Chapter 2 - THE MAN IN THE BLUE GLOVES
My name is Grace Bennett.
I was thirty-one years old, a single mother, and until that night, my greatest concern had been whether Lily would start preschool without crying.
Now I was sitting in Dominic Moretti's private library while armed guards searched the mansion for someone who had tried to kill his son.
Lily slept against my chest.
Her small fingers were tangled in my cardigan.
Across the room, Dominic stood beside his security chief, Vincent Russo.
Vincent was forty-five, broad-shouldered, and had worked for the Moretti family longer than I had been employed at the estate.
He placed a tablet on Dominic's desk.
“The cold-room camera was disabled for eleven minutes.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Who disabled it?”
“Someone with authorized access.”
“Names.”
Vincent hesitated.
“Six people.”
Dominic looked toward me.
“Grace, did you see anyone near the cold room?”
I shook my head.
“I was upstairs preparing Ethan's bedroom.”
“Was Lily with you?”
“No. She was in the children's playroom with Mrs. Whitcomb.”
Mrs. Whitcomb was Ethan's elderly tutor.
She had watched Lily occasionally when I worked late.
Dominic turned toward Vincent.
“Bring her here.”
A few minutes later, Mrs. Whitcomb entered, visibly shaken.
“I never left the playroom,” she insisted.
I looked down at Lily.
“Then how did she get out?”
Mrs. Whitcomb swallowed.
“A man came to the door. He said Mr. Moretti wanted me upstairs.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Who?”
“He was wearing a catering jacket.”
“Did you recognize him?”
“No.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“Describe him.”
Mrs. Whitcomb closed her eyes.
“Tall. Dark hair. Blue gloves.”
Lily stirred against me.
Her eyes opened.
“Mommy?”
“I'm here, sweetheart.”
She looked toward Dominic.
Then whispered, “Blue hands.”
The room went silent.
Dominic knelt beside my chair.
“Lily, did the man have blue gloves?”
She nodded.
“Like doctor gloves.”
“Did he talk to you?”
She pressed her face against my shoulder.
“He said I was naughty.”
My stomach twisted.
“Why?”
Lily's voice became very small.
“Because I saw his secret.”
Dominic went perfectly still.
Then he looked at Vincent.
“Find him.”
Vincent nodded.
But before he reached the door, Lily whispered something else.
“He had a shiny bird.”
I looked down.
“A bird?”
She nodded.
“On his shirt.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“A pin?”
Lily nodded again.
“A silver bird.”
Vincent stopped walking.
For the first time since I had known him, the security chief looked frightened.
Dominic noticed.
“What is it?”
Vincent swallowed.
“Boss, there's only one organization I know that uses a silver falcon as its symbol.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“Tell me.”
Vincent looked toward Lily.
Then back at Dominic.
“The Bellamy family.”
A silence settled over the library.
I knew the name.
Everyone in New York knew the name.
The Bellamys controlled luxury hotels, shipping contracts, and enough questionable businesses to make newspapers careful about what they printed.
But I also knew something else.
Three weeks earlier, Dominic had announced that he was marrying a woman named Victoria Bellamy.
May you like
And suddenly, the silver bird didn't seem like a random detail.
It seemed like a warning.
