Chapter 2
Vanessa refused to speak in front of Ethan.
For once, Dante agreed.
Not because he wanted to protect her.
Because Ethan was seven.
Whatever Vanessa had done, the boy did not need to hear adults dismantle his mother while he was sitting beside unfinished cake.
Dante sent Ethan upstairs with Lily and two trusted women from the household.
Before Ethan left, he stopped beside Dante.
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“But Lily cleaned because of me.”
“That wasn’t your decision.”
Ethan looked toward Vanessa.
She would not meet his eyes.
Then he whispered:
“Mom said when we become real Morettis, Lily won’t sit with us anymore.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“What does ‘real Morettis’ mean?”
Ethan shrugged.
“Mom says you’ll understand later.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Dante did understand one thing.
Whatever this was, it had not started with cake.
After the children left, he took Vanessa into the old morning room.
No council.
No audience.
Only Dante, Vanessa, and his bodyguard Nico Bell.
Vanessa stood near the window.
Dante placed the brass key on the table.
“Start.”
She looked at it.
“I found the cloth in storage.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that linen chest has been locked since Sofia died.”
Vanessa’s expression shifted.
“You kept her cleaning cloths locked?”
“I kept everything in that room locked.”
“Why?”
“Because grief makes men stupid.”
At least that was honest.
Vanessa stared at him.
Dante continued:
“You opened the room.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
She said nothing.
Nico looked toward Dante.
Dante remained calm.
“Who gave you the key?”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“You’re afraid of the person who helped you.”
“No.”
“Then name him.”
Silence.
Dante leaned back.
“Tell me about the blue door.”
Vanessa looked toward the floor.
“I don’t know what’s behind it.”
“You’ve been sending Lily there.”
“She fits.”
Nico’s expression darkened.
Dante’s did not.
That was worse.
“She fits where?”
“There’s a narrow service passage behind the old kitchen.”
“And you used my daughter to enter it.”
“I never forced her inside.”
Dante looked at her.
“She’s three.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“I told her cleaning was a game.”
“Then put her on her knees today.”
“That was different.”
“No.”
His voice went cold.
“Today was what happens when adults practice cruelty until it stops feeling unusual.”
Vanessa looked away.
Dante picked up the brass key.
“Why Sofia’s cloth?”
“The man said the key was sewn inside.”
Nico shifted.
At last.
Dante asked:
“What man?”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Closed.
Then upstairs something crashed.
Dante stood immediately.
Nico was already moving.
They found Ethan in the hallway outside Lily’s room.
A lamp had fallen.
He looked terrified.
Lily stood behind him holding a stuffed rabbit.
“What happened?” Dante asked.
Ethan pointed toward the servants’ staircase.
“A man.”
Dante’s hand moved beneath his jacket.
“Where?”
“He went down.”
“What man?”
Ethan looked at his mother.
Vanessa had followed.
Her face went white.
Ethan whispered:
“My dad.”
The hallway went completely silent.
Dante looked at Vanessa.
Ethan’s father, Gabriel Cole, had supposedly died five years earlier.
Vanessa had told Dante the story before their marriage.
Gabriel had been a violent man.
A gambler.
A courier who became tangled with dangerous crews.
Killed in another state.
No body returned.
Vanessa said there had been nothing left to bury.
Dante looked back at Ethan.
“You saw your father?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Lots.”
Vanessa said:
“Ethan.”
The boy recoiled.
Dante moved between them.
“Lots when?”
“At night.”
“How long?”
Ethan thought.
“Since we came here.”
Dante felt the house become smaller.
Eighteen months.
A dead man walking through his estate for eighteen months.
“What does he do?”
“He talks to Mom.”
“What about you?”
“Sometimes he says I can’t call him Dad.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Ethan continued:
“He says I have to call him Mr. Gray when other people are near.”
Dante looked at Nico.
Nico’s face had hardened.
“What else does he say?”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
“He says the little princess has to open the blue door.”
Lily began crying.
Dante picked her up.
Vanessa whispered:
“I can explain.”
Dante looked at her.
“No.”
May you like
His voice was almost soft.
“You can confess.”
