Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE RED DRESS
Z
Vanessa Bellini hadn't always been rich.
That was the first thing I learned when Rebecca's investigators began reconstructing her past.
She grew up in a small suburb outside Detroit.
Her father owned a struggling auto-parts business.
Her mother worked as a receptionist.
Vanessa attended an expensive private college on scholarships and loans.
After graduation, she moved to Chicago and reinvented herself.
She changed her hair.
Her wardrobe.
Her social circle.
She learned which charities attracted wealthy donors and which events brought together the city's most powerful families.
Within five years, she had become a fixture at fundraising galas.
Within six, she had met Luca Moretti.
I didn't know whether that made her clever or desperate.
Perhaps both.
But I knew something else.
Whatever she'd suffered before, she had chosen to hurt people who couldn't fight back.
Rebecca found that three former employees had filed complaints about Vanessa.
One housekeeper alleged unpaid wages.
Another reported threats.
A former personal assistant claimed Vanessa pressured her to sign inaccurate financial statements.
All three had withdrawn their complaints after receiving settlements.
I stared at the reports.
“She did this before?”
Rebecca nodded.
“That's what the records suggest.”
“Why didn't anyone stop her?”
“Because settlements can keep disputes private, and because people with limited resources often can't afford prolonged legal fights.”
I thought of my ninety-two dollars.
I understood.
Luca listened quietly.
Then he asked Rebecca to arrange an independent review of employment practices at the mansion.
Not just Vanessa's conduct.
Everyone's.
Including his own management.
That surprised me.
He noticed.
“What?”
I hesitated.
“Most employers would say they didn't know.”
Luca looked at me.
“I didn't.”
I waited.
He continued.
“But not knowing doesn't mean nothing happened.”
I looked down.
For ten months, I'd believed Luca Moretti was simply another powerful man who preferred not to see what happened beneath his roof.
Now I wasn't sure.
That didn't make him innocent of every mistake.
But it meant he might be willing to confront them.
Later that afternoon, Gabriel arrived with news.
The stolen laptop had been located.
It was recovered from an abandoned vehicle near the river.
Its hard drive was missing.
Rebecca looked concerned.
“Did you have anything sensitive on it?”
I shook my head.
“School applications. Family photographs. Bills.”
Then I remembered.
My mother's old email archive.
She had worked as a bookkeeper before she died.
I'd copied her files onto the laptop years earlier.
Rebecca noticed my expression.
“Anna?”
I swallowed.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“Old financial records from my mother's work.”
Luca frowned.
“Where did she work?”
I looked at him.
“Whitmore Financial Services.”
The room went silent.
Charles Whitmore's company.
My mother had worked for the man who was supposed to be dead.
May you like
And suddenly, the danger surrounding me no longer seemed accidental.
---
Related Stories
