TITLE: THE MOB BOSS’S FIANCÉE TRIED TO BANISH HIS 11-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER—BUT ONE SLIP OF THE TONGUE UNLEASHED A DEADLY FAMILY SECRET

I stood in the dimly lit cloakroom, staring at the blood-stained rosary resting in my trembling palms.

The dark, crusted stains on the pearl beads made my stomach turn. Catherine had loved this rosary. It was a family heirloom, blessed by the Pope, given to her by Dominic on their wedding day. When she died, we searched everywhere for it, wanting to bury her with it, but it had vanished.

Now, it was hidden inside the coat of the woman preparing to take her place.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

The sharp, venomous voice made me jump. I spun around to see Vanessa standing in the doorway of the cloakroom. The terrified, panicked woman from the dining room was gone. In the shadows, away from Dominic’s watchful eyes, her true self emerged—cold, calculating, and ruthless.

“Mr. Romano asked me to fetch your coat,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I didn’t hide the rosary. I held it up. “Care to explain why you have Catherine’s missing rosary, Mrs. Crowe? And why it’s covered in blood?”

Vanessa stepped into the room and closed the heavy wooden door behind her, trapping us together.

“You’re a smart woman, Grace,” Vanessa said, her voice dripping with condescension. “Too smart for a maid. You should have minded your own business. If you had just let me send the brat to boarding school, none of this would be happening.”

“You hired a private investigator to follow Catherine,” I said, unfolding the crumpled receipt. “Three years ago. Right before she died.”

Vanessa let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “Of course I did. You think I was just going to sit by and let her have everything that was supposed to be mine?”

Answer One. Vanessa’s motive was finally clear.

“Supposed to be yours?” I echoed.

“Dominic and I were matched by our fathers when we were teenagers,” Vanessa spat, her eyes flashing with decades of resentment. “It was a business arrangement. A merging of families. But then he met her. Sweet, innocent, pathetic Catherine. He broke the arrangement for her. He humiliated me.”

Open Two. If Vanessa hated Catherine so much, did she hire the woman with the butterfly tattoo to kill her? And whose blood was on the rosary?

“So you had her killed,” I whispered, taking a step back.

Reversal.

Vanessa looked at me as if I were incredibly stupid.

“Kill her? Why would I need to kill a woman who was already doing it to herself?” Vanessa took a step closer, her crimson dress rustling. “I didn’t hire anyone to poison Catherine, Grace. I was there that night. I went to confront her with the evidence my investigator found.”

“Evidence of what?”

Vanessa’s lips curled into a wicked smile. “Evidence that the saintly Catherine Romano was desperate to escape her mafia husband. She hated this life. She hated what Dominic did. She wanted out, but she knew Dominic would never let her take Emily.”

She pointed a manicured finger at the rosary in my hand.

“I didn’t rip that off her neck, Grace. She gave it to me. The blood is from when she coughed up her own failing lungs.”

“You’re lying,” I said, though my heart was pounding furiously. Catherine had been unhappy at times, the isolation of the mafia lifestyle weighing heavily on her, but she loved Dominic. And she worshipped Emily.

“Am I?” Vanessa reached into her elegant designer clutch and pulled out a small, folded piece of ivory stationery. It was sealed with a drop of red wax, though the seal had been broken.

“She didn’t just give me the rosary,” Vanessa whispered, her eyes gleaming with triumph. “She gave me this. A confession. A suicide note.”

She shoved the paper against my chest.

“Read it, Grace. Read how your precious Catherine begged me to help her end it all. She wanted to die. She asked for the poison.”

I stared at the folded paper, my hands shaking so violently the rosary clinked against my rings.

“Dominic will never believe this,” I breathed.

“Oh, he will,” Vanessa smiled, a cold, empty expression. “Because he knows, deep down, that his lifestyle destroys everything it touches. Bring it to him. Let him see the truth. Let him see that his perfect wife chose death over being married to him.”