Chapter 5 – THE PHOTOGRAPH IN THE CLUTCH

I stared at the photograph in Vincent’s hand, my mind completely short-circuiting.

“That’s David,” I whispered.

My ex-husband. The man who had walked out on me and Maya when she was just a baby, claiming he couldn’t handle the responsibility.

But in the photo, David looked happy. He was smiling, his arm wrapped tightly around Serena’s waist.

And Serena was holding a newborn.

“Caroline,” Vincent said slowly. “Did your husband know Serena?”

“No,” I shook my head, my heart racing. “No, David was a mechanic. He didn’t know anyone like her. He left us five years ago. He died in a boating accident two years after that.”

Diane looked at the picture, her eyes wide.

“Caroline,” Diane said gently. “Look at the date stamped on the bottom corner.”

I squinted.

August 14th.

Seven years ago.

The exact month Maya was born.

“That baby…” Diane started.

“Is Maya,” I finished, feeling a cold dread wash over me. “She’s wearing the little yellow hospital beanie I kept in her memory box.”

Vincent’s jaw clenched.

“Why would Serena have a photograph of herself holding your newborn daughter with your husband?”

None of it made sense.

Unless David didn’t just walk out.

Unless he was taken from us.

“Mr. Russo,” I said, my voice trembling. “I need to know what she knows.”

Vincent nodded once.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Marcus,” Vincent said. “Tell the precinct to hold Serena in interrogation room four. I’m coming down there.”

He hung up and looked at me.

“Get your coat, Caroline. We’re getting answers.”

Diane offered to stay at the mansion and watch Lily. The little girl was already half-asleep on the sofa, clutching her bear.

Ten minutes later, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Vincent’s black SUV as we sped through the rainy New York streets.

Vincent didn’t speak. He just drove with a cold, terrifying focus.

When we arrived at the precinct, the desk sergeant didn’t even ask for Vincent’s ID. He just buzzed us straight through to the back holding area.

Serena was sitting in a steel chair in a bleak, gray room. Her silk dress was ruined, her makeup streaked down her face like war paint.

When she saw us walk in, she sneered.

“Come to gloat, Vincent?”

Vincent didn’t answer. He walked over to the metal table and slammed the photograph down in front of her.

Serena flinched.

She looked at the picture, and for the first time all night, true panic flickered in her eyes.

“Where did you get that?” she hissed.

“It fell out of your purse,” I said, stepping forward. I placed my hands on the cold metal table. “Explain it, Serena. Now.”

Serena looked away. “It’s none of your business.”

Vincent leaned over the table, his physical presence dominating the small room.

“Serena. You are already going to prison for forgery, extortion, and conspiracy to commit murder.”

His voice was a low growl.

“If you do not tell Caroline the truth right now, I will make sure you never see the outside of a cell again.”

Serena swallowed hard. She looked at me, her eyes filled with a toxic mix of hatred and defeat.

“David didn’t leave you because he couldn’t handle the responsibility, Caroline,” Serena spat.

I gripped the table. “Then why?”

“Because I paid him to leave.”

The words hit me like a physical blow.

“What?”

Serena laughed bitterly.

“Elena was always so careless,” Serena said, staring at the wall. “Before she married Vincent, she had a wild phase. She liked mechanics. She liked rough men.”

Vincent stiffened.

“Elena had an affair with David,” Serena said, looking directly at Vincent. “Before he met Caroline. Before they got married.”

My chest tightened.

“When Elena got engaged to you, Vincent, she paid David to disappear,” Serena continued. “But he came back. He found out she was rich. He started blackmailing her.”

She pointed at the photograph.

“Elena sent me to pay him off. But David got greedy. He said he wanted more money, or he would tell you everything.”

“So you killed him too?” Vincent asked coldly.

“No!” Serena shouted. “He died in a boating accident! That was real!”

She looked back at me.

“But before he died, he gave me this photograph. He said if anything happened to him, his wife would find the evidence he hid.”

I stared at her, completely lost. “What evidence?”

Serena smiled a twisted, ugly smile.

“David didn’t just blackmail Elena, Caroline. He recorded her. He recorded her admitting to everything. The affairs, the bribes, everything.”

She leaned forward.

“He hid the tape inside a silver locket. He told me he gave the locket to his little girl.”

My blood ran cold.

Maya’s locket.

The one she wore every single day. The one she was wearing the night she was hit by the car.

Serena watched my face fall.

“Yes, Caroline,” Serena whispered. “Elena didn’t hit Maya by accident.”

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