Chapter 2
Maya had met Eleanor Vale when she was nineteen.
She had never known her as a mafia founder.
To Maya, Eleanor had simply been the severe older woman who owned a small accounting office above a florist in Chicago’s Near West Side.
Maya had been working two jobs then.
One at a restaurant.
One filing invoices for Eleanor three nights a week.
Eleanor rarely spoke about herself.
She wore inexpensive black dresses, drank terrible coffee, and had a habit of correcting Maya’s arithmetic without looking at the page.
Six months after Maya started working for her, Eleanor became ill.
By the time Maya understood how serious it was, Eleanor had already closed the office.
One rainy evening, Eleanor asked Maya to drive her to a private apartment near Lincoln Park.
There, she gave her the orchid ring.
“Keep this somewhere nobody can find it.”
Maya had laughed nervously.
“Is it valuable?”
“To the wrong people.”
“Why me?”
Eleanor studied her.
“Because you’re the only person around me who has never asked what I could give you.”
Three weeks later, Eleanor died.
Maya kept the ring.
She never wore it.
Never sold it.
Never investigated it.
Years later, she met Richard Vance at a charity event.
He was charming then.
Patient.
Careful.
When he learned Maya had once worked for Eleanor Vale, he acted mildly interested.
Maya had thought nothing of it.
Now, standing inside her daughter’s destroyed birthday ballroom, that old conversation returned with a completely different meaning.
Richard had known Eleanor’s name.
He had asked where Maya kept her things after Eleanor died.
He had asked whether Eleanor ever gave her paperwork.
At the time, Maya believed he was making conversation.
Now she looked directly at him.
“When we met, you asked me about Eleanor.”
Richard shrugged.
“You worked for her.”
“You asked whether she left me anything.”
“People ask questions.”
“You asked three times.”
Vanessa interrupted.
“This is becoming paranoid.”
Maya turned toward her.
“You recognized the ring.”
“No.”
“You tried to grab it.”
“You had just assaulted Richard.”
“And that made you reach for jewelry?”
Vanessa did not answer.
Julian walked slowly toward the dessert counter.
He picked up the broken velvet box.
“Eleanor never treated that ring like jewelry.”
“What was it?” Maya asked.
Julian looked at her.
“A warning.”
Richard laughed.
Julian ignored him.
“Eleanor used the orchid privately. It was on certain envelopes. Certain orders. Certain meetings.”
“What did it mean?”
Julian hesitated.
Richard answered first.
“It means nothing.”
Maya looked at him.
“You seem desperate for something meaningless.”
Richard’s face hardened.
Julian turned the velvet box over.
Something inside the lining moved.
A faint click.
Everyone heard it.
Maya frowned.
Julian carefully peeled back part of the damaged velvet.
Nothing valuable appeared.
Only a narrow strip of old paper.
Maya stared.
“I never put that there.”
Julian removed it.
One line had been written across it in faded blue ink.
He read it silently.
Then his expression changed again.
“What does it say?” Maya asked.
Julian folded the paper.
“Not here.”
Richard immediately moved.
“Give me that.”
Two bodyguards stepped between them.
Richard stopped.
Maya watched him.
The situation was becoming clearer with every mistake he made.
Richard had attacked her before she opened the box.
Vanessa had lunged for the ring before Julian explained it.
And now Richard wanted a piece of paper Maya had not even known existed.
This had never been about a birthday cake.
Maya looked toward the staircase where Lily had disappeared.
Something inside her hardened.
Richard could humiliate her.
He could betray their marriage.
He could lie about business.
But he had done all of it three feet from their daughter.
That changed the rules.
“Julian.”
He looked at her.
“Read it.”
Julian hesitated.
Then unfolded the paper.
May you like
Three words were written beneath the faded orchid mark.
ASK WHO SURVIVED.
