Chapter 9 - The Man Maya Never Wanted to See Again
Daniel Cole appeared at the Rossi estate at 3:42 the next morning.
He didn't arrive voluntarily.
Police found him wandering along a frontage road twelve miles from the city.
Barefoot.
Disoriented.
Terrified.
He claimed kidnappers had abandoned him.
When detectives asked where he wanted to go, Daniel gave Maya's name.
That was how he ended up at the gates.
Lorenzo wanted him gone.
Maya wanted answers.
They compromised by placing Daniel in a detached security office near the front gate with two detectives present.
Maya stood outside the door for several minutes before entering.
Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Lorenzo noticed.
"You don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do."
"No."
She looked at him.
"You're telling me I can walk away?"
"I'm telling you walking away can be strength."
Maya almost smiled.
"Who taught you that?"
"Apparently my dead wife."
That hurt both of them a little.
Then Maya opened the door.
Daniel looked smaller than she remembered.
Not physically.
In memory he occupied entire rooms.
His moods controlled weather.
His anger made everyone else quiet.
Now he sat beneath fluorescent light in borrowed clothes, hands wrapped around a paper cup.
He saw Maya.
His face crumpled.
"Oh God."
Maya stopped.
Daniel stood.
One detective immediately ordered, "Sit."
He obeyed.
That alone felt strange.
"Maya, I didn't know—"
"Don't."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't."
He began crying.
Three weeks ago those tears might have affected her.
Now she felt almost nothing.
Not because she had healed.
Because something inside her had finally separated Daniel's emotions from her responsibility.
"You pushed me."
His face twisted.
"It was an accident."
"No."
"I grabbed you and you—"
"You pushed me."
"I never meant for—"
"Lily died."
Daniel covered his face.
Maya's voice remained steady.
"Our daughter died because you wanted money."
"I'm sorry."
"There it is again."
"Maya—"
"Where did you get Elena Rossi's box?"
Daniel looked toward Lorenzo.
Fear entered his face.
"I didn't know it was hers."
"Answer."
Daniel swallowed.
"I broke into the lake place."
"Why?"
"I heard there was cash."
"From Matteo?" Lorenzo asked.
Daniel hesitated.
One detective leaned forward.
"Answer."
"Yes."
Maya stared.
"Matteo paid you to rob his cousin?"
"No. Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"He wanted something from the property but couldn't be connected."
"The box?"
"He didn't know where it was."
"Then what were you searching for?"
"Documents."
Lorenzo's voice went cold.
"About Elena."
Daniel nodded.
Maya felt disgust rise.
"When?"
"About six months ago."
"While I was pregnant."
Daniel looked down.
"You were using me to learn about the estate."
"I never gave Matteo anything important."
"You asked about security."
"I was trying to make money."
"You asked when Lorenzo traveled."
"I didn't know anyone would get hurt."
Maya laughed once.
A bitter sound.
"That's your favorite sentence."
Daniel flinched.
"Where did you hide the box?"
"Locker."
"We found it."
His eyes widened.
"Then you have the drive?"
"Why did you hide the key inside Lily's rabbit?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I needed somewhere Matteo wouldn't search."
"You cut open our daughter's toy."
"I was desperate."
"You used an unborn child as cover."
"Maya—"
"Stop saying my name."
The room became silent.
Daniel looked toward Lorenzo.
"Matteo will kill me."
Lorenzo leaned against the wall.
"That's between you and law enforcement."
Daniel blinked.
"You aren't going to—"
"What?"
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
Daniel apparently expected something violent.
Lorenzo didn't give it to him.
"Elena asked me to make different choices."
Maya looked at him.
He continued.
"The police can have you."
Daniel's relief lasted only a second.
Then Lorenzo added, "Along with every piece of evidence connecting you to the break-in, extortion, conspiracy, and whatever else investigators find."
Daniel's face fell.
One detective almost smiled.
Maya wasn't finished.
"Who told Matteo where I worked?"
Daniel whispered, "Me."
"Who told him I was pregnant?"
"I did."
"Who told him about my hospital?"
Daniel looked confused.
"I didn't."
Maya froze.
"What?"
"I swear."
"Someone photographed me leaving."
"I didn't know."
Lorenzo straightened.
"Then who did?"
Daniel's fear became genuine.
"Mrs. Bell."
Everyone stared.
"The household manager?" Maya asked.
Daniel nodded.
"She contacted Matteo after the break-in. She knew I had the box."
"How?"
"She'd been watching Elena for months."
Lorenzo's expression changed.
Daniel continued.
"Bell worked for your father."
"I know."
"No. I mean worked for him."
Lorenzo stopped moving.
Daniel leaned forward.
"She wasn't just a housekeeper."
"What was she?"
"I don't know exactly. Matteo called her the old man's shadow."
Lorenzo looked at Gabriel through the glass partition.
Gabriel immediately began making calls.
Daniel continued.
"Matteo said she believed your father chose the wrong heir."
"The photograph," Maya whispered.
Daniel nodded.
"She thinks the Rossi family became weak after your father died."
Lorenzo's eyes hardened.
"Because I legitimized businesses."
"Because Elena convinced you to."
There it was.
The motive behind the hatred.
Elena hadn't simply discovered corruption.
She had changed Lorenzo.
She convinced him to move the family away from the criminal systems built by his father.
To Matteo and Mrs. Bell, that wasn't reform.
It was betrayal.
"Leo," Maya said.
Daniel looked at her.
"What about him?"
"If Elena changed the ownership structure..."
Daniel nodded reluctantly.
"Leo inherits controlling shares."
Lorenzo stepped closer.
"How do you know?"
"Matteo told me when he was drunk."
"Why would he tell you?"
"He thought I was disposable."
"Was he wrong?"
Maya looked sharply at Lorenzo.
His face remained controlled.
Daniel paled.
"There's more."
"Speak."
"Bell didn't want Leo dead at first."
Maya felt relief and horror simultaneously.
"What did she want?"
"Custody changed."
"To whom?"
"Matteo."
Lorenzo's stare became lethal.
Daniel rushed onward.
"The plan was to make Leo look chronically ill. Make you look unstable. Grieving. Unable to manage him."
Maya understood.
"They wanted doctors to think Lorenzo couldn't care for his own child."
Daniel nodded.
"Then Matteo would step in as family."
"Gain influence over the trust," Lorenzo said.
"Yes."
"But Leo got too sick."
"Matteo lost control."
The truth settled over the room.
This had never begun as attempted murder.
It began as manipulation.
Money.
Power.
A child used as leverage.
Then negligence and greed pushed the plan toward catastrophe.
Maya wanted to be sick.
"Where is Mrs. Bell?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Where would Matteo go?" Lorenzo asked.
"Maybe the old house."
"What old house?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Lorenzo, your father had another property."
"I know every property he owned."
"Not this one."
Gabriel entered the room.
"We found it."
He placed a tablet on the table.
A property deed appeared.
Purchased thirty-one years earlier through a shell company.
Rural estate.
Forty miles west.
Owner listed as Bell Holdings.
Maya stared.
"Bell."
Gabriel nodded.
"Her family name before employment."
Lorenzo's face tightened.
"She's owned it the entire time."
Gabriel looked toward Daniel.
"Matteo's phone pinged near there yesterday."
Finally, a location.
Daniel stood.
"Then I'm done, right?"
Maya looked at him.
"No."
"What do you mean?"
"You still have to answer for Lily."
His face collapsed.
"Maya."
She walked toward the door.
Daniel called after her.
"I loved you."
Maya stopped.
For years she had wanted those words.
Needed them.
Used them to explain things that should never have happened.
She turned.
"No, Daniel."
Her voice was calm.
"You loved being forgiven."
Then she walked out.
Lorenzo followed.
Neither spoke until they reached the courtyard.
Dawn was beginning.
Again.
Maya felt like several lifetimes had passed since she first heard Leo cry.
Lorenzo stood beside her.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Good answer."
Maya wiped her eyes.
"What happens now?"
"We find Matteo and Bell."
"We?"
"You stay here."
She looked at him.
"That sounded dangerously like an order."
"It was."
"Then no."
"Maya."
"If Mrs. Bell followed me from the hospital, I want to know why."
"Because she believed Daniel hid the key with you."
"Maybe."
"And because she knew you worked here."
"Exactly."
Lorenzo frowned.
Maya continued.
"What if my employment wasn't coincidence?"
For the first time, he looked uncertain.
Maya had been hired six months earlier.
Around the same time Daniel burglarized the lake house.
She suddenly remembered something from her interview.
The staffing agency originally told her the Rossi estate wasn't hiring.
Then one day later they called back.
Said a senior household employee personally approved her application.
Maya had never asked who.
Lorenzo's phone rang.
Gabriel.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression changed.
"What?"
Maya stepped closer.
Lorenzo lowered the phone.
"Your employment file."
"What about it?"
"The authorization signature."
Maya already knew.
"Mrs. Bell."
Lorenzo nodded.
She hadn't accidentally walked into the Rossi conspiracy.
She had been placed inside it months before Lily died.
And the woman who arranged Maya's job had disappeared on the same night Leo's sabotage was exposed.
The question was no longer why Mrs. Bell followed Maya.
May you like
It was what she had intended to use Maya for from the beginning.
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