Chapter 5
Erin refused to leave the ballroom staff room.
“I have work.”
I stared at her.
“You were just humiliated in front of half the city.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“My shift ends at midnight.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because Daniel Walsh’s stubbornness had apparently been genetic.
“You’re done working tonight.”
She stiffened.
“I don’t want charity.”
I looked at the cash envelope still in her hands.
“You kissed me for money.”
Her face burned.
Wrong phrasing.
I softened.
“You did what you thought you had to do for Grace.”
She looked away.
“I’m not proud of it.”
“You don’t need to perform shame for me.”
That made her look back.
I sat across from her.
“Did your father ever talk about Rocco Rinaldi?”
She frowned.
“Uncle Rocco?”
Interesting.
“Why did you call him that?”
“He visited our house.”
“How often?”
“When Dad was alive? A lot.”
My chest tightened.
“What happened after Daniel died?”
“He came once.”
“When?”
“Two days after the funeral.”
“What did he want?”
Erin’s expression changed.
“A key.”
There.
“What key?”
“I don’t know.”
She thought.
“He kept asking Mom where Dad hid the brass key.”
My hands became still.
“Did your mother know?”
“She said no.”
“And?”
“Rocco got angry.”
“How?”
Erin looked uncomfortable.
“He said if Mom made trouble, support could disappear.”
There it was.
The threat came before the termination.
Rocco knew the fund would be used as leverage.
“What did your mother do?”
“She told him to get out.”
Good.
“What happened to the key?”
Erin hesitated.
“Dad gave me one before he died.”
I stared.
“You still have it?”
She reached inside her apron and pulled out a thin chain hidden beneath her blouse.
A small brass key hung from it.
My heart changed rhythm.
“You wear that every day?”
“My father told me never to give it to a Rinaldi.”
I almost smiled.
“Then don’t.”
She frowned.
“You’re a Rinaldi.”
“Exactly.”
For the first time, she looked at me without fear.
Only confusion.
May you like
Whatever Daniel had hidden, he trusted his seventeen-year-old daughter more than my entire family.
That told me everything I needed to know about how safe he felt before he died.
