Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO DISAPPEAREDMaya had learned early that rich people became nervous when powerful men stopped speaking.
Dominic DeLuca’s silence transformed the Caldwell ballroom.
A minute earlier, guests had been whispering about the maid being punished for theft.
Now nobody seemed interested in the missing bracelet.
Everyone watched Dominic.
Vanessa was the first person reckless enough to break the silence.
“You know her mother?”
Dominic’s eyes remained on Maya.
“I asked you to stop talking.”
“I’m standing in my own father’s house.”
Dominic finally looked at her.
“No. You’re standing in a house your father refinanced three months ago because his company is carrying nine hundred million dollars in debt.”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Several guests looked down.
Dominic continued.
“Which means tonight might not be the ideal night to remind everyone that appearances can be deceptive.”
Preston stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Dominic’s gaze moved to him.
“Then control the woman holding the whip.”
Preston’s jaw tightened.
Maya was barely listening.
Her back burned.
Adrenaline made her hands tremble.
But one thought consumed her.
Dominic knew her mother’s name.
Not recognized it.
Knew it.
“What did you mean?” Maya asked.
Dominic turned.
“When you said it was impossible.”
Before he could answer, Vanessa snapped, “Why are we discussing her family? She stole my bracelet.”
Maya stared at her.
“Call the police.”
“I don’t need—”
“Yes, you do.”
Maya straightened despite the pain.
“If I stole eighty thousand dollars from you, call the police. Search my bag. Search my car. Check every camera in this house.”
Vanessa’s confidence flickered.
Only for a second.
Dominic noticed.
So did Maya.
Preston noticed too.
He slowly turned toward his fiancée.
“Vanessa.”
“What?”
“Did you check the cameras?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“The dressing room doesn’t have cameras.”
“The hallway does.”
Her lips pressed together.
Preston looked toward the head of security standing near the ballroom entrance.
“Eric.”
A broad-shouldered man stepped forward.
“Yes, sir?”
“Pull everything from the upstairs hall from seven until now.”
Vanessa grabbed Preston’s arm.
“We’re not turning our engagement party into an investigation because a maid demands it.”
Maya flinched at the word.
Dominic noticed that too.
“She has a name,” he said.
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
“You didn’t even know her thirty minutes ago.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at the locket again.
“But I knew Eleanor.”
Maya felt something cold crawl through her stomach.
“My mother died when I was six.”
Dominic’s expression tightened.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“Where?”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know.”
“No, you want to know.”
For the first time, something close to respect appeared in Dominic’s eyes.
“Fair distinction.”
Maya crossed her arms.
“If you knew her, tell me how.”
Dominic glanced around at the hundreds of listening guests.
“Not here.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s also necessary.”
Maya almost laughed.
Men like Dominic probably lived entire lives behind necessary secrets.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Vanessa made an irritated sound.
“This is absurd.”
Dominic turned to the head of security.
“How long?”
Eric looked startled that Dominic was addressing him.
“Ten minutes.”
“Make it five.”
“This isn’t your house,” Vanessa snapped.
Dominic looked almost amused.
“No. If it were, employees wouldn’t be whipped in the ballroom.”
Preston’s face hardened.
Maya wondered whether his anger came from shame or embarrassment that everyone had witnessed it.
She suspected the second.
One of the older housekeepers, Teresa, hurried toward Maya holding a tablecloth.
“Come,” she whispered. “Let me cover your back.”
Maya nodded.
As Teresa carefully draped the cloth around her shoulders, Maya caught Vanessa staring at the locket.
Not casually.
Intensely.
Maya suddenly covered it with her hand.
Vanessa looked away.
Five minutes later, Eric returned.
He carried a tablet.
His face was white.
Preston saw him and immediately understood something was wrong.
“What?”
Eric hesitated.
“Sir, perhaps privately—”
“No.”
Maya’s voice cut across the ballroom.
“You accused me publicly.”
She looked at Vanessa.
“You clear me publicly.”
Preston stared at Maya for several seconds.
Then nodded.
“Play it.”
Eric tapped the screen.
The ballroom’s massive presentation monitors flickered to life.
Security footage filled them.
Time stamp: 7:42 p.m.
Maya appeared onscreen carrying a tray of champagne.
She walked down the upstairs hallway.
Entered Vanessa’s dressing room.
Forty-eight seconds later, she came out.
Her hands were empty except for the tray.
She walked downstairs.
The footage continued.
7:48.
Nothing.
7:53.
Nothing.
7:57.
A woman entered the hallway.
The room gasped.
Vanessa.
She looked left.
Then right.
Then entered her own dressing room.
Two minutes later, she emerged.
Something glittered in her hand.
The missing diamond bracelet.
Maya stared at the screen.
Vanessa had taken it from her own room.
Preston slowly turned.
“What did you do?”
Vanessa’s face drained.
“That proves nothing.”
Dominic gave a humorless laugh.
“It proves you lied.”
“I moved my own bracelet.”
“You accused Maya after moving it yourself.”
“I forgot.”
Nobody believed her.
Not even Preston.
Maya could feel the atmosphere changing around them.
Minutes earlier, she had been the disposable employee.
Now people wouldn’t meet her eyes because shame was inconvenient when witnessed collectively.
Maya stepped toward Vanessa.
“You forgot?”
Vanessa backed away.
“I was drinking.”
“You struck me because you forgot where you put jewelry?”
“I didn’t mean—”
“You meant every single strike.”
Vanessa looked toward Preston.
“Say something.”
He did.
“To Maya.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“What?”
“Apologize.”
Maya laughed bitterly.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She pulled the tablecloth tighter around her shoulders.
“I don’t want her apology.”
Vanessa seemed relieved for half a second.
“I want her charged.”
The relief vanished.
Someone whispered, “Oh my God.”
Maya pointed toward the cameras.
“You have two hundred witnesses. You have security footage. And I want the riding crop preserved.”
Vanessa’s expression turned vicious.
“You ungrateful—”
Dominic moved.
Not dramatically.
One step.
That was enough.
Vanessa stopped.
Maya looked at the head of security.
“Call the police.”
Eric hesitated.
Preston stared at Vanessa.
Then said, “Call them.”
Vanessa’s face collapsed.
“You can’t be serious.”
“You assaulted her.”
“You’re choosing a servant over your fiancée?”
Preston closed his eyes briefly.
“No, Vanessa. You made me realize I’m engaged to someone who thought she could torture another human being because she wears a uniform.”
He reached into his pocket.
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
Slowly, Preston removed a small velvet box.
The engagement ring box.
“You wouldn’t.”
He held out his hand.
“Give it back.”
The room erupted in whispers.
Vanessa stared at him.
Then at Maya.
Hatred flooded her face.
“This is because of you.”
Maya shook her head.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“This is because someone finally made you watch yourself.”
Vanessa tore the diamond ring from her finger and threw it.
It struck Preston’s chest and landed on the marble floor.
Then she rushed from the ballroom.
Dominic watched her go.
But Maya wasn’t looking at Vanessa.
She was watching Dominic.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Dominic didn’t answer immediately.
Then he reached beneath his shirt collar.
He pulled out a chain.
Hanging from it was half of a tiny silver medallion.
Maya felt her heartbeat change.
Dominic held it beside her locket.
The designs matched.
Two halves of the same crest.
Her hands began to shake.
“What is that?”
Dominic’s voice grew quiet.
“Something I gave your mother thirty years ago.”
Maya stared at him.
“Why?”
Dominic looked toward the ballroom doors where police sirens were beginning to approach.
Then back at her.
“Because Eleanor Bennett wasn’t always Eleanor Bennett.”
Maya’s mouth went dry.
“What was her name?”
Dominic’s eyes filled with a grief Maya had never expected to see there.
“Eleanor DeLuca.”
Maya froze.
May you like
Dominic swallowed.
“She was my sister.”
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