Chapter 2
Richard folded the photograph and placed it inside his jacket.
Vanessa watched his hand disappear beneath the expensive fabric.
Her expression changed instantly.
The panic vanished.
In its place came wounded innocence.
“Richard, you’re frightening me.”
He lifted Sophie from the floor.
The little girl wrapped both arms around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder.
She was lighter than he remembered.
That realization struck him almost as hard as the scene he had walked into.
“How long has she been eating like this?” he asked.
Vanessa pressed a hand to her chest.
“She hasn’t. This happened once.”
Sophie tightened her grip.
Richard felt her shaking.
He looked at the breakfast table.
Vanessa’s plate held eggs, toast, fruit, and half a croissant.
The dog bowl contained dry cereal and several pieces of kibble.
His stomach twisted.
“You mixed dog food into it?”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
“I didn’t—”
“I saw it.”
“It must have already been in the bowl.”
“You put my daughter’s food in a dirty animal dish.”
“She needed consequences!”
“She needed breakfast.”
Richard’s voice was low.
That made it more dangerous.
Vanessa glanced toward the hallway.
The housekeeper, Maria, stood near the pantry with one hand covering her mouth.
Richard turned to her.
“Tell me the truth.”
Maria’s eyes darted toward Vanessa.
Vanessa spoke first.
“Be very careful, Maria.”
Richard’s gaze hardened.
“That sounded like a threat.”
“It was advice.”
Richard shifted Sophie higher against his chest.
“Maria, how long has this been happening?”
The housekeeper swallowed.
“Mr. Sterling, I—”
“Please.”
Maria looked at Sophie.
Her face crumpled.
“Since you left for Chicago.”
Richard had been away for nine days negotiating the acquisition of a medical technology company.
He had called home every night.
Vanessa had always said Sophie was asleep.
“How many meals?” he asked.
“Not every meal,” Maria whispered. “But Miss Vanessa started locking the pantry. She said Sophie was too spoiled. Yesterday, Sophie dropped a glass of milk. Miss Vanessa took away her dinner.”
Vanessa slammed her palm against the table.
“She is lying because I dismissed her brother from the landscaping crew.”
Maria flinched.
Sophie lifted her tear-streaked face.
“Maria gave me crackers.”
Richard closed his eyes for one second.
When he opened them, Vanessa was moving toward the hallway.
“Where are you going?”
“To get my phone.”
“No.”
She stopped.
Richard carried Sophie toward Maria.
“Please take her upstairs. Give her anything she wants to eat. Stay with her.”
Sophie clung harder.
“No, Daddy.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Don’t leave me with her.”
“I won’t.”
The fear in her voice answered every question Vanessa was refusing to answer.
Richard kissed his daughter’s forehead.
“We’re going upstairs together.”
Vanessa stepped between him and the staircase.
“This is ridiculous. You’re letting a six-year-old manipulate you.”
Richard stared at her until she moved.
The three of them climbed the stairs.
Vanessa followed several steps behind.
Her heels struck the marble like a countdown.
Richard felt Sophie’s heart pounding against his chest.
He had met Vanessa fourteen months after his wife, Catherine, died.
She had seemed kind.
Patient.
She remembered Sophie’s school events.
She donated to children’s charities.
She sat beside Richard on the nights when grief made sleep impossible.
And she never once mentioned knowing Catherine.
Not once.
They reached the main bedroom.
Vanessa hurried forward.
“You are not searching my things.”
Richard handed Sophie to Maria.
“Take her to the sitting room. Keep the door open.”
Then he faced Vanessa.
“This is my house.”
“And I live here.”
“Not anymore.”
Her face went still.
“You don’t mean that.”
“You abused my daughter.”
“I disciplined her.”
“You made her eat from a dog bowl.”
“She was acting out because you spoil her!”
Richard walked to the dresser.
Vanessa rushed ahead and pressed her back against the top drawer.
“You have no right.”
“What’s inside?”
“Personal belongings.”
“The second photograph?”
“There is no second photograph.”
Sophie spoke from the sitting-room doorway.
“It’s under the blue scarves.”
Vanessa turned sharply.
The look she gave Sophie was so cold that Richard stepped between them.
“Do not look at her like that.”
“She goes through my things!”
“She was searching for food,” Maria said quietly.
Richard pulled the drawer.
It was locked.
“Key.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“No.”
Richard removed his phone.
He called Thomas Reed, the head of security for the Sterling estate.
“Come to the master bedroom. Bring a locksmith. Lock the exterior gates and suspend every access code except mine.”
Vanessa’s confidence cracked.
“You’re locking me in?”
“I’m preventing evidence from leaving.”
“What evidence? An old photograph?”
“One you tried to take by force.”
Her hand slipped toward the pocket of her dress.
Richard noticed.
“So you do have the key.”
Before she could react, he caught her wrist.
He did not squeeze.
He simply held it still.
“Take your hand out slowly.”
Vanessa glared at him.
Then she removed a small silver key.
She threw it onto the carpet.
“There. Humiliate me if that makes you feel powerful.”
Richard released her.
Thomas arrived less than a minute later with another security officer.
Richard pointed to the key.
Thomas picked it up and unlocked the drawer.
Vanessa surged forward.
The second officer blocked her path without touching her.
Richard pulled aside two blue scarves.
Beneath them lay an envelope, a disposable phone, and a small velvet jewelry box.
There was no photograph.
Sophie frowned.
“It was there.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Children imagine things.”
Richard opened the envelope.
It contained copies of financial statements from Catherine’s private trust.
Several transactions had been circled in red.
Each payment had gone to an organization called Bellweather Patient Advocacy.
Richard recognized none of it.
“What is Bellweather?”
Vanessa said nothing.
He picked up the disposable phone.
It was switched off.
Thomas placed it inside an evidence bag.
Then Richard opened the jewelry box.
Inside was Catherine’s emerald pendant.
The necklace he had buried her wearing.
The room tilted.
Richard gripped the dresser.
“That’s Mommy’s,” Sophie whispered.
Maria crossed herself.
Vanessa’s face lost all color.
Richard picked up the pendant with trembling fingers.
It had been commissioned for Catherine’s thirtieth birthday.
A tiny inscription on the clasp read:
Always, R.
He remembered fastening it around her neck before the funeral home closed the casket.
He remembered touching that pendant for the final time.
Yet now it lay in Vanessa’s drawer.
“How did you get this?”
Vanessa backed away.
“I bought it at an estate sale.”
“No.”
“It resembles Catherine’s. That’s all.”
Richard turned the clasp toward her.
“Her initials are engraved on the back.”
Vanessa’s lips trembled.
Thomas looked at Richard.
“Sir, we should contact the police.”
“Do it.”
Vanessa’s fear transformed into fury.
“You call them, and you will regret it.”
Richard took one step toward her.
“Was that another threat?”
“It’s a warning. You think Catherine was some innocent saint? You have no idea what she was hiding.”
“Then tell me.”
Vanessa smiled, but her eyes were terrified.
“Ask Daniel.”
Richard remembered the handwriting on the first photograph.
If Vanessa ever comes near Sophie, call Daniel.
“Who is he?”
“A man who knows what your wife did before she died.”
“And where do I find him?”
“You don’t.”
Richard’s phone rang.
The caller identification showed the front security gate.
He answered.
A guard spoke urgently.
“Mr. Sterling, a man is outside asking for you. He says his name is Daniel Cross.”
Every person in the bedroom went silent.
Richard looked directly at Vanessa.
For the first time since he had known her, she appeared truly afraid.
“Do not let him leave,” Richard said.
Vanessa moved toward the door.
Thomas blocked her.
Richard ended the call.
“Bring Daniel to the library.”
Sophie slipped away from Maria and ran to Richard.
He knelt and held her close.
“Daddy, is the man bad?”
“I don’t know.”
“He came here before.”
Richard pulled back.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
Sophie pointed at her.
“She made me hide upstairs.”
Richard looked from his daughter to his fiancée.
“What did Daniel give you?”
May you like
Sophie whispered the answer.
“The other picture.”
