Chapter 7
Vivienne removed the empty necklace chain herself.
Her fingers shook so badly the clasp caught twice.
Finally it came free.
She placed it on the table.
Dominic watched.
No triumph.
No satisfaction.
Only disappointment.
“Why wear it?”
Vivienne’s eyes filled.
She could have lied.
She didn't.
“At first, I kept it because I was scared you would ask questions.”
Her breath caught.
“Later…”
She looked toward the house.
“Later I hated what it represented.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Elena.”
The name came out almost resentfully.
“She was dead, and she was still everywhere.”
Vivienne pressed one hand against her own chest.
“Aria talked about her.”
“Of course she did.”
“Your staff compared us.”
“No one asked you to replace her.”
Vivienne laughed once.
Painfully.
“You didn't have to.”
Her voice grew rougher.
“She was in every photograph. Every room. Every tradition. Even the way Aria looked at me when I touched her things.”
Dominic’s gaze hardened.
“So you punished my daughter for remembering her mother.”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
“I told myself I was helping her move on.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“No.”
She opened her eyes.
“You were demanding that a three-year-old make your insecurity easier.”
Vivienne flinched.
Marcus stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
Dominic looked at him.
Marcus’s jaw was tight.
His loyalty to Vivienne was real.
So was his willingness to use her.
“Why?”
Dominic asked.
Marcus frowned.
“Why what?”
“Why are you still protecting her when you let her carry your crime?”
Marcus went still.
Vivienne looked at her brother.
That question reached somewhere Dominic had not yet seen.
Marcus’s voice lowered.
“She chose to help.”
“Twice.”
“Yes.”
“And after Elena discovered you?”
Silence.
Dominic stepped closer.
“What did you ask Vivienne to do?”
Marcus did not answer.
Vivienne did.
“He asked me to convince Elena she was overreacting.”
Dominic turned.
Vivienne’s hands curled against her gown.
“I told Elena the invoices were temporary.”
“I told her Marcus was fixing them.”
“I told her involving you would turn a financial problem into a war.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened.
“So Elena trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“And you used that trust to keep her quiet.”
Vivienne's voice broke.
“Yes.”
That was more intimate than the theft.
Then Dominic remembered something.
“Elena’s last dinner.”
Vivienne went still.
Dominic had attended a family dinner four days before Elena died.
Elena barely spoke.
Vivienne sat beside her.
Marcus attended.
Dominic had assumed Elena was angry at him.
Now he asked:
“What happened before I arrived?”
Neither sibling answered.
Dominic waited.
Marcus finally looked at the ground.
“Elena confronted us.”
“About the money?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Marcus’s breathing became heavier.
“She said she already made copies.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Vivienne looked at the old formal dress being carried upstairs.
Dominic saw it.
Again.
His eyes narrowed.
“Elena wore that dress that night.”
Vivienne stopped breathing.
The torn dress had already produced the jewelry receipt.
Now Dominic understood why Vivienne had tried so violently to get it off Aria.
May you like
She had not been angry only because the child looked like Elena.
She believed Elena had hidden something else inside it.
