Chapter 4 - WHAT VIVIEN WANTED
I didn't sleep.
At six in the morning, I summoned my private physician and asked him to examine Mia's birth records without frightening Elena. I needed facts, not assumptions.
Meanwhile, Rocco uncovered something disturbing.
Vivien had been transferring money into an offshore account for almost a year. The payments were small enough to escape casual attention but regular enough to reveal a pattern.
Every transfer carried the same reference code.
A date.
The date my mother died.
"How much?" I asked.
"Just over four million dollars."
"From where?"
Rocco placed another document on the desk.
"The Duca family trust."
My jaw tightened.
That trust had been frozen after my mother's death. Only the family attorney could authorize withdrawals, and every transaction required my approval.
Someone had forged my signature.
"Get the originals."
He nodded and left.
Mia entered a few minutes later, clutching a stuffed rabbit. She climbed onto the chair opposite me and watched my face with solemn concentration.
"Uncle Lorenzo?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Are you mad at Mommy?"
The question hurt more than any threat.
"No. Why would you think that?"
"Miss Vivien said you would send Mommy away if she told you the truth."
I crouched beside her chair.
"Your mommy has done nothing wrong."
Mia looked down at her rabbit.
"Miss Vivien said if Mommy went away, I would live with a different family."
My hands curled into fists, but I kept my voice gentle.
"Nobody is taking you from your mother."
She studied me, searching for the promise behind the words.
Then she whispered, "Miss Vivien said the bad man would come back when the clock stopped."
"What bad man?"
Mia pointed toward the old wing.
"The man in the picture."
At that moment, Rocco returned with a security report.
Arthur Bell had entered the mansion again.
May you like
This time, he hadn't come through the gate.
He had been living inside the house for eleven days.
