Chapter 4 - THE BRACELET
Dominic struck back within forty-eight hours.
Not with a gun.
With a diamond bracelet.
A donor named Margaret Ellis reported a $90,000 bracelet missing after the gala.
The estate agency called Hannah.
“We need you to come in.”
“For what?”
“Questioning.”
Hannah laughed.
“No.”
The agency representative became colder.
“The bracelet disappeared in the service area shortly after your incident.”
There it was.
Hannah called Rachel.
Rachel called police.
Then estate security reviewed every camera.
At 9:42 p.m., one of Dominic’s assistants entered the staff corridor carrying a folded linen napkin.
At 9:46, he approached Hannah’s service cart.
At 9:47, he left.
At 10:02, another employee discovered the bracelet inside the cart’s lower compartment.
Too easy.
Almost insulting.
Vincent watched the footage.
“Dominic thinks I'm still the same person.”
Hannah sat across from him inside Rachel’s office.
“What person?”
“The one who sees accusation and reacts before asking who arranged it.”
She remembered Clara’s letter.
Good.
Vincent ordered no retaliation.
Instead, the footage went to investigators.
The assistant was questioned.
He broke within a day.
Dominic paid him $15,000.
Instruction:
Put the bracelet somewhere tied to Hannah.
Why?
“She needs to look like her mother.”
Hannah’s stomach turned.
“What does that mean?”
The assistant said Dominic had repeated an old family story:
Clara Brooks stole from the Ducas and disappeared. Her daughter will do the same.
Narrative.
Not evidence.
Dominic wanted to reactivate the lie.
Vincent looked furious.
Hannah noticed his hand close into a fist.
“Don't.”
His eyes met hers.
“I haven't done anything.”
“Your face has.”
He relaxed the hand.
Barely.
Then Hannah’s catering agency suspended her anyway.
Public scandal.
Investigation.
Too much risk.
She had rent due.
Student loan payment.
Health insurance through the agency would end if suspension became termination.
Vincent learned.
His first instinct was predictable.
“I’ll cover it.”
“No.”
He closed his eyes.
“Right.”
Hannah smiled slightly.
“Good progress.”
Rachel found the better answer.
Because Hannah had been injured while working at the Duca gala and suspended as a result of an alleged incident disproven by Duca surveillance, the estate could compensate her contracted shift losses through the event insurer while the agency dispute proceeded.
Documented.
Not charity.
Hannah accepted.
Then the agency reinstated her after receiving the footage.
She resigned anyway.
Vincent stared when she told him.
“Why?”
“Because their first instinct was to protect the client relationship instead of ask whether I stole something.”
“You need work.”
“I know.”
“I can—”
She raised one eyebrow.
He stopped.
“Congratulations?”
“I haven't gotten another job.”
“Then that seems premature.”
She laughed.
He smiled.
A dangerous thing happened then.
For one second, Hannah forgot he was Vincent Duca.
He was simply the man who looked unexpectedly younger when he smiled.
She did not like noticing that.
May you like
Not yet.
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