Chapter 3 - THE FIANCÉE WHO CAME BACK
Camilla returned to the estate at four in the afternoon, escorted by her own driver and wearing sunglasses large enough to hide half her face. She had changed from the white gala gown into a cream suit. Her hair was immaculate. Her posture suggested she had come to collect an item she had misplaced, not to confront the man who had ended their engagement.
Enzo met her in the formal sitting room. Marco stood by the door, and Elena Moretti, the family attorney, sat at the side table with a folder open in front of her.
Adeline was in the staff corridor when she heard Camilla’s voice.
“You cannot end a marriage arrangement over a maid’s little performance.”
“It was an engagement,” Enzo replied. “And I ended it because I chose to.”
“You’re letting her manipulate you.”
“I’m letting the evidence speak.”
Camilla laughed. “What evidence? A glass with a trace of medication? I take prescription medicine. You know that.”
“Your prescription is not authorized for me.”
“I was trying to help you sleep. You haven’t slept properly in months.”
“Then why did you disable the cameras?”
Silence.
Adeline stopped walking.
Camilla’s voice turned brittle. “The security system was malfunctioning.”
“The access log says otherwise.”
“Your staff could have used my code.”
“Then tell the police who did.”
“You’re humiliating me.”
Enzo’s voice grew colder. “You humiliated yourself when you raised that crop.”
Camilla’s heel struck the floor. “You are choosing a servant over the woman who stood beside you for three years.”
“I am choosing not to marry someone who believes she can hurt people because she outranks them.”
A chair scraped.
“You’ll regret this,” Camilla said. “My father will make sure every lender in Chicago remembers what you’ve done.”
“My business can survive your father’s disapproval.”
“And what about your reputation? The police in your house? The press outside your gate? Do you think your associates will admire you for defending a maid?”
Enzo did not answer immediately.
Then he said, “I don’t care what they admire.”
The door opened. Camilla stepped into the corridor and found Adeline standing there with a basket of folded linens. Her sunglasses came off slowly.
“You,” she said.
Adeline’s pulse jumped, but she held her ground.
Camilla walked toward her. “You think you’ve won something.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me that. You’re not employed by me anymore.”
“I never was.”
Camilla’s face twisted. She lifted her hand as if she might slap Adeline. Marco appeared between them before she could move.
“Miss Ashford, step back.”
Camilla looked at him with disbelief. “You’re guarding a maid from me?”
“I’m enforcing Mr. Marchetti’s instructions.”
“You’re all going to pay for this.”
Enzo emerged from the sitting room. “Camilla, you need to leave.”
She turned to him. “You’re making a mistake you can’t reverse.”
“Then I’ll live with it.”
Camilla put her sunglasses back on. Before leaving, she leaned close enough to Adeline that only she could hear.
“You have no idea what you interrupted.”
Adeline felt the words like a cold draft.
“What did you mean?” she asked.
Camilla smiled without warmth. “Ask your employer why he was supposed to be unconscious tonight.”
Then she walked out.
Enzo watched the car leave through the front windows. When he turned back, he found Adeline staring at him.
“She said I interrupted something.”
“She wants you afraid.”
“Maybe I should be.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But you won’t be left alone with this.”
He did not tell her not to worry. He did not tell her that he could make the problem disappear. He called the detective and repeated Camilla’s exact words, making sure they were recorded.
That evening, Elena Moretti reviewed the estate’s access logs and discovered a second anomaly. Two weeks before the gala, Camilla had entered Enzo’s study after midnight and copied files from a secure drive. The files included a proposed sale of a shipping terminal and a confidential schedule of shipments through the lakefront warehouse.
Enzo stared at the report.
“Who else had access?”
“Only you, Marco, me, and the estate administrator,” Elena said. “The administrator was away that night. We should assume the copied files are no longer secure.”
“Send the logs to investigators. Notify the business partners on the schedule. Quietly change the access protocols.”
Elena nodded. “There is another issue. Camilla’s father has called three lenders and asked them to review their exposure to your companies.”
“Let him.”
“If they freeze credit lines, some employees could be affected.”
“Then we prepare a contingency plan. We do not threaten the lenders, and we do not punish anyone who answers their questions honestly.”
Elena gave him a long look. “You sound almost reasonable.”
“Don’t spread it around.”
Later, Enzo found Adeline in the kitchen, carefully changing the dressing on her wrist. She had refused to let anyone do it for her.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He nodded, accepting the honesty. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t hit me.”
“I watched too many people stand still before I arrived. I have spent years building a house where people obey me. I should have made it a house where they could ask for help.”
Adeline studied him. “You can’t change what everyone did in that corridor.”
“No. But I can change what happens next.”
She finished the bandage and put away the supplies.
“Then start by making sure no one loses their job for telling the truth.”
“I will.”
For the first time, she believed he meant it.
May you like
But before she went to bed, the unknown number sent another message.
The sedative was the small plan. You have no idea what the Ashfords really wanted.
