Chapter 2 - The Woman in the PhotographLeo did not sleep.
Neither did Beatrice.
The photograph remained on the desk in his office beneath a single lamp.
His men searched every corner of the estate.
Nothing.
No footprints.
No broken locks.
No sign anyone had entered through the window.
That frightened Leo more than an obvious intrusion.
Someone had wanted him to find the photograph.
And they had wanted Lily to see it.
At dawn, Beatrice was sitting beside Lily's bed when Leo entered.
Lily was asleep.
Her little fingers were wrapped around Beatrice's hand.
Leo stopped in the doorway.
The sight unsettled him.
His daughter had not slept peacefully beside him since her mother's death.
But here she was.
Breathing evenly.
Safe.
He looked at Beatrice.
“Did she tell you anything else?”
Beatrice nodded.
“She said the woman in the picture used to visit her mother.”
“Did she give a name?”
“No.”
“Did she describe her?”
Beatrice hesitated.
“She said the woman smelled like roses.”
Leo's expression tightened.
“What else?”
“She said her mother used to call her Elena.”
Leo went silent.
Beatrice watched him carefully.
“You know her.”
“I thought I did.”
He walked toward the window.
“Her name was Elena Voss.”
“Who was she?”
“My wife's closest friend.”
Beatrice frowned.
“She died.”
“So I was told.”
Leo turned.
“Six years ago, Elena's car went off a bridge.”
Beatrice looked at the photograph.
“She may not have died.”
“No.”
Leo's voice became hard.
“She survived.”
Beatrice felt a chill.
“How do you know?”
Leo didn't answer.
Because suddenly another memory had returned.
A memory he had buried.
Three weeks before his wife's death, she had told him something strange.
She had been terrified.
She had asked him to promise that if anything happened to her, he would never let Elena near Lily.
At the time, Leo had thought she was speaking from fear.
Now he wondered if she had known.
A sound came from the hallway.
Both of them turned.
Victoria stood there.
Pale.
Beautiful.
Silent.
Leo's gaze sharpened.
“How long have you been listening?”
Victoria lifted her chin.
“Long enough.”
Beatrice moved closer to Lily.
Victoria looked at the photograph.
Her face changed.
Just for a second.
Leo saw it.
“You recognize her.”
“No.”
“Don't lie to me.”
Victoria's voice trembled.
“I've seen the picture before.”
“Where?”
“At Lily's mother's funeral.”
Leo stepped closer.
“You weren't there.”
Victoria stopped.
The silence became heavy.
Leo smiled without warmth.
“Interesting.”
Victoria's lips parted.
“I meant before the funeral.”
“Who showed it to you?”
“No one.”
“Victoria.”
She backed away.
“Leo, please.”
He reached for the phone.
“Mateo.”
The office door opened almost instantly.
“Take her upstairs.”
Victoria looked at Leo as though she could not believe he would do it.
“You're choosing a maid over me?”
Leo's eyes hardened.
“No.”
He glanced toward Lily.
“I'm choosing my daughter.”
Victoria was taken away.
Beatrice remained silent.
Leo stared at the photograph.
Then he noticed something.
A tiny reflection in the corner of the image.
A person standing behind Elena.
A man.
He magnified the photograph on his phone.
His blood ran cold.
The man was wearing a Rossi security uniform.
A uniform used only six years ago.
Beatrice saw his face.
“What is it?”
Leo didn't answer.
He called Mateo.
“Find every security employee who worked the estate the month before my wife's death.”
Mateo paused.
“How far back?”
“All of them.”
“Even former employees?”
“Especially former employees.”
Beatrice watched him.
“You think someone inside the estate helped?”
Leo looked at her.
“I know someone did.”
That afternoon, the investigation uncovered a name.
Thomas Vale.
Former head of Rossi security.
Dismissed two weeks before Lily's mother's death.
Official reason: theft.
Unofficially, Leo had always believed Thomas was corrupt.
But Thomas had vanished.
No address.
No bank accounts.
No known relatives.
Nothing.
Then a message arrived.
A burner phone had been placed outside the estate gate.
The message contained one sentence:
YOU'RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE.
Attached was another photograph.
This one showed Victoria.
Standing beside Thomas Vale.
The date stamp was from three days before Victoria met Leo.
Beatrice stared at the image.
Victoria had lied.
But Leo noticed something else.
The photograph had been taken at a private hospital.
He recognized the building.
It was where Lily had been born.
Leo's face went cold.
“Why would Victoria visit the hospital where Lily was born?”
Beatrice looked at him.
“Maybe she wasn't there for Lily.”
Leo slowly turned toward her.
“Exactly.”
He called Mateo again.
“Find out who Victoria Kensington was visiting at that hospital.”
Mateo was silent for several seconds.
Then his voice changed.
“Boss…”
“What?”
“We already did.”
“And?”
“It's impossible.”
“Say it.”
Mateo swallowed.
“She was visiting a patient admitted under the name Maria Rossi.”
Leo stopped breathing.
His dead wife's name.
May you like
And according to the hospital records, Maria Rossi had been admitted there…
three weeks after her funeral.
