Chapter 4 - THE COTTAGE BEHIND THE ROSES|
By midnight, the engagement party had ended.
The guests were gone.
The chandeliers were dimmed.
And Victoria Ashford was no longer wearing her diamond engagement ring.
Nico had asked her to remove it before leaving the mansion.
She'd refused at first.
Then she'd looked at the security personnel waiting near the entrance and realized her usual methods weren't going to work.
I watched from the hallway as she slipped the ring off her finger.
She placed it on the marble table.
For a moment, her expression looked almost wounded.
"Nico, you're throwing away everything we planned."
He looked at her.
"No."
His voice was steady.
"I'm protecting what's left of my family."
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
"Then explain it to the investigators."
She stared.
"Investigators?"
Nico nodded.
"I've already contacted my attorney."
Victoria laughed nervously.
"You're going to investigate your own fiancée?"
"Former fiancée."
Her face changed.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then she looked directly at me.
"This is your fault."
I stopped breathing.
Nico stepped forward.
"Sophie didn't forge medical paperwork."
Victoria ignored him.
"She should have kept her mouth shut."
I felt my cheeks burn.
For eight months, I'd swallowed insults because I needed the job.
I'd apologized when I hadn't done anything wrong.
I'd worked extra hours because Victoria threatened to replace me.
But tonight, Rosa could have lost her home.
Antonio could have been taken away against his wishes.
And Nico might never have known.
I looked Victoria in the eyes.
"No, ma'am."
She stared.
"What?"
"You should have treated them better."
Her expression twisted.
"How dare you?"
I swallowed.
"You were going to remove a seventy-nine-year-old man from his home without telling his son."
Victoria took a step toward me.
Nico moved between us.
"That's enough."
He looked toward Anthony.
"Escort her out."
Victoria's expression became cold.
"You'll regret this."
Nico didn't answer.
Anthony accompanied her to the front door.
A moment later, we heard a car engine start.
Then the mansion fell quiet.
I thought the worst part of the evening was finally over.
I was wrong.
At twelve fifteen, Rosa asked me to accompany her to the cottage.
She wanted to check whether Victoria had ordered anyone to remove her belongings.
Nico insisted that two security guards follow us.
He also asked Anthony to preserve the suspicious medical documents for the authorities.
Then he returned upstairs to sit with his father.
Rosa and I walked through the garden beneath a cold November sky.
The cottage stood beyond a row of hedges.
It was small, with white-painted walls, green shutters, and a porch surrounded by rosebushes.
I'd visited many times.
Rosa often invited the younger employees for coffee on their days off.
Inside, the rooms smelled of cinnamon, fresh bread, and furniture polish.
Photographs lined the mantel.
One showed Nico at seven years old, smiling with a missing front tooth.
Another showed Rosa standing beside Nico's mother.
And a third showed a little girl with dark curls sitting on a garden bench.
I'd never noticed that picture before.
I pointed toward it.
"Mrs. Alvarez, who's that?"
Rosa froze.
Then she looked at the photograph.
"Elena."
My heart tightened.
"The baby?"
She nodded.
"She stayed here for almost two years."
I stared.
"Two years?"
Rosa sat in her armchair.
"Your mother was never told the whole story, Sophie."
I frowned.
"My mother?"
Rosa smiled sadly.
"No, sweetheart."
She looked down.
"I mean Nico's mother."
I sat opposite her.
"Tell me."
Rosa took a long breath.
"When Maria disappeared, Elena was only eight months old."
She glanced toward the photograph.
"Mrs. Santoro brought her here because she was afraid Charles Ashford would find her."
"Why would he want a baby?"
Rosa shook her head.
"At first, I didn't understand."
She folded her hands.
"Then I learned Maria had left something behind."
"What?"
"A ledger."
My heart quickened.
Rosa continued.
"It contained names, dates, and financial transactions."
"Evidence against Charles?"
"Yes."
"And where is it?"
Rosa looked toward the fireplace.
"That's what everyone wanted to know."
I frowned.
"Everyone?"
She nodded.
"Charles questioned the staff."
"He searched the offices."
"He accused Maria of theft."
"And then he began pressuring Antonio."
I thought about Nico's father.
"Did Antonio help him?"
Rosa's face became complicated.
"Antonio was afraid."
"Of what?"
"Charles knew things about the family businesses."
She paused.
"Things Antonio didn't want exposed."
I stared at her.
"Criminal things?"
Rosa nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Outside, wind moved through the roses.
Rosa continued.
"Mrs. Santoro wanted to separate the family's legitimate businesses from the dangerous operations surrounding them."
I looked at the photograph.
"And Charles opposed her."
"Very much."
"Why?"
"Because he was making money."
Rosa's eyes filled.
"And he was afraid that losing control of the accounts would expose everything."
I was beginning to understand.
Nico's mother hadn't simply discovered missing charity funds.
She had uncovered a much larger network of corruption.
"And Elena?" I asked.
Rosa looked at me.
"Maria hid the ledger before she disappeared."
"Did she tell her daughter where it was?"
Rosa gave a sad smile.
"She was a baby, sweetheart."
"Then why did Charles want her?"
Rosa lowered her voice.
"Because he believed Maria had left instructions with whoever cared for her."
I felt cold.
"With you."
Rosa nodded.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question that had been troubling me since the photograph appeared.
"What happened when Elena left?"
Rosa's eyes filled.
"Mrs. Santoro arranged for a trusted family to take her."
"Where?"
"Outside Philadelphia."
"Did you visit her?"
"Once."
Rosa wiped her cheeks.
"She was happy."
I smiled sadly.
"And then?"
"Then your employer's mother died."
Rosa stared toward the fireplace.
"Everything changed."
I waited.
"Charles told Antonio that if anyone continued searching for Maria's documents, Nico would be next."
My stomach tightened.
"Nico was only twelve."
Rosa nodded.
"Antonio became terrified."
"He ordered everyone to stop asking questions."
"And Elena?"
"Her adoptive family moved."
Rosa's voice broke.
"I lost contact."
I reached across the table and took her hand.
"I'm sorry."
She gave me a tired smile.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
Then she looked toward the mantel.
"Sometimes I wonder whether she's alive."
A strange thought occurred to me.
"Mrs. Alvarez, did Nico's mother leave anything else?"
Rosa frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"A letter."
"A box."
"Something connected to Elena."
Rosa hesitated.
Then slowly stood.
"There's something I've never shown anyone."
She walked toward the kitchen.
I followed.
Behind a row of old cookbooks stood a small tin container.
Rosa removed it.
Inside were several photographs and a child's bracelet.
The bracelet was made of tiny white beads.
A silver charm hung from one end.
I picked it up carefully.
The charm was shaped like a rose.
Rosa smiled sadly.
"Elena wore that when she was little."
I looked at the tiny bracelet.
Then at the photographs.
One showed Elena sitting beside a birthday cake.
Another showed her playing in the garden.
The last showed a younger Rosa holding the child on her hip.
On the back was a handwritten date.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
I frowned.
"Mrs. Alvarez, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Did Elena have a birthmark?"
Rosa looked surprised.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Behind her right ear."
My heart began pounding.
"What shape?"
Rosa frowned.
"Like a small crescent."
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
Because I knew someone with a crescent-shaped birthmark behind her right ear.
Someone who had grown up outside Philadelphia.
Someone who had been adopted as a baby.
My closest friend.
Emma Lawson.
I had known Emma since high school.
We'd shared an apartment for three years before she moved to Boston.
She'd told me countless times that she knew almost nothing about her birth family.
And I remembered helping her put on earrings before a college dance.
The little crescent-shaped mark behind her right ear had always fascinated me.
Rosa noticed my expression.
"Sophie?"
I looked toward her.
"I might know someone."
She became still.
"What?"
I swallowed.
"Someone who could be Elena."
Rosa pressed a hand against her mouth.
"Are you sure?"
"No."
My heart hammered.
"But I think we need to find out."
Before I could explain further, my phone vibrated.
An unknown number appeared.
I opened the message.
It contained a photograph of Rosa's cottage.
Taken from the garden.
Only seconds earlier.
Beneath it was a sentence.
"THE OLD WOMAN SHOULD HAVE LEFT WHEN SHE HAD THE CHANCE."
I froze.
Then another message appeared.
"AND YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE OPENED THE TIN."
Outside, something moved beyond the window.
One of the security guards shouted.
Rosa grabbed my hand.
"Sophie?"
I looked toward the darkness.
May you like
Then whispered the words that made her face turn pale.
"Someone's watching us."
