Chapter 4 - The Secret Caroline Left Behind|
I was drying the last dinner plate when Luca entered the kitchen.
Benjamin had finally fallen asleep upstairs.
Mrs. Carter was sitting beside his bed, reading one of his favorite dinosaur books.
The mansion had become strangely quiet.
The guests were gone.
The musicians had packed away their instruments.
And Vanessa's red silk gown was no longer moving through the hallways.
Luca looked exhausted.
"Claire."
I set down the towel.
"Yes, sir?"
"May I speak with you?"
My stomach tightened.
For a moment, I imagined Vanessa had convinced him that everything was my fault.
That he'd decided a housemaid should never have interfered.
Then I remembered his promise.
You won't lose your job.
Still, fear remained.
"Of course."
He looked toward the small kitchen table.
"Would you sit?"
I hesitated.
Employees didn't usually sit with Luca Moretti.
Not in his office.
Not at family dinners.
Certainly not after a scandal involving his fiancée.
But he waited.
So I sat.
He took the chair opposite me.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he asked:
"How long has Vanessa been treating Benjamin this way?"
My stomach dropped.
"Sir..."
"Please tell me."
I swallowed.
"Since shortly after she moved into the mansion."
Luca closed his eyes.
"How long?"
"Almost four months."
He looked down.
I continued carefully.
"At first, it was small things."
"What things?"
"She told him not to interrupt adults. Then she started removing his toys from certain rooms."
Luca nodded slowly.
"And?"
"She said the house needed to look more sophisticated."
His jaw tightened.
I continued.
"She stopped letting him eat breakfast in the sunroom because she said his presence distracted you from work."
Luca looked up sharply.
"That was why he stopped coming downstairs?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
He pressed a hand over his mouth.
For months, Benjamin had eaten breakfast upstairs.
Luca believed it was because the boy enjoyed watching cartoons before school.
Now he was learning that Vanessa had slowly pushed his son out of the household.
One room at a time.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" he whispered.
I looked down.
"Mrs. Carter tried."
Luca froze.
"What?"
"She told Vanessa she was uncomfortable with the rules. Vanessa said she'd have her replaced."
His face darkened.
"And you?"
I swallowed.
"She told me my mother's rent depended on whether I knew my place."
Luca stared.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Then he said quietly:
"She knew your mother was ill?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
He looked away.
I had never seen him so ashamed.
"I'm sorry, Claire."
The words surprised me.
"Sir?"
"I created a house where people were afraid to tell me what was happening to my own child."
I shook my head.
"You didn't know."
He looked directly at me.
"But I should have noticed."
Silence settled between us.
Then he asked:
"Did Caroline ever speak to you?"
I frowned.
"Your wife?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
I shook my head.
"No, sir. She died before I came here."
Luca looked disappointed.
Then he said:
"Vanessa claims Caroline left something behind."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"I don't know."
I thought about the photograph Vanessa took from Benjamin's bedside table.
Then the pink ribbon.
Then something I'd noticed three weeks earlier.
"Mr. Moretti?"
He looked up.
"Yes?"
"Vanessa has been searching Caroline's belongings."
His expression changed.
"What?"
I swallowed.
"Mrs. Carter found her in the old dressing room."
Luca frowned.
"That room has been locked for years."
"Yes."
"How did she get inside?"
I hesitated.
"She said you gave her the key."
Luca slowly stood.
"I didn't."
My heart began pounding.
"Then perhaps you should look inside."
He stared at me.
Then nodded.
"Come with me."
We walked upstairs.
The old dressing room stood at the end of the eastern corridor.
Luca unlocked it with a key from his private office.
When the door opened, the room smelled faintly of lavender and old perfume.
Caroline's dresses hung in the closet.
Her jewelry box rested on the vanity.
Photographs lined the shelves.
I felt as though we'd entered a room that had been waiting for someone.
Luca stood motionless.
For three years, he had avoided this place.
Now he looked around with tears in his eyes.
"She loved this room," he whispered.
I said nothing.
Then he approached the vanity.
A drawer stood slightly open.
Inside were several empty jewelry cases.
Luca frowned.
"That's strange."
"What?"
"Caroline kept a small blue notebook here."
My stomach tightened.
"What notebook?"
"She wrote everything down."
He gave a sad smile.
"Appointments. Birthdays. Things she wanted to remember."
He looked toward the empty drawer.
"It's gone."
I thought about Vanessa.
Her repeated visits.
The photograph she'd taken from Benjamin.
The strange school arrangements.
Then I noticed something beneath the vanity.
A small piece of blue leather.
I crouched.
Picked it up.
It was part of a notebook cover.
"Mr. Moretti?"
He turned.
I held it out.
His face changed immediately.
"That's hers."
My heart raced.
Then I noticed something written on the torn leather.
A number.
417.
Luca stared.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Then whispered:
"Four seventeen."
I frowned.
"Does it mean something?"
May you like
His face went pale.
"That's the number of the hospital room where Caroline died."
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