Chapter 10 - The Lie Ruby Chose
Dante knew immediately.
Ruby saw it in his eyes.
"Nothing?"
She forced herself to nod.
"The note is blank except for the address."
Dante held out his hand.
"Give it to me."
Ruby didn't move.
"Ruby."
She folded the note.
"No."
He stared.
"You're lying."
"Now you know how it feels."
The words hurt both of them.
Dante lowered his hand.
"Fair."
That made her angrier.
"Don't be reasonable."
"I don't have time to argue."
"Good."
She stepped around him.
He caught up.
"Where are you going?"
"To change."
"For what?"
"Sleep."
Dante gave her a look.
Ruby almost laughed.
Instead, she walked upstairs.
Inside her room, she locked the door.
Then she read the note again.
BRING YOUR HUSBAND.
COME ALONE, OR YOUR MOTHER DIES.
Contradiction.
Unless "bring your husband" meant something else.
The marriage contract.
The original document.
Lorenzo had taken it.
Or someone had.
Ruby opened her jewelry case.
A second phone lay beneath the lining.
Dante had given it to her months earlier for emergencies.
She texted Agent Sloan.
Need discreet assistance. No Moretti security.
Three dots appeared.
Location?
Ruby sent the address.
An abandoned opera house outside the city.
Sloan replied.
Do not enter alone.
Ruby ignored that.
She changed into black trousers, boots, and a dark sweater.
When she opened the bedroom door, Sofia stood outside.
The maid looked terrified.
"Mrs. Moretti."
"Sofia."
"I saw them take your mother."
Ruby grabbed her shoulders.
"Who?"
"Mr. Lorenzo."
"Anyone else?"
Sofia hesitated.
"A woman."
"What woman?"
"I don't know."
"Describe her."
"Older. Blonde. Maybe sixty."
Ruby frowned.
No one she knew.
Sofia handed her something.
"She dropped this."
A small gold pin.
Ruby recognized the crest.
The Gallagher Foundation.
Only board members wore it.
Ruby turned it over.
Initials.
C.G.
Charles Gallagher.
Ruby's stomach twisted.
"Where did you find this?"
"By the kitchen door."
Charles was with federal agents.
Unless it wasn't his.
"C.G."
Another Gallagher.
Ruby thought of Catherine Gallagher.
Her adoptive mother.
Dead five years.
No.
Impossible.
She stared at the pin.
Sofia whispered, "Ma'am?"
Ruby pocketed it.
"Tell Dante I went to shower."
Sofia's eyes widened.
"I can't lie to Mr. Moretti."
"You can if you want me to have five minutes."
The maid looked miserable.
Then nodded.
Ruby slipped through a service staircase.
The irony wasn't lost on her.
Everyone in this family used hidden passages.
She reached the garage.
A black sedan waited.
Agent Sloan sat behind the wheel.
Ruby got in.
"You were told not to come alone."
"I'm not alone."
Sloan sighed.
"Technically correct."
They drove.
Ruby showed her the pin.
Sloan's face changed.
"Where did you get this?"
"You recognize it."
"Yes."
"Whose?"
Sloan hesitated.
"Ruby—"
"Don't."
Sloan looked at the road.
"Catherine Gallagher."
Ruby stared.
"No."
"She served on the foundation board."
"My mother died."
"I know."
"Then why are you reacting like that?"
Sloan gripped the steering wheel.
"Because we never recovered Catherine's body."
Ruby's breath caught.
"What?"
"There was a fire."
"I buried her."
"You buried remains identified through dental records."
"Exactly."
"Records can be changed."
Ruby's chest tightened.
"No."
Sloan continued.
"Patrick suspected the identification was false."
"My father knew?"
"He investigated quietly."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
Sloan gave her a sad look.
"Because every person you love appears to share the same catastrophic habit."
Ruby almost laughed.
Almost.
They reached the opera house.
Federal agents surrounded the perimeter unseen.
Sloan gave Ruby a transmitter.
"Stay within sight."
Ruby entered through the front door.
The lobby smelled of dust.
A single light glowed onstage.
Elena sat in a chair.
Hands bound.
Alive.
Ruby ran toward her.
"Mom."
The word came out before she could stop it.
Elena's eyes filled.
"Ruby, don't."
Footsteps echoed.
Lorenzo entered from stage left.
He carried the marriage contract.
"Beautiful."
Ruby stopped.
"Let her go."
"Where's Dante?"
"He doesn't know I'm here."
Lorenzo smiled.
"You lied to him."
"Learned from the best."
His smile faded.
Ruby pointed to the contract.
"Why do you want that?"
"I don't."
"Then why take it?"
"Because someone else does."
The blonde woman stepped from the shadows.
Ruby stared.
Older.
Elegant.
Familiar despite the years.
The same blue eyes.
The same posture.
Ruby had watched those hands braid her hair.
Read bedtime stories.
Bandage scraped knees.
"Catherine?"
The woman smiled sadly.
"Hello, sweetheart."
Ruby couldn't breathe.
Elena began crying.
Lorenzo watched with satisfaction.
Ruby whispered, "You're dead."
Catherine Gallagher stepped into the light.
"So was your father."
Ruby looked between her two mothers.
The absurdity nearly broke her.
"You faked your death."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To protect you."
Ruby laughed.
Of course.
Always.
"Stop saying that."
Catherine flinched.
"Ruby."
"No. You don't get to come back and use the same excuse."
Lorenzo leaned against the stage.
"This is delightful."
Ruby glared.
"Shut up."
He smiled.
Catherine held out her hand.
"The contract."
"Lorenzo has it."
"No. The original annex."
Ruby frowned.
"What annex?"
"The page Dante never showed you."
Her blood chilled.
"What page?"
Catherine looked almost apologetic.
"The one containing the true purpose of your marriage."
Ruby stared.
"I read everything."
"No."
Catherine shook her head.
"You read the copy Patrick wanted you to find."
"Then what did I sign?"
"A legal shield."
"And the annex?"
"A succession agreement."
"For what?"
Catherine looked at Lorenzo.
Then Elena.
Then Ruby.
"For the Moretti empire."
Ruby laughed in disbelief.
"I'm not a Moretti."
"Biologically, you are."
"Dante controls it."
"Only until Vittorio's biological heir asserts her claim."
Ruby's face drained.
"Me."
Catherine nodded.
Lorenzo clapped slowly.
"Finally."
Ruby looked at Elena.
"Did you know?"
Elena shook her head.
"No."
Catherine continued.
"Vittorio left controlling authority to his eldest biological child."
Ruby whispered, "Me."
"Yes."
"Then Dante..."
"Was never the legal heir."
Ruby thought of everything.
Dante's power.
His position.
His entire life.
If she asserted the claim, she could take it.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
"Now you understand."
"You want me to take Dante's empire."
"I want you to give it to me."
Ruby laughed.
"Never."
Lorenzo's face hardened.
Catherine said, "Ruby, listen."
"No."
"You don't understand what Dante will do when he learns."
Ruby looked at her.
"What?"
Catherine's eyes filled.
"He already knows."
Ruby froze.
"No."
"He found the annex before your wedding."
Ruby stared.
"That's impossible."
"He married you anyway."
Lorenzo smiled.
"Knowing that one signature from you could destroy everything he built."
Ruby's heart pounded.
A sound came from the auditorium.
Slow footsteps.
Dante emerged from darkness.
Ruby turned.
He looked at Catherine.
Then Lorenzo.
Then the contract.
Finally Ruby.
His face revealed nothing.
Catherine whispered, "Ask him."
Ruby's voice shook.
"Did you know?"
Dante stared at her.
May you like
And after a long silence, he said:
"Yes."
