Chapter 2 - THE NAME SHE BURIED BEFORE ENTERING THE PENTHOUSE
Adrian recovered quickly.
He stepped out of the elevator and adjusted one cuff.
“Who is she?”
Matteo did not answer.
His gaze remained fixed on his brother.
“You recognized her.”
“No.”
“You said you.”
“I was surprised.”
Camryn rose carefully with Leo clinging to her body.
The toddler wrapped his legs around her waist and refused to release her uniform.
Matteo touched the control beside the elevator.
The doors closed behind Adrian.
Then he entered a security code that disabled both private lifts.
Adrian stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure nobody leaves until I understand why my son knows this woman.”
Camryn’s breathing became shallow.
“I never intended to hurt Leo.”
Adrian laughed once.
“You entered under a false name.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Is that true?”
Camryn swallowed.
“My legal name is Camryn Jenkins.”
“That was not his question.”
She looked down at Leo.
“My birth name was Camryn Vale.”
The photograph beside the piano suddenly seemed to change.
Emilia’s maiden name had been Vale.
Matteo’s expression became unreadable.
“What was Emilia to you?”
“My sister.”
The room became silent.
Camryn explained carefully.
Emilia was fourteen years older.
Their mother, Diane Vale, had Camryn during a second marriage after Emilia left home for college.
The sisters had not grown up together, but Emilia visited whenever she could.
She taught Camryn to braid her hair.
Sent birthday books.
Tapped three times against Camryn’s back whenever thunder frightened her.
When Emilia married Matteo, the visits became less frequent.
Then they stopped completely.
“Why did she never tell me about you?” Matteo asked.
“She tried.”
“I knew your mother had another daughter. Emilia said you lived in Oregon.”
“We did until my mother became sick.”
“What does that have to do with entering my home as a maid?”
Camryn looked toward Adrian.
“After Emilia died, I contacted this family.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“Nobody told me.”
“I never reached you.”
She had called the DeLuca office repeatedly after the car explosion. A man identifying himself as Adrian’s security director answered.
He told her Matteo was grieving and wanted no contact with distant relatives.
A week later, someone appeared outside her mother’s hospital room.
He knew Camryn’s address.
He knew her schedule.
He told her to stop asking about Emilia.
Adrian spread his hands.
“Anyone could invent that.”
Camryn looked directly at him.
“He gave me a message from you.”
“What message?”
“That Emilia had chosen the DeLucas over the Vales, and I should learn from her mistake.”
Adrian’s face remained controlled.
Matteo’s did not.
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
Camryn reached beneath her uniform but stopped when Matteo’s shoulders hardened.
“Slowly.”
She removed an old phone wrapped in a soft cloth.
“This belonged to Emilia.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“That device is stolen property.”
Leo whimpered.
Camryn immediately tapped his back three times.
Matteo moved between her and Adrian.
“Do not come closer.”
Adrian stared at his brother.
“You are protecting a stranger who infiltrated your home.”
“I am protecting my son.”
Camryn placed the old phone on the grand piano.
Emilia mailed it to their mother three days before her death.
No explanation.
No return address.
Only the locket and a short handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, do not trust the first story you hear.
Diane hid the package because she feared the DeLuca family.
Cancer and medical debt eventually forced Camryn to take work wherever she could find it.
When Pristine Heights offered an assignment inside Matteo’s penthouse, she accepted under her legal married surname rather than the Vale name.
“I wanted to see Leo,” Camryn said. “I wanted to know whether he was safe.”
“You could have come to me,” Matteo replied.
“I believed someone near you killed my sister.”
Adrian’s expression sharpened.
“That accusation will get you hurt.”
Matteo turned his head slowly.
“Was that a threat?”
“It was reality.”
“No.”
Matteo’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“It was an answer.”
Leo lifted his face from Camryn’s shoulder and looked at Adrian.
His body tightened instantly.
Camryn felt it.
So did Matteo.
“Does he react like this whenever Adrian enters?” she asked.
The servants avoided Matteo’s eyes.
An older housekeeper named Ruth finally spoke.
“Yes, sir.”
Matteo looked at her.
“You never told me.”
“Mr. Adrian said the child needed discipline.”
Adrian’s hand closed into a fist.
Matteo noticed.
For the first time since Emilia’s funeral, he wondered whether grief had not destroyed his son.
May you like
Perhaps fear had.
Continue to the next part: Emilia’s old phone contains a damaged recording, and Leo reacts to the voice of the man speaking in the background.
