Chapter 4 - The File With Her Name
Dominic did not open the door.
He stared at the security feed.
Marcella stood impatiently beneath the front light.
Attorney Rachel Bell looked uncomfortable.
The unknown man held the folder against his chest.
Vivian stood behind Dominic.
“Who is he?”
“I don't know.”
That was rare.
Dominic knew everyone who came within twenty feet of his family.
He pressed the intercom.
“Marcella.”
His aunt looked toward the camera.
“Open the door.”
“Who is the man?”
“He works for Rachel.”
Rachel immediately shook her head.
Dominic saw it.
“So that's a lie.”
Marcella glared sideways.
The young man smiled again.
“My name is Evan Cole.”
Dominic's fingers moved toward the security control.
“What do you have?”
“Something your wife deserves to see.”
Vivian stepped closer.
“My medical records?”
Evan looked surprised to hear her voice.
“Not exactly.”
Dominic opened the outer gate but kept the house locked.
Five minutes later, they stood inside the entry vestibule separated by reinforced glass.
Rachel held up both hands.
“I didn't know he was coming.”
Marcella hissed, “Stop making this dramatic.”
Dominic looked at Evan.
“Slide the folder through.”
Evan did.
Dominic picked it up.
Inside were copies of invoices.
Clinic forms.
Emails.
No medical diagnosis.
No private treatment notes.
Instead, there were payment receipts for a wellness clinic.
Vivian frowned.
“I've never been there.”
Dominic examined the dates.
Several coincided with family events.
One receipt listed a consultation for “rapid pre-event body reduction.”
Another contained Vivian's name and an appointment request.
Another had a handwritten note:
CLIENT HUSBAND REQUIRES SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT LOSS BEFORE FOUNDATION GALA.
Dominic went rigid.
Vivian stared at him.
“I never wrote that.”
“I know.”
Marcella sighed.
“Obviously somebody was trying to help.”
Dominic looked at her through the glass.
“Help?”
“You knew photographs were coming.”
Vivian stepped forward.
“Did you make these appointments?”
Marcella looked away.
“Not personally.”
“Who did?”
Silence.
Rachel Bell finally spoke.
“Marcella, tell them.”
Dominic's attention shifted.
“You know?”
Rachel looked miserable.
“I found the invoices attached to a trust reimbursement request.”
“Which trust?”
“The Serrano family hospitality trust.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“They billed humiliating my wife as hospitality.”
Marcella's expression sharpened.
“You're twisting this.”
“No. I'm reading.”
Vivian held one page.
Her hands shook.
“Who wrote that my husband required me to lose weight?”
Marcella finally met her eyes.
“Isabella.”
Silence.
Dominic turned.
“What?”
Marcella seemed almost pleased to redirect the blame.
“Your mother.”
Vivian stared at the paper.
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“You asked for the truth.”
“My mother told the group to stop.”
“Eventually.”
Dominic remembered Isabella's message.
Enough.
Vivian is Dominic's wife.
It had sounded protective.
Now another interpretation emerged.
Damage control.
“Where is she?”
Marcella shrugged.
“Ask her.”
Dominic pulled out his phone.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Vivian touched his arm.
“Don't leave.”
He looked at her.
“I won't.”
Rachel spoke through the glass.
“There is more.”
Marcella spun toward her.
“Rachel.”
“You brought me here.”
“To explain the contract.”
“I am.”
Rachel looked at Dominic.
“The postnup wasn't created because anyone feared Vivian would take your money.”
Dominic waited.
“It was created to protect them from Vivian.”
“From me?” Vivian asked.
Rachel nodded.
“If you ever discovered the false financial documents, the agreement included confidentiality provisions.”
Dominic opened the copied contract on his phone.
He hadn't read every page.
Now he understood.
“You buried an NDA inside it.”
Rachel nodded.
“Marcella instructed me.”
“You drafted it?”
“Yes.”
“Knowing the financial claims were false?”
“No.”
Rachel's voice sharpened.
“I believed the documents were genuine.”
Marcella laughed bitterly.
“How convenient.”
Rachel ignored her.
“When I discovered they weren't, I contacted Celeste.”
Dominic looked at her.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
That explained Celeste's recent behavior.
The nervousness.
The copper dress.
Possibly the anonymous messages.
“Are you the one texting me?”
Rachel frowned.
“No.”
Evan finally spoke.
“I am.”
Everyone turned.
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because nobody else was moving fast enough.”
“Who are you?”
Evan's expression changed.
“Someone who knows what happens when the Serrano family decides a woman doesn't fit.”
Vivian stared at him.
Marcella's face drained of color.
Dominic noticed.
“You know him.”
“No.”
Evan laughed.
“You've always been bad at lying, Aunt Marcella.”
Vivian froze.
Dominic looked from Marcella to Evan.
“Aunt?”
Marcella's mouth tightened.
Evan continued.
“My mother worked for the Serranos twenty-six years ago.”
Dominic's mind raced.
“What was her name?”
“Anna Cole.”
Celeste's voice came from behind them.
“Anna Moretti.”
Everyone turned.
Celeste had entered through the side hall.
She stared at Evan.
“Your mother was Anna Moretti.”
Evan nodded.
Dominic remembered the name faintly.
A family assistant.
A woman who disappeared when he was a teenager.
His father had said she stole money.
“What does this have to do with Vivian?”
Evan's smile disappeared.
“Everything.”
Marcella slammed her hand against the glass.
“Do not let him in.”
Dominic looked at her.
Fear.
Real fear.
Not irritation.
Not embarrassment.
Fear.
He pressed the release.
The glass door unlocked.
Marcella backed away.
Evan entered.
He placed an old photograph on the table.
Dominic picked it up.
His father stood in the center.
Isabella beside him.
Marcella near the edge.
And next to Marcella stood Anna Moretti.
But Dominic wasn't looking at her.
He was looking at the woman beside Anna.
A fuller-figured young woman wearing an elegant gown.
Someone had scratched a red X across her body.
On the back was a date.
And one sentence.
SHE WAS THE FIRST ONE THEY ERASED.
Vivian whispered, “Who is she?”
Celeste's face went white.
Dominic turned the photograph over again.
Below the sentence was a name.
Lucia Serrano.
Dominic's hand went still.
He knew that name.
Everyone in the family did.
Lucia was the aunt who had supposedly died in a car accident before Dominic was old enough to remember her.
Evan looked directly at him.
“She didn't die in an accident.”
Marcella ran for the front door.
Dominic's security lock clicked before she reached it.
She pulled the handle.
It didn't move.
Then a voice sounded from the dark hallway behind them.
“Let her go, Dominic.”
Everyone froze.
Dominic knew that voice.
His mother stepped into the light.
But she wasn't alone.
An elderly woman walked beside her.
Vivian stared at the stranger.
Dominic stared harder.
The woman looked exactly like the photograph.
Older.
Thinner.
May you like
But unmistakable.
Lucia Serrano was alive.
