Chapter 4
The male voice belonged to my cousin, Matteo Castellano.
Forty-one.
Senior capo.
My father’s godson.
A man who had carried Audrey through the church garden the day she was baptized.
I knew the voice immediately.
Vanessa watched me recognize it.
That was the first moment she looked truly frightened.
“Where is Matteo?”
She said nothing.
I turned to a bodyguard.
“Bring him.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“This has nothing to do with him.”
I almost smiled.
“You’re getting worse at this.”
Her face hardened.
Twenty minutes later, Matteo entered the terrace.
He saw Vanessa wet and furious.
Then me holding her phone.
He stopped.
Good.
I played the recording.
His face changed.
Not surprise.
Calculation.
“When?”
I asked.
He looked at Vanessa.
“No.”
My voice stayed quiet.
“You answer me.”
“Three months.”
Audrey’s accidents began eleven weeks earlier.
Close enough.
“Why did you want her sent away?”
Matteo folded his arms.
“I didn’t.”
“Your voice asked what happens after I send her away.”
Silence.
“I was trying to understand Vanessa.”
“By helping her hide it?”
His jaw tightened.
I stepped closer.
“Did you move the garden stake?”
Nothing.
“Matteo.”
“Yes.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Even Vanessa turned toward him.
He continued quickly.
“She told me Audrey would never actually reach it.”
I stared.
“She is three.”
“I know.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You know now because I’m standing here.”
Silence.
Matteo looked at the phone.
“There was supposed to be no real injury.”
I almost laughed.
My daughter had gauze covering her eyebrow.
“Then what was supposed to happen?”
He hesitated.
“Enough incidents that you’d question whether the estate was right for her.”
“And where would I send her?”
Vanessa finally spoke.
“St. Catherine’s.”
My expression changed.
St. Catherine’s was not a school.
It was a private country estate owned by my late wife’s family.
Audrey’s mother, Isabella, had grown up there.
And after her death, the property passed directly to Audrey.
Suddenly I understood.
May you like
They did not need my daughter gone from me.
They needed her moved onto something she owned.
