Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE RAIN

The air in the room grew so thin I felt dizzy.

I stared at the small wooden rosary resting against Donatella’s black dress. The beads were worn smooth, the small silver crucifix slightly bent.

It was the same rosary Clara had clutched in her bleeding hands at the diner. She had kissed it, wept over it, and then left it on the counter before running back out into the rain.

“Where did you get that?” I whispered, unable to stop myself.

Donatella’s cold eyes snapped to me. “A maid does not speak to me unless spoken to.”

“Mother.” Dominic’s voice boomed through the room, vibrating with a suppressed fury that made the windows rattle. “She asked you a question. Answer it.”

Donatella slowly turned her head to look at her eldest son. She didn’t flinch at the sight of the gun still loosely gripped in his hand.

“Are you pointing a weapon at your own mother, Dominic?” she asked, her voice dripping with disappointment. “Over the hysterical lies of a servant?”

“I’m pointing it at the woman wearing my dead wife’s jewelry,” Dominic said, stepping toward her. “Clara had that rosary on her the night she died. And she had my father’s ring. The ring that is currently on your finger. How did you get them?”

Donatella sighed, a long, dramatic sound, as if she were dealing with unruly children.

“Clara left them in my sitting room,” Donatella said smoothly. “She came to me the morning before she died. She was erratic. Delusional. She gave me the ring to hold, and she left her rosary behind in her haste. I’ve kept them as a memory of her.”

“That’s a lie.”

The voice didn’t come from me. It came from Sophie.

The little girl stood up, her hands balled into tiny fists. She looked up at her grandmother with absolutely no fear.

“Mommy never went to your room,” Sophie said clearly. “Mommy was scared of you.”

Donatella’s face darkened. “Quiet, child.”

“Don’t tell her to be quiet,” Dominic snapped, moving to stand right behind Sophie, placing a protective hand on her shoulder. “Go on, sweetie. What do you remember?”

Sophie looked at her father, then at the wooden rosary on Donatella’s chest.

“Mommy was crying that day,” Sophie whispered. “She told me we had to go away for a little while. She put the rosary around her neck. She said it was for protection. She had it when she kissed me goodnight.”

Dominic’s jaw tightened so hard I thought his teeth would crack.

“If she had it when she kissed Sophie goodnight,” Dominic said, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper, “then she had it when she got into the car. The car that went into the river.”

Donatella didn’t blink. “Children have overactive imaginations.”

“And what about the man in the alley?” Anthony shouted, stepping forward. “I saw him, Mother! I saw the man grab Clara outside the diner. He was wearing father’s ring!”

Donatella finally turned her gaze to Anthony. Her look was so venomous, Anthony physically took a step back.

“You saw nothing, you drunken fool,” Donatella hissed. “You were so deep in debt to the Rossi cartel, you couldn’t see straight. You probably hallucinated the entire thing.”

Anthony’s face flushed scarlet. “How… how did you know about my debt to the Rossi family?”

A heavy pause hung in the air.

Dominic slowly turned his head to look at his brother. “You owed money to the Rossi cartel? Our biggest rivals?”

“I…” Anthony stammered, raising his hands defensively. “Dominic, it was a mistake. I owed them two million. They threatened to kill me.”

“So you sold out my wife?” Dominic roared, stepping toward him.

“No!” Anthony screamed, backing into the wall. “I didn’t sell her out! I swear on my life! I only told them her route that night because they said they just wanted to scare her! They wanted to send you a message! I didn’t know they cut the brakes!”

The entire dining room gasped.

I covered my mouth with my hands.

Dominic stood frozen, staring at his younger brother. The betrayal in his eyes was agonizing to witness.

“You gave them her route,” Dominic whispered, the life draining from his voice. “You killed Clara.”

“I didn’t!” Anthony sobbed, sliding down the wall to his knees. “Dominic, I swear to God. When I heard about the brakes, I tried to warn her! That’s why I was at the diner! But someone got to her first. The man in the alley! The man with the ring!”

“Enough of this circus!” Donatella slammed her cane against the marble floor. The sharp crack echoed like a gunshot.

She pointed her cane at Marco. “Security. Remove my pathetic son from this room. And get this maid and the child out of my sight. We have guests. This engagement dinner is ruined enough.”

Marco hesitated. He looked at Dominic for orders.

Dominic didn’t look away from his mother.

“The wedding is off,” Dominic said coldly. “Vanessa is leaving.”

Vanessa, who had been silently watching the chaos unfold, suddenly let out a frantic squeak.

“Wait!” Vanessa cried, stepping forward, her red dress swishing. “Dominic, you can’t kick me out! I know things! I know why Clara was really running!”

Donatella spun around, her eyes flashing with sudden, violent panic. “Shut your mouth, you stupid girl!”

“No!” Vanessa yelled, her face desperate. “You promised me, Donatella! You promised me if I got rid of the maid, and if I married Dominic, I would get the estate!”

The room fell completely silent.

Even Dominic looked shocked.

“You…” Dominic stared at Vanessa. “You were working with my mother?”

Vanessa was trembling, tears ruining her perfect makeup. “She hired me, Dominic! Two years ago. She found me in Vegas. She paid off my debts and told me how to dress, how to act, how to make you fall in love with me. She wanted you to marry someone she could control.”

“Why?” Dominic asked, his voice dead.

Vanessa pointed a shaking finger at Donatella.

“Because Clara found the ledgers!” Vanessa cried out. “Clara found out that your mother has been stealing from the syndicate for a decade! Donatella was the one working with the Rossi cartel! She was selling our own men out to them for a cut of the profits!”

Donatella raised her cane and swung it fiercely, striking Vanessa hard across the face.

Vanessa screamed and fell to the floor, clutching her bleeding cheek.

“Bitch!” Donatella spat.

Before Donatella could strike again, Marco grabbed her arm, easily overpowering the older woman.

Dominic walked slowly toward his mother.

“You,” Dominic whispered, his eyes wide with horror. “You ordered the hit on Clara.”

Donatella stood perfectly straight, fixing her dress even with Marco holding her arm. She didn’t look guilty. She looked furious.

“She was a weak, soft-hearted fool,” Donatella sneered, looking Dominic dead in the eye. “She was going to ruin you. She was going to ruin this family with her morals and her investigations. I did what had to be done to protect our empire.”

Dominic raised the gun and pointed it directly at his mother’s forehead.

“You murdered my wife.”

“And I would do it again,” Donatella said coldly. “Shoot me if you want, Dominic. But I’m not the one you should be pointing that gun at.”

Dominic’s finger tightened on the trigger. “What are you talking about?”

Donatella smiled, a terrifying, wicked smile.

“I ordered the hit,” Donatella whispered. “But I wasn’t the one who pulled Clara out of the diner that night. I didn’t drown her in the river.”

She slowly turned her head and looked directly at me.

“Why don’t you ask your precious maid,” Donatella said, her eyes gleaming with malice. “Ask Hannah why she really came to work here. Ask her what was inside the blue envelope Clara gave her at the diner.”

Every eye in the room suddenly turned to me.