Chapter 3
Richard demanded the party end.
Maya agreed.
Not because he ordered it.
Because Lily had already seen enough adults behaving like animals at her third birthday.
Within twenty minutes, guests began leaving through the front entrance.
Nobody spoke above a whisper.
Senior capos remained.
So did Julian.
Vanessa tried to leave with the others.
Maya stopped her.
“You stay.”
Vanessa turned.
“You don’t control me.”
“No.”
Maya glanced at the bodyguards.
“But apparently the men blocking that door disagree.”
Richard looked furious.
“These are my people.”
One bodyguard, Anthony Rios, answered without expression.
“We protect the household.”
Richard stared at him.
Anthony did not move.
Maya remembered exactly who had hired Anthony.
Not Richard.
Julian.
Years earlier.
One alliance had already shifted.
Upstairs, Lily refused to change out of her cake-stained birthday dress until Maya arrived.
Maya sat beside her on the bed.
“Daddy was mean to you.”
It was not a question.
Maya swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Are you mad?”
“Yes.”
“Are you gonna hit him again?”
The question hurt.
Maya took Lily’s hands.
“No.”
Lily studied her carefully.
“But he hurt you.”
“I know.”
“So why not?”
“Because stopping somebody and hurting somebody back aren’t always the same thing.”
Lily did not fully understand.
Maya did not expect her to.
She kissed her forehead and waited until Emma took her into the adjoining playroom.
Then Maya returned downstairs.
Julian had moved the remaining men into Richard’s private library.
Richard stood beside the fireplace.
Vanessa sat near him.
Too near.
Maya noticed.
Julian placed Eleanor’s paper on the desk.
“Ask who survived,” Maya said. “Who?”
Julian did not answer immediately.
One of the capos, Thomas Bell, spoke.
“There was a night.”
Richard turned toward him.
“Stop.”
Thomas ignored him.
“Twenty-seven years ago. Somebody tried to wipe out Eleanor’s leadership group.”
Maya listened.
“Who?”
“Three men died. Two disappeared.”
“And Eleanor?”
“She survived.”
Maya pointed toward the paper.
“Then why ask who survived?”
Thomas looked at Julian.
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Because Eleanor wasn’t the only one.”
Richard slammed his hand onto the desk.
“This ancient nonsense has nothing to do with tonight.”
Maya looked at him.
“Then why are you afraid of it?”
“I’m not.”
“You put my face through our daughter’s cake because I carried a velvet box.”
Richard stepped toward her.
Anthony moved between them.
Richard stopped again.
Maya saw humiliation burn through his face.
This time she did not enjoy it.
She simply remembered it.
Julian finally spoke.
“Eleanor had a partner.”
The room changed.
Maya frowned.
“Business partner?”
“Operational partner. Strategist. Nobody outside the original circle knew the person’s name.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor wanted one person nobody could identify.”
Maya looked at the paper.
“Did that person survive?”
Julian nodded.
“According to Eleanor, yes.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
Richard laughed.
Maya turned.
His laugh sounded forced.
Too fast.
She had spent six years married to him.
She knew every version of that sound.
Richard knew more.
Maya did not confront him.
Not yet.
She asked Julian something simpler.
“Why did Eleanor give me the ring?”
“I don’t know.”
For the first time that night, Julian seemed completely sincere.
Vanessa stood.
“This is insane. Eleanor was dying. She gave jewelry to a girl who worked for her. That’s all.”
Maya looked at Vanessa.
“How did you know I worked for her?”
Vanessa froze.
Maya had never told her.
Nobody had.
May you like
Richard slowly turned toward Vanessa.
That was the first moment Maya realized her husband might not know everything either.
