Chapter 4 - A VOICE SOMEONE TRIED TO ERASE
Vanessa Varrick was Gabriel's sister-in-law.
More precisely, she was Isabella's younger half sister.
Thirty-four years old.
Beautiful.
Well connected.
A fixture at charity galas and hospital fundraisers.
She served as chair of the Varrick Children's Foundation and had lived in the family's penthouse for the past six months.
According to Sebastian, she was practically the only person Lily trusted before the attack.
That detail disturbed Claire.
Because Lily clearly remembered Vanessa.
But not with trust.
With fear.
Gabriel didn't believe it at first.
“Vanessa loved Isabella.”
Claire stood across from him in the hospital corridor.
“Maybe she did.”
“She helped raise Lily.”
“That doesn't mean Lily's drawing should be dismissed.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“She's four years old. She went through a shooting.”
“Exactly.”
Claire lowered her voice.
“Which is why nobody should interrogate her or assume we already know what her memories mean. Let the trauma specialist handle this.”
For a moment, Gabriel looked prepared to argue.
Then his eyes moved toward Lily's hospital room.
He exhaled.
“Fine.”
Vanessa arrived that afternoon wearing a cream-colored coat and carrying a stuffed rabbit.
She embraced Gabriel.
“Oh, thank God she's improving.”
Claire watched from near the nurses' station.
Vanessa's eyes were wet.
Her voice trembled.
She seemed genuinely concerned.
Then she looked toward Claire.
“And you must be the new nanny.”
“Claire Donnelly.”
Vanessa's smile faltered.
Just slightly.
“Donnelly?”
Claire nodded.
“Have we met?”
“No.”
Vanessa looked toward the room.
“May I see Lily?”
Gabriel started to answer.
But Dr. Fernandez stepped forward.
“Visits are being coordinated around Lily's medical and psychological needs.”
Vanessa's expression tightened.
“I'm family.”
“Of course,” the doctor said. “We'll discuss appropriate timing with her care team.”
For the first time, Vanessa's pleasant smile disappeared.
That evening, Claire called her mother.
Margaret answered from her hospital room.
“Sweetheart?”
“Hi, Mom.”
“How's the job?”
Claire hesitated.
“Complicated.”
Margaret laughed softly.
“That usually means rich people.”
Claire smiled.
Then asked, “Mom, do you remember a girl named Isabella from Saint Cecilia's?”
Silence.
A long silence.
“Mom?”
Margaret's voice changed.
“Isabella Moretti?”
Claire stopped breathing.
Before marrying Gabriel, Isabella's surname had been Moretti.
Claire hadn't mentioned it.
“Yes.”
Margaret exhaled slowly.
“I remember her.”
“Did you teach her a lullaby?”
Claire heard her mother begin crying.
“Claire, why are you asking?”
“Because her daughter knew the song.”
Another silence.
Then Margaret whispered something Claire would never forget.
“That song wasn't supposed to leave Saint Cecilia's.”
Margaret explained that she'd worked at the children's home as an assistant caregiver when she was nineteen.
Isabella was eight.
Her younger half sister, Vanessa, arrived later.
The children had endured a difficult childhood.
Their father was imprisoned.
Their mother had disappeared.
At night, Isabella cried for a family she barely remembered.
Margaret invented a lullaby to help her settle.
She sang it to Isabella.
Later, she sang it to young Claire.
But the original version contained words Margaret stopped using.
“Why?” Claire asked.
Her mother hesitated.
“Because Isabella changed the words.”
“Changed them how?”
“She used them to remember something she didn't want to forget.”
Claire's pulse accelerated.
“What?”
Margaret's breathing became uneven.
“A name.”
“What name?”
Her mother whispered, “The person who took her mother away.”
Claire stared at the hospital wall.
May you like
Then Margaret said:
“Claire, if Vanessa remembers that song, be careful.”
