Chapter 3 - Someone Was Inside Lucy's Room)
Emma ran.
She did not call security.
She did not stop for shoes.
She raced from the staff wing through the darkened corridor and reached Lucy's nursery in seconds.
The door was unlocked.
Lucy was sleeping peacefully.
The window was closed.
The bathroom was empty.
The closet was empty.
Emma checked beneath the bed even though she knew how ridiculous that was.
Nothing.
Then she noticed the stuffed rabbit.
It sat upright against Lucy's pillow.
Emma had placed it on the rocking chair earlier.
She picked it up.
There was a small black dot inside one button eye.
A camera.
Emma nearly screamed.
She carried the rabbit into the hallway and called Vittorio's head of security, Daniel Cross.
Daniel arrived within minutes.
He had worked for Vittorio for eight years and had the expression of a man who did not scare easily.
When Emma showed him the device, that changed.
"Who knows?"
"No one."
"Vittorio?"
"Not yet."
Daniel looked at her sharply.
"Why not?"
Emma showed him the photograph of Elena.
For several seconds Daniel said nothing.
Then he swore quietly.
"You found this in Bianca's room?"
"Yes."
"Does she know?"
"I don't know."
Daniel examined the hidden camera.
"This isn't consumer equipment."
"What does that mean?"
"It means someone paid for it."
Emma told him about the messages.
Daniel checked security logs.
No unknown entry had been recorded.
No doors had opened after midnight.
That meant either the intruder had entered earlier and hidden inside the house, or someone with authorized access had planted the device.
They both thought of Marcus.
But there were dozens of employees, contractors, security staff, and wedding vendors moving through the estate.
Daniel made a decision.
"We don't tell Vittorio yet."
Emma stared at him.
"You just asked why I hadn't."
"Because now we have an active security problem. If someone is watching Lucy, we need to know who before we alert them."
"And Elena?"
"We verify."
Daniel arranged for an outside investigator.
Not one connected to Romano security.
Her name was Nora Bell.
She had previously worked federal financial crimes and now handled private investigations for people wealthy enough to require discretion.
Within twenty four hours Nora found the first crack.
The company paying Elena's Ridgehaven bills had been created three years earlier.
Two weeks after Elena's accident.
Its authorized representative was not Bianca.
It was Marcus.
The money funding the company came through layers of transfers.
The original source appeared to be an account connected to Elena's own family trust.
Someone was using Elena's money to keep Elena hidden.
Nora dug deeper.
Elena's accident report had irregularities.
The recovered vehicle had been identified by VIN.
But the dental fragments supposedly recovered from the passenger compartment had never been independently tested by Vittorio's representatives.
A private contractor had handled the recovery.
That contractor had received a six figure payment one month later from Hale Meridian Holdings.
Emma felt physically ill.
"Are you saying the accident was staged?"
Nora answered carefully.
"I'm saying someone paid several people connected to it."
Daniel asked the obvious question.
"Why?"
Nora looked toward the photograph of Elena.
"If she's alive, ask her."
But reaching Elena would not be easy.
Ridgehaven was secure.
Private.
Legally insulated.
Emma could not simply walk inside.
Nora began searching employee records.
Meanwhile, Bianca's behavior toward Lucy worsened.
Subtly at first.
She corrected the child constantly.
How she sat.
How she spoke.
Where she left toys.
She complained that Lucy was too attached to Vittorio.
One evening Lucy tried to climb into her father's lap while he was reviewing documents in the library.
Bianca stopped her.
"Daddy is working."
Vittorio looked up.
"It's fine."
Lucy immediately climbed into his arms.
Vittorio kissed her hair.
Bianca smiled.
But Emma saw her fingers tighten around the stem of her wineglass.
Later Bianca cornered Lucy outside the nursery.
Emma was around the corner with the recording phone.
"You embarrassed me."
Lucy looked confused.
"I hugged Daddy."
"You interrupted him."
"He said it was fine."
Bianca crouched.
Her voice became soft and poisonous.
"Your father says many things because you're little. One day he'll get tired of choosing you."
Lucy began to cry.
Emma stepped around the corner.
Bianca stood immediately.
"Is there a problem?"
Emma looked at Lucy.
"Yes."
Bianca's eyes narrowed.
Emma took Lucy's hand.
"I'm putting her to bed."
That recording became file seventeen.
By the end of the week, Emma had twenty three.
Daniel wanted to confront Vittorio.
Nora insisted they wait one more day.
She had found a former Ridgehaven nurse willing to speak.
Her name was Kelly Morris.
They met her at a quiet diner forty miles away.
Kelly looked nervous.
"Elena Romano isn't her name at the facility."
"What is it?" Emma asked.
"Elena Reed."
"Is she alive?"
Kelly nodded.
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
"Can she speak?"
"Sometimes."
"Does she know who she is?"
Kelly hesitated.
"That's complicated."
"Does she remember Lucy?"
Kelly looked directly at Emma.
"Lucy is the only thing she never forgot."
Emma covered her mouth.
Kelly continued.
"She had severe head trauma when she arrived. Memory loss. Confusion. For months she couldn't identify anyone. But she kept asking for a baby named Lucy."
"Why didn't the facility contact Vittorio?"
"Her legal guardian prohibited outside communication."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Who is her guardian?"
Kelly swallowed.
"Marcus Hale."
The answer made no legal sense.
Marcus was not Elena's husband.
Not her relative.
Not even a close family friend.
Nora asked, "How did he get guardianship?"
Kelly shook her head.
"I don't know. But there was another name on the paperwork."
"Whose?"
Kelly looked frightened.
"Bianca Romano."
Emma frowned.
May you like
"She's not Romano yet."
Kelly whispered, "On the document, she was."
