Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Never Said Goodbye)
Ruby stood slowly.
Valentina entered Rosa's room and looked at the phone in Ruby's hand.
"Give me that."
Ruby held it against her chest.
"Where's Rosa?"
"She left."
"She didn't say goodbye."
"Adults don't need permission from children."
"She wouldn't leave me."
Valentina's expression hardened.
"You need to stop saying things as if you know everything."
Ruby backed away.
"I want Daddy."
"Your father is busy."
"He called Rosa."
Valentina looked at the phone screen.
For the first time, Ruby saw fear cross her face.
It lasted less than a second.
Then it was gone.
Valentina extended her hand.
"Phone."
Ruby did not move.
Valentina crossed the distance and took it from her.
Ruby's lip trembled.
"Did you hurt Rosa?"
Valentina stared at her.
Children were supposed to be easy to control.
Ruby had once been easy.
Quiet children usually were.
But Valentina had underestimated the difference between quiet and unaware.
"No one hurt Rosa."
"Then where is she?"
"Enough."
Ruby rubbed her palm.
Valentina noticed.
She had seen Lucia do something similar whenever she was nervous.
The resemblance made her angry.
"Go back to your room."
Ruby ran.
Valentina waited until she disappeared upstairs.
Then she called Marcus.
"Domenico called Rosa twelve times."
Marcus swore.
"He's probably coming back."
"Find out."
"What about the old woman?"
Valentina lowered her voice.
"Where did you put her?"
"Guest cottage."
"Is she conscious?"
"Unfortunately."
Valentina closed her eyes.
"You weren't supposed to touch her."
"She tried to call security."
"Does anyone know?"
"No."
"Keep her there until we're gone."
Marcus laughed.
"You sound nervous."
"I'm not nervous."
"You're always nervous when Lucia comes up."
Valentina's eyes went cold.
"Lucia is dead."
"Exactly."
Neither of them noticed Ruby sitting on the dark staircase above.
She had not gone back to bed.
She had waited.
And listened.
Guest cottage.
Ruby knew where it was.
The Moretti property had three guest cottages beyond the west garden.
One had been empty since winter.
At 10:16 p.m., Ruby pulled a sweater over her pajamas and slipped out through the kitchen.
Rain had begun.
She crossed the lawn barefoot because shoes made too much noise.
The first cottage was dark.
The second was locked.
The third had light under the door.
Ruby approached the window.
Inside, Rosa was sitting in a chair.
Her wrists were tied.
Ruby covered her mouth before she could cry out.
A man stood beside the fireplace with his back to the window.
Not Marcus.
A security contractor Ruby had seen at the house twice.
Ruby crouched.
She did not know what to do.
Then she remembered the emergency button.
Her father had installed small silent alarm buttons around the estate after a burglary attempt years earlier.
Ruby knew where one was because Domenico had once shown her during a game.
Behind a stone planter beside the greenhouse.
Ruby ran through the rain.
She found the button.
She pressed it.
Nothing happened.
No lights.
No sound.
That was how it was supposed to work.
Inside the main security room, however, Daniel Brooks saw the alert.
Zone 7.
West greenhouse.
He checked the camera.
The feed was black.
He tried another camera.
Black.
Someone had disabled the west estate network.
Daniel stood.
His phone rang.
Domenico.
"Daniel."
"Boss."
"Where's Ruby?"
Daniel frowned.
"She's upstairs."
"Have you checked?"
Daniel looked at the black cameras.
"No."
"Check now."
Daniel moved quickly.
"What happened?"
"I'm on the plane. Rosa called me about something involving Marcus."
Daniel stopped.
"Marcus is here."
"I know."
"Valentina said you approved him staying."
"I didn't."
Daniel's face hardened.
"I'm going upstairs."
He reached Ruby's bedroom three minutes later.
Empty.
The window was closed.
The bed had been arranged to look occupied.
Daniel immediately called Domenico again.
"She's gone."
Domenico stood in the aircraft cabin.
"What do you mean gone?"
"Not in her room."
"Find her."
"We will."
"Daniel."
The security chief had known Domenico for eleven years.
He had never heard that tone.
"Bring me my daughter."
At the cottage, Ruby returned to the window.
Rosa had seen her.
Her eyes widened.
She shook her head urgently.
Go away.
Ruby pointed toward the greenhouse.
Alarm.
Rosa understood.
The guard turned.
Ruby dropped below the window.
The door opened.
Footsteps moved outside.
Ruby crawled beneath a hedge.
The guard passed three feet from her.
She pressed both hands over her mouth.
A beam from his flashlight swept across the garden.
Then headlights appeared beyond the trees.
Daniel's security vehicle.
The guard ran.
Daniel jumped from the vehicle with two members of the estate security team.
The cottage door was forced open.
Ruby heard shouting.
She remained under the hedge until Rosa called her name.
"Ruby."
Ruby crawled out.
Rosa ran to her despite the rope marks around her wrists.
The child crashed into her arms.
Daniel stared at them.
"What happened?"
Rosa looked toward the road where the contractor had escaped into the dark.
"Ask Marcus Russo."
Thirty minutes later, the Moretti jet landed at a private airfield.
Domenico's car was already waiting.
Daniel called again.
"We found Ruby."
Domenico's shoulders dropped for the first time since leaving Chicago.
"Is she hurt?"
"No."
"Rosa?"
"Alive."
"Tell me what happened."
Daniel hesitated.
"Domenico, someone restrained Rosa in the west cottage."
Silence.
"And Ruby found her."
Domenico looked through the rain streaked window of the car.
"Where is Valentina?"
"At the house."
"Marcus?"
"We can't locate him."
Domenico loosened the first button of his white shirt.
"Don't tell Valentina I'm coming."
"Domenico, there's something else."
"What?"
"Ruby says Valentina is planning to take her somewhere tomorrow morning."
Domenico's hand tightened around the phone.
"Nobody leaves that property."
"Understood."
Domenico ended the call.
At the mansion, Valentina received a message from Marcus.
HE'S BACK IN THE STATE.
She stared at it.
Then at the packed suitcases hidden inside the upstairs linen room.
They had hours instead of days.
She walked into Ruby's bedroom.
The child was sleeping beside Rosa.
Or pretending to.
Valentina looked at the pink blanket covering Ruby.
She remembered Lucia carrying that same blanket from the hospital.
Then she remembered something else.
The black folder Lucia had been holding the day before she died.
Valentina stepped closer.
Ruby's eyes remained closed.
Valentina reached toward the blanket.
Ruby's hand suddenly locked around it.
Valentina stared.
Ruby opened her eyes.
Neither spoke.
Then Ruby whispered, "Daddy's coming."
Valentina smiled.
"No, sweetheart."
Ruby's grip tightened.
May you like
"He's already here."
A car door slammed outside.
