Chapter 5 - The Dead Woman’s Warning
The old greenhouse stood at the northern edge of the Rossi estate, beyond a row of neglected apple trees and an abandoned stone fountain.
It had once belonged to Leo’s wife, Sofia.
After her death, no one used it.
Rain hammered the glass roof as Mateo’s team surrounded the woods. Leo ordered them to stay hidden. Victoria’s message had threatened Lily’s life if she saw armed men.
I held the recorder inside my coat.
“You aren’t going in,” Leo said.
“She asked for me.”
“She asked for the evidence.”
“And she knows you won’t hand it over.”
His face hardened.
“I won’t use you as bait.”
“She already is.”
We stood beneath the covered terrace outside the mansion. Lightning flashed across the lawn.
Leo’s men waited for his command.
I looked at him.
“Victoria believes I’m weak. Let her keep believing it.”
“She nearly killed you yesterday.”
“She nearly killed Lily.”
His gaze dropped to my splinted fingers.
“You saved my daughter once. I cannot ask you to do it again.”
“You didn’t ask the first time.”
For several seconds, only the rain spoke.
Then Leo removed a small listening device from Mateo’s hand and fastened it beneath my collar.
“If she moves toward you, we enter.”
“If you enter too soon, she may hurt Lily.”
“I will not wait while she harms you.”
“This is not about me.”
His eyes met mine.
“It is now.”
The words unsettled me more than they should have.
Mateo handed me the metal case from the cellar. The recorder inside was a copy; the original had already been secured elsewhere.
I crossed the lawn alone.
My shoes sank into wet grass. Wind pressed my coat against my legs. Every instinct told me to turn back, but then I saw a small face behind the greenhouse glass.
Lily.
She sat tied to a wooden chair, still wearing her pajamas.
Victoria stood behind her with one hand resting on the child’s shoulder.
Adrian Rossi waited near a potting table.
He resembled Leo enough to reveal their family connection, but his features were softer and his eyes more restless.
Mrs. Grant stood by the rear door.
The betrayal was complete.
I entered.
Victoria smiled.
“You actually came.”
“Let Lily go.”
“Give Adrian the case.”
“Let me check her breathing.”
Victoria’s fingers tightened on Lily’s shoulder.
“You’re in no position to negotiate.”
Lily’s eyes were red from crying.
“Bee, don’t give it to them.”
Victoria slapped the back of the chair.
“Quiet.”
I moved forward.
“Touch her again, and I throw the case through the glass.”
Adrian stepped between us.
“You are remarkably demanding for a domestic employee.”
“And you’re remarkably stupid for a financial officer who recorded his own conspiracy.”
His face tightened.
“That device was for protection.”
“Against what? Forgetting how many crimes you planned?”
Victoria grabbed the case from my hands and tossed it to Adrian.
He opened it, found the recorder, and smashed it against the stone floor.
“There,” Victoria said. “Now there is no proof.”
“You think that was the only copy?”
Her smile faded.
Adrian looked toward the trees.
He suspected a trap.
Mrs. Grant rushed to the greenhouse door and locked it.
“We need to leave,” she said. “Now.”
Adrian pulled a phone from his pocket.
No signal.
Mateo’s team had blocked cellular service around the estate.
Victoria turned on me.
“What did you do?”
“I came alone, just as you asked.”
“You’re lying.”
“Yes,” I said. “Apparently, I learned from you.”
She grabbed Lily and dragged her from the chair.
Lily cried out.
I moved forward, but Adrian blocked my path.
“Stay back.”
“Victoria,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “Lily is the only leverage you have. The moment you hurt her, Leo has no reason to negotiate.”
“He never intended to negotiate.”
“Then why are you still alive?”
The question struck her.
She looked toward the glass walls, searching for movement in the darkness.
I continued.
“You thought Leo loved you because he gave you jewelry. He didn’t. He gave jewelry to every woman he wanted photographed beside him. You were useful until you threatened his daughter.”
“Stop talking.”
“You wanted to replace Lily’s mother, but you couldn’t compete with a dead woman, so you targeted a child.”
“I said stop.”
“And when Lily trusted a maid instead of you, you couldn’t stand that either.”
Victoria lunged.
I expected her to come for my face.
Instead, she shoved Lily away and grabbed a gardening tool from the table.
The greenhouse doors exploded inward.
Leo entered first.
Mateo and four men followed.
Adrian raised his hands immediately.
Mrs. Grant dropped to her knees.
Victoria seized Lily again and backed toward a broken section of glass.
“Stay away!” she screamed.
Leo stopped.
His face revealed nothing, but his eyes remained fixed on Lily.
“Release her.”
“You ruined everything.”
“You did that yourself.”
“I gave you access to people your family could never reach. My father made you respectable.”
“I never asked to be respectable.”
“You needed me.”
“I needed someone to love my daughter.”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“You chose that creature over me?”
Her gaze flicked toward me.
Leo’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“Beatrice did what no one in this house had the courage to do. She stood between my child and death.”
Victoria pressed the edge of the tool near Lily’s shoulder.
Lily whimpered.
My chest tightened.
I slowly stepped away from Leo.
Victoria followed me with her eyes.
“This is my fault,” I said.
Leo turned sharply.
“Beatrice.”
“I should never have challenged you,” I told Victoria. “You were right. No one sees me. No one cares what happens to me.”
Victoria smiled.
She liked hearing surrender.
I moved another step closer.
“Give me Lily. Take me instead.”
“No,” Leo said.
I ignored him.
“You hate me more than you hate her. I embarrassed you. I exposed you. Lily is only six. She can’t testify clearly. But I can.”
Adrian understood what I was doing.
“Victoria, don’t.”
She looked at him.
That moment of distraction was enough.
Lily bit Victoria’s hand.
Victoria screamed and released her.
I rushed forward, caught Lily, and turned my body around her.
Leo crossed the greenhouse in seconds.
Mateo seized Adrian.
The other men restrained Victoria and Mrs. Grant.
No one fired a weapon.
No one needed to.
Leo lifted Lily from my arms.
She clung to both of us, one hand gripping his shirt and the other tangled in my coat.
“You came,” she sobbed.
Leo kissed her hair.
“I will always come.”
Police vehicles reached the estate minutes later.
This time, Victoria was arrested on charges supported by video, physical evidence, witness testimony, and the recovered recording.
Adrian was taken separately.
Mrs. Grant began cooperating before she reached the front gate.
The conspiracy should have ended there.
But while detectives searched the greenhouse, they found a hidden compartment beneath the potting table.
Inside was a sealed envelope bearing Sofia Rossi’s name.
Leo’s late wife had written it four years earlier.
The envelope contained evidence that Adrian had been stealing from the family long before Victoria arrived.
It also included a warning.
If anything happens to me, do not let Adrian control Lily’s trust.
Sofia’s death had been ruled an accident.
She had lost control of her car on a wet road.
Now Leo stared at her letter while rain struck the greenhouse roof.
Victoria had tried to kill his daughter.
Adrian might have already killed his wife.
May you like
And the only person who had known the truth had been dead for four years.
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