet that I almost didn't hear it.
Luca moved his chair beside hers.
“No one is taking your daughter because Vanessa writes lies about you.”
Nora gently corrected him.
“We're going to challenge the petition with evidence, and Olivia will have the opportunity to speak for herself.”
She turned toward Olivia.
“Do you understand what you're being accused of?”
Olivia nodded.
“They're saying I can't make my own decisions.”
“And do you want Vanessa making them for you?”
“No.”
Olivia's answer came without hesitation.
“I want to raise my daughter.”
Nora placed a blank sheet of paper in front of her.
“Then I want you to tell me, in your own words, exactly what happened.”
For nearly an hour, Olivia described everything.
She talked about Vanessa controlling her appointments.
She described the cruel remarks, the intercepted telephone calls, and the papers she had been pressured to sign.
When she finished, Nora had filled six pages with notes.
Then a woman entered the conference room.
She introduced herself as Detective Mara Ellison from the Chicago Police Department.
She was in her early forties, with short brown hair and an expression that suggested she had little patience for wealthy people expecting special treatment.
Luca clearly recognized her.
“Detective.”
“Mr. Moretti.”
Their greeting was polite but tense.
Ellison looked toward Olivia.
“I understand you want to report suspected forgery and interference with your medical care.”
Olivia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then I'd like to hear what happened from you.”
For the first time since the nightmare began, someone was asking Olivia questions without treating her as helpless.
She answered carefully.
She admitted when she couldn't remember something.
She explained that she'd been frightened and exhausted but had never agreed to give Vanessa control over her baby.
Detective Ellison listened without interrupting.
When Olivia finished, she closed her notebook.
“We'll request the relevant records and investigate the signatures, communications, and financial documents.”
Luca leaned forward.
“I can bring Daniel Voss here myself.”
Ellison looked him straight in the eyes.
“Don't.”
The room became silent.
“If you threaten a witness or interfere with evidence, you'll make this harder for your sister.”
I saw the muscles tighten in Luca's jaw.
For a moment, I wondered whether he would listen.
Then he looked at Olivia.
“All right.”
That afternoon, Nora asked me to retrieve Olivia's personal belongings from the mansion.
Olivia wanted her mother's old silver locket, a change of clothes, and the photograph of Matthew she kept beside her bed.
Luca insisted that two security employees accompany me.
I accepted reluctantly.
The mansion felt different when I returned.
The beautiful marble floors looked cold.
The portraits on the walls seemed to watch me.
And the dining room table, where Olivia had nearly collapsed the previous evening, was already being prepared for another formal dinner.
Vanessa had left instructions before disappearing.
Even now, someone was expected to polish the silver.
I walked upstairs and entered Olivia's room.
Her suitcase was still open beside the wardrobe.
On her pillow lay a folded note.
I picked it up carefully by one corner.
The message contained only six words.
CLAIRE WILL PAY FOR HER LIES.
My hands began trembling.
I called the security supervisor into the room and showed him the note.
He immediately contacted Luca.
Before I could explain anything else, one of the younger maids appeared at the doorway.
Her name was Tessa Vale.
She looked nervous.
“Claire, Mrs. Moretti said you stole something.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Her sapphire bracelet.”
I almost laughed.
I hadn't touched Vanessa's jewelry in my life.
But Tessa wasn't smiling.
“She said she knows where you hid it.”
A terrible feeling settled in my stomach.
I hurried toward the small bedroom assigned to me on the third floor.
The security supervisor followed.
My wardrobe door stood slightly open.
Inside, beneath a neatly folded sweater, lay a velvet jewelry box.
I didn't need to open it to understand.
Someone had entered my room.
Someone had planted evidence.
And someone wanted the police to believe I was a thief.
I backed away.
“Don't touch it,” I told the supervisor.
He photographed the scene before calling Detective Ellison.
Twenty minutes later, I sat on the edge of my bed while investigators examined the box and documented who had access to the room.
I felt humiliated.
I'd spent five years caring for this family, yet my own bedroom had become part of a criminal investigation.
Luca arrived just as an officer finished asking me questions.
He looked at the jewelry box.
Then he looked at me.
“Claire, did you take that bracelet?”
I met his eyes.
“No.”
My voice shook.
“But I think Vanessa wants you to believe I did.”
Luca studied me for a long moment.
Then he turned to the detective.
“Claire has handled my family's valuables for five years.”
He paused.
“I won't claim that proves anything, but I want the full evidence examined before anyone makes accusations.”
It wasn't the dramatic declaration I expected.
It was better.
For once, Luca Moretti was choosing facts over threats.
Then Detective Ellison's phone rang.
She stepped into the hallway and listened.
When she returned, she looked deeply troubled.
“Mr. Moretti, the hospital has identified another questionable entry in Olivia's medical file.”
Luca went still.
“What kind of entry?”
“A laboratory result claiming that your sister tested positive for sedative misuse.”
I stared at her.
Olivia had never taken anything without asking her doctor.
Ellison continued.
“The laboratory supervisor says there is no matching specimen or completed test.”
And that was when I understood the true purpose of Vanessa's cruelty.
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She wasn't simply trying to make Olivia look weak.
She was trying to manufacture the evidence that could make an innocent mother appear dangerous to her own child.
