Chapter 10 - THE BRIDE'S PERFECT LIE|
The first thing I learned about Dr. Adrian Vale was that he hadn't always been a dishonest physician.
He'd once worked at a respected Chicago hospital.
He'd published research on elderly patients and medication safety.
He'd spoken publicly about the importance of informed consent.
Then he'd left his hospital position and accepted a lucrative consulting arrangement with Havenbrook.
According to the statement he gave investigators through his attorney, Grant Bellini had promised him a medical practice where money would never be a problem.
At first, the work appeared legitimate.
He evaluated older adults referred by residential facilities.
But gradually, the requests changed.
He was asked to approve transfers for patients he hadn't examined.
He was pressured to describe normal disagreements as symptoms of psychiatric instability.
When he objected, Grant reminded him of contracts he'd signed and professional mistakes he'd made.
Eventually, Dr. Vale stopped objecting.
He began accepting payments.
Then he began signing documents he knew were false.
I listened to the account in Tessa's office, feeling sick.
“So he knew Rosa wasn't dangerous?”
Tessa looked at me.
“He has admitted he never examined her before authorizing the proposed transfer.”
“And me?”
“He never examined you either.”
I stared at the floor.
For days, I'd been imagining how easily my life could have been destroyed by those papers.
Now I knew the man who'd signed them hadn't even bothered to meet me.
Tessa continued.
“He also says the medical history attached to your admission packet was fabricated.”
I closed my eyes.
“Who made it?”
“That remains under investigation.”
“But he says Grant supplied the information and Vanessa approved the plan.”
I thought of Nina.
Eighteen months earlier, she'd been accused of instability after questioning patient care.
Now the same doctor was admitting to a similar arrangement involving Rosa and me.
“What happens to him?” I asked.
“That's for prosecutors and the court to determine.”
“Cooperating doesn't erase his responsibility.”
I nodded.
I didn't want revenge.
I wanted the people responsible to be unable to do it again.
That afternoon, Rosa asked me to join her in the mansion's conservatory.
Sunlight streamed through the glass ceiling.
She was trimming the leaves of a small lemon tree Antonio had planted for her years earlier.
“Claire, do you know what bothers me most?”
I sat beside her.
“What?”
“Vanessa used to bring me flowers.”
I looked at her.
“She did?”
“Every Friday.”
“White roses.”
“She said they reminded her of her grandmother.”
Rosa touched one of the lemon tree's leaves.
“I thought she wanted to become part of our family.”
Her eyes filled.
“Instead, she was learning how to make me trust her.”
I wanted to say something comforting.
But sometimes the truth was too painful to decorate.
So I simply sat beside her.
After a while, she reached for my hand.
“Luca loved her, you know.”
I looked down.
“I know.”
“He wanted a family again after his father died.”
“He was lonely, even if he'd never admit it.”
I thought of the way Luca had watched Rosa sleeping in the hospital.
He'd looked like a little boy afraid to lose the last person who remembered his childhood.
Rosa sighed.
“Loneliness can make even clever people believe things they should question.”
That evening, Vanessa returned to the mansion.
She came with her attorney and an officer assigned to supervise the collection of personal belongings under a temporary arrangement.
I hadn't expected to see her.
I was standing in the hallway when she appeared.
She wore a cream-colored coat and enormous sunglasses.
Her hair was flawless.
Her expression was almost bored.
“Claire.”
I froze.
She smiled.
“Still here?”
I didn't answer.
Her attorney immediately reminded her not to discuss the allegations with witnesses.
But Vanessa ignored him.
“You must be enjoying all this attention.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
She laughed softly.
“Of course not.”
Then she lowered her voice.
“You know, Luca has a habit of becoming attached to people he thinks he needs to rescue.”
I stepped backward.
“I'm not interested in discussing Mr. Moretti with you.”
Her smile tightened.
“You think being his mother's favorite servant makes you special?”
Before I could answer, Luca appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Vanessa.”
She turned immediately.
“Darling.”
He stopped several feet away.
For a moment, she looked almost pleased.
Then he spoke.
“Don't address Claire again.”
Her expression hardened.
“I am your wife.”
“Yes.”
He paused.
“And I made a terrible mistake trusting you.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“After everything we've been through, you're going to believe a maid over me?”
Luca looked toward Rosa's room.
“I'm going to believe the evidence.”
Her face flushed.
“You think you're innocent?”
“You think your family fortune came from kindness and charity?”
Luca didn't answer immediately.
I knew enough about the Moretti name to understand what she meant.
Luca controlled businesses that had made him rich and feared.
Some were legitimate.
Others had roots in the criminal world his father had tried, unsuccessfully, to leave behind.
For years, Luca had believed fear could protect the people he loved.
Vanessa was using that history against him.
But he didn't deny it.
“No,” he said quietly.
“I've made choices I'm not proud of.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Then don't pretend you're better than me.”
Luca looked directly at her.
“My past doesn't make what you did to my mother acceptable.”
For the first time, her confidence faltered.
He continued.
“My attorney is preparing the divorce papers.”
Vanessa went completely still.
“You can't be serious.”
“I am.”
She laughed once.
A sharp, ugly sound.
“You'll regret this.”
“Maybe I'll regret plenty of things.”
“But I won't regret finally listening to her.”
Vanessa looked toward me.
There was something frighteningly cold in her eyes.
Then she turned away.
As she passed, I noticed a small gold bracelet on her wrist.
It belonged to Rosa.
Antonio had given it to her on their fortieth wedding anniversary.
I recognized the tiny engraved clasp because I'd polished it dozens of times.
“Mrs. Moretti,” I said.
Vanessa stopped.
I swallowed.
“That bracelet belongs to Rosa.”
She turned slowly.
“Excuse me?”
“It's hers.”
“Her husband gave it to her.”
Vanessa glanced at Luca.
“Your mother gave it to me.”
From the doorway behind us, Rosa spoke.
“No, Vanessa.”
“I didn't.”
We all turned.
Rosa was standing in the hallway, leaning on her cane.
Her voice was steady.
“I asked you to return it two months ago.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Rosa held out her hand.
“I'd like it back.”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Vanessa unclasped the bracelet and dropped it into Rosa's palm.
“There.”
Rosa looked down at the gold.
She closed her fingers around it.
“Thank you.”
Vanessa turned and walked away.
But before she reached the staircase, she looked back at Luca.
“You know why your father hated Grant's offer?”
Luca frowned.
“Because Harbor House wasn't for sale.”
Vanessa smiled bitterly.
“That's what your mother told you.”
She glanced toward Rosa.
“Ask her what Antonio discovered about Grant's first development project.”
Then she continued down the stairs.
Rosa went pale.
Luca looked at his mother.
“Ma?”
She stared after Vanessa.
For a moment, I feared she would collapse.
But then she spoke.
“Your father found out that Grant had been taking money from elderly property owners by promising them homes they never received.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“And Dad knew?”
“Yes.”
“He kept copies of the complaints.”
“He wanted to help those families get their money back.”
She looked toward the sewing room.
“I thought those records were lost after he died.”
Luca took out his phone.
“Then we need to find them.”
Rosa tightened her grip on the bracelet.
“Vanessa knows about them.”
“That's why she's so frightened.”
I looked toward the staircase where Vanessa had disappeared.
The woman who'd laughed at an injured eighty-two-year-old wasn't simply trying to steal a building.
May you like
She was trying to destroy the evidence that could expose years of exploitation.
And I suddenly understood why Grant had been willing to spend so much money to silence a housemaid.
