Chapter 2 - ROSE BENNETT’S FIRST LETTER
Mara refused to open the envelope at the table.
“That is exactly how horror movies begin.”
Adrien looked at her.
“You think I’m the horror movie?”
“I haven’t decided.”
Sophie made a mark in the notebook.
Adrien stared.
“What did I lose points for?”
“Scaring Mommy.”
“I’m sitting down.”
“You have the face.”
Mara nearly laughed.
That was the first time Adrien heard it.
A real laugh.
Not polite.
Not nervous.
It changed her entire face.
Then she became serious again.
“I want to take the girls home.”
Adrien nodded.
No argument.
Dante offered transportation.
Mara declined.
Her own car worked.
Also good.
At the restaurant entrance, Adrien handed her the unopened envelope.
“I won’t read yours.”
She looked surprised.
“Thank you.”
Then Dante handed Adrien the one Rose had given him.
“What did she tell you?”
“Not to open it unless you agreed to one real date after eleven years alone.”
Adrien stared.
“You knew about tonight?”
“I knew the woman’s first name.”
“You manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
Dante did not even pretend shame.
Mara looked between them.
“My mother manipulated me too.”
“How?”
“She signed me up with the private introduction service three months before she died.”
Adrien blinked.
“So neither of us arranged this.”
“No.”
The triplets found this magnificent.
Lily announced:
“Grandma did it.”
Emma whispered:
“Grandma was sneaky.”
Mara sighed.
“She was.”
They separated.
Adrien waited until he reached home before opening Rose’s letter.
Adrien,
If Dante finally convinced you to go to dinner, congratulations. Miracles happen.
He frowned.
Rose apparently knew him personally.
Next:
You probably do not remember me. You were seventeen when I last saw you.
He did not.
Then:
Your mother, Isabella, trusted me.
Adrien stopped.
His mother had died fifteen years earlier.
Rose continued:
She once asked me to protect something if the Moretti family ever became too frightened of its own secrets.
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
Then:
That something now belongs to my granddaughters.
Not Mara.
The girls.
Adrien read faster.
There is a trust.
Do not tell Mara until she opens her own letter.
Do not involve your uncle Victor.
And whatever you do, do not contact Caleb Raines.
Adrien froze.
Caleb.
Mara’s absent ex.
How did Rose know his name?
Then the final line:
If Caleb has already returned to Boston, the girls are in more danger from paperwork than from guns.
Adrien immediately called Dante.
“Find Caleb Raines.”
Pause.
“Why?”
“Because Rose knew him.”
Then Adrien’s second phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man’s voice said:
“Stay away from Mara Bennett.”
Adrien became completely still.
“Caleb?”
Silence.
Then the caller laughed softly.
“You really don’t remember me, Moretti.”
May you like
The call ended.
And Adrien realized the man who abandoned the triplets might know him too.
