Chapter 8 - The Woman in the Red Dress Returns
Vanessa returned on a Thursday afternoon, not in red silk but in a plain cream coat. She stood beyond the gate holding a folder, asking to speak with Teresa. Marco refused until Evelyn arrived and verified that she carried no legal documents requiring a signature.
"I don't want her near my mother," Luca said.
Teresa surprised him. "I want to hear what she has to say. With all of you present."
They met in the library. Vanessa looked smaller without the crowd she used to command. Her eyes moved toward Duke, asleep on his bed beside Teresa's chair.
"I never meant to hurt him," she said.
"You arranged for him to be taken away," Teresa replied. "You meant to hurt someone."
Vanessa's face flushed. "My father told me the dog was a distraction. He said if you remained in charge of the foundation, you'd destroy years of work."
"Whose work?" Evelyn asked.
Vanessa opened the folder. It contained copies of emails from Aldo and Dominic discussing the proposed senior-care facility and ways to remove Teresa from decision-making. One message described Duke as the emotional leverage most likely to secure her cooperation.
I felt ill. They had reduced a grieving widow's love to a strategy.
"Why bring this now?" Luca asked.
Vanessa stared at her hands. "Because my father is preparing to blame everything on me. He says I forged the signatures alone."
"Did you?" Evelyn asked.
"I signed the boarding paperwork," Vanessa admitted. "I copied Luca's signature. I told Teresa he wanted the move. But Dominic handled the foundation forms."
"And the threats to Hannah?" Luca asked.
"I didn't send them," Vanessa said quickly. "I swear."
Her denial might have been true, but I was no longer willing to trust fear disguised as innocence.
Evelyn explained that the emails needed to be authenticated and turned over to investigators. Vanessa agreed to cooperate through her own attorney. It was the first responsible thing I had seen her do, though it did not erase what came before.
As she stood to leave, Teresa spoke. "I hope you become someone who can look at a helpless creature and see a life worth protecting."
Vanessa's eyes filled. She did not ask for forgiveness. She simply nodded and left.
That night, I found Luca on the terrace. The city was a river of distant lights. He asked whether I thought Vanessa had changed.
"I think she's frightened," I said. "Change will depend on what she does when the fear passes."
"You always find the part of the truth that hurts," he said.
"Only because pretending costs too much."
He smiled faintly. Then he became serious. "Hannah, I need to tell you something. I look forward to hearing your voice. I notice when you aren't in a room."
My breath caught. I felt it too, but I also knew the difference between a feeling and a safe decision.
"You're my employer," I said. "And Eli's safety depends partly on your help right now. I can't figure out what this means under those circumstances."
He nodded immediately. "You're right. I won't ask you to."
"I'm not saying never."
"I heard you."
We stood with a careful distance between us. It was the first time I had felt hope without feeling cornered by it.
The following day, police traced the threatening text messages to a prepaid phone purchased by Dominic's driver. Surveillance video showed the same driver entering my apartment building with a maintenance uniform.
Dominic denied knowing anything. His driver stopped answering calls.
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Then Marco received a tip that the driver was leaving Chicago that evening.
Investigators moved to find him before he disappeared—and what he told them would change the case.
