Chapter 1 – [THE SECRET OF THE SILVER ROSARY]

Dominic stared at Evelyn Carter.

The silence in the west hallway felt heavy enough to crush us.

“My brother,” Dominic repeated, his voice barely a whisper. “Leo was sent to a private facility in Switzerland fifteen years ago. He was dangerously ill.”

Evelyn shook her head slowly.

Her hands were trembling as she held the damp handkerchief.

“No, Dominic. He wasn’t ill.”

I stood perfectly still, my burned wrist throbbing beneath the white bandage.

Dominic stepped closer to the frail woman. “I visited that facility. I saw his medical records.”

“You saw what Margaret paid them to write,” Evelyn said softly.

Dominic’s jaw tightened. “Why would she do that?”

“Because fifteen years ago, your father was preparing to change his will. He was going to leave the entire Moretti estate to Leo.”

The words hung in the air.

Dominic’s eyes darkened. “Margaret wasn’t even family. She was just my father’s financial advisor back then.”

“Yes,” Evelyn whispered. “And she was stealing from him. Millions, Dominic. If Leo inherited the estate, the new trustees would have audited the accounts. She would have gone to prison.”

Dominic turned away, running a hand over his face.

The man who controlled half of Chicago’s underworld was standing in his own hallway, unraveling.

“So she convinced my father that Leo was unstable,” Dominic said, piecing it together. “She arranged the doctors. The facility.”

“She didn’t just arrange it,” Evelyn said. “She threatened the boy. She told Leo that if he ever told the truth, she would have your father killed.”

I gasped.

Dominic’s head snapped toward me, then back to Evelyn. “How do you know this?”

Evelyn reached into her faded brown handbag.

Her trembling fingers pulled out a small, tarnished object.

A silver rosary.

Dominic froze. “That was Leo’s.”

“He gave it to me,” Evelyn said, tears spilling down her cheeks. “The night Margaret sent him away, I tried to stop her. I was working as a seamstress in this very house. Margaret locked me in the basement to keep me quiet.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“She locked you away?” Dominic asked.

“For two days. When I finally got out, Leo was gone. And Margaret told me if I ever came near Grace again, she would make sure I ended up in a facility right next to him.”

She held out the rosary.

Dominic took it. His large hands completely engulfed the delicate silver beads.

“If Grace found you,” Dominic said quietly, “where is she meeting you tonight?”

Evelyn looked confused. “She isn’t meeting me tonight. She told me to wait here until she signaled me.”

Dominic frowned. “Signaled you how?”

“With a blue ribbon tied to the garden gate.”

Dominic and I exchanged a look.

“Mrs. Carter,” I said softly, my voice shaking. “There hasn’t been a blue ribbon on that gate for years. It was removed when the landscaping was redone.”

Evelyn’s face fell. “But… Grace told me on the phone—”

“That wasn’t Grace,” a voice said from the shadows.

We all turned.

Standing in the doorway was Mrs. Ellis, the head housekeeper.

And she was holding a stack of faded, yellowed letters.

“It was me,” Mrs. Ellis said.

Dominic stepped forward. “You called her?”

Mrs. Ellis nodded, her stern face cracking with emotion. “I couldn’t watch Margaret Harrington destroy this family any longer. Not when I have the proof.”

She handed the letters to Dominic.

“What are these?” he asked.

Mrs. Ellis looked directly at me, then at Dominic.

“They’re letters from Leo. He isn’t in Switzerland, Mr. Moretti.”

Dominic stopped breathing.

“Then where is he?”

Mrs. Ellis pointed to the silver tray I had dropped earlier.

“You might want to ask your housemaid. Because the woman Sophie calls her mother… isn’t her mother at all.”

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