CHAPTER 2 THE GIRL IN CONNECTICUT
I did not sleep.
At four in the morning, Victor’s apartment had become a quiet machine. Security officers moved through the halls. Analysts occupied the library.
Phones vibrated on polished tables and were answered in murmurs. Somewhere downstairs, a printer ran almost continuously, producing page after page of the life my husband had hidden from me.
Sophia slept in Victor’s guest room with one hand curled around the silver bird pendant at her neck.
I sat beside her until dawn.
Every few minutes, I looked at the photograph on my phone: Dominic, Chloe, and the unknown girl standing in front of the Connecticut house. The girl’s resemblance to Sophia was not exact. Her face was longer. Her eyes were darker. But there was something in the shape of her mouth, the angle of her chin, the guarded stillness in her posture that felt familiar in a way I could not explain.
The pendant made coincidence impossible.
At seven, Victor entered carrying two cups of coffee. He placed one beside me and remained near the door.
“You should eat.”
“I should know who she is.”
“We’re working on it.”
“You knew the necklace was missing.”
“Yes.”
“You knew for eight years and never told me.”
“There was nothing to tell. Father’s safe was accessed during a foundation event. Several items were inventoried incorrectly. He believed the pendant had been misplaced.”
“Did you?”
Victor’s silence answered.
I stood carefully so I would not wake Sophia.
“Who did you suspect?”
“Everyone who had access.”
“That includes our family.”
“It includes staff, trustees, guests, and family.”
“You always answer with categories when you don’t want to name names.”
His expression hardened. “And you always demand certainty when the truth is still forming.”
I followed him into the hallway and closed the bedroom door behind us.
“Stop treating me like a client. I am your sister.”
“That is exactly why I’m being careful.”
“No. You’re being careful because there is something you don’t want me to know.”
Victor set his coffee on a console table. “The fourth pendant was intended for a child who was never publicly acknowledged.”
I stared at him.
“What child?”
“Our father had the set commissioned before Sophia was born. At the time, there were only three grandchildren.”
My brothers Adrian and Julian each had a son. Sophia made three.
“Then why four?”
Victor looked toward the dark windows.
“Father said he believed the family would grow.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the only one he gave.”
Before I could press him, Naomi entered from the stairwell. She held a tablet and wore the same cream suit she had arrived in, though her hair was now pinned back with less precision.
“Dominic has retained counsel,” she said. “Elliot Crane.”
Victor swore under his breath.
I knew the name. Crane defended executives accused of crimes they insisted were accounting misunderstandings. He was brilliant, expensive, and famous for turning victims into suspects.
Naomi continued. “Crane filed an emergency motion to prevent the Sterling entities from accelerating Dominic’s loans. He claims the loan agreements were induced through undisclosed familial influence and therefore may be unenforceable.”
“He accepted the money,” I said.
“He also alleges you used your family’s power to sabotage his company in retaliation for a private marital dispute.”
I laughed once. “A private marital dispute held in front of two hundred investors.”
“There’s more. He intends to seek temporary custody restrictions.”
The hallway seemed to tilt.
“On what grounds?”
“That you exposed Sophia to a public confrontation, allowed her to witness financial threats, and removed her from the marital home without notice.”
“He brought his mistress and another child to a gala and called them his real family.”
“Crane will say you arrived uninvited and escalated the situation.”
Victor picked up his phone. “I’ll bury the motion before breakfast.”
Naomi’s voice sharpened. “No. We respond through the court. If you apply pressure, Crane will use it as proof of intimidation.”
Victor’s jaw flexed, but he lowered the phone.
I looked through the bedroom door at Sophia’s sleeping form.
Dominic had humiliated her, insured her life, and now wanted to portray me as the danger.
“File for temporary sole custody,” I said. “Today.”
Naomi nodded. “We need your sworn statement by noon.”
“And the girl?”
Victor answered. “Facial recognition found a possible match. Her name is Lila Mercer. Eight years old. Enrolled under Chloe’s guardianship at a private school in Greenwich until six weeks ago.”
“Guardianship. Is Chloe her mother?”
“Birth records are sealed.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
A call from the lobby interrupted us. Celeste Rowan had arrived with her son.
Victor did not want to let her upstairs.
I did.
Celeste entered the living room wearing jeans, a gray sweater, and no makeup. Without the gala dress and diamonds, she looked younger and far more frightened. The little boy beside her clutched a red toy car. He had Dominic’s eyes. There was no question about that.
Sophia had awakened and stood behind me in Victor’s oversized guest robe. When she saw the boy, she moved closer to my side.
Celeste’s gaze fell to her.
“I’m sorry,” she said immediately. “I am so sorry.”
Sophia looked at me.
“This is Celeste,” I said. “And this is Noah.”
The boy lifted his toy car but did not speak.
Celeste swallowed. “Dominic told me you had been separated for two years. He said the divorce was sealed because of your family. He said you lived overseas and that Sophia stayed mostly with him.”
“He barely knew her teacher’s name.”
“I know that now.” Tears filled Celeste’s eyes, but she did not let them fall. “He showed me documents. A divorce decree. A custody agreement. Photographs of an apartment he said was yours in London.”
Victor stepped forward. “Do you have copies?”
“Yes.” She handed him a phone. “And messages. Emails. Voice notes. Everything.”
He passed the phone to an analyst.
I watched Noah. He stood so still that he seemed to be waiting for someone to tell him whether he was allowed to exist.
“How old is he?” I asked.
“Five.”
“And Dominic is his father?”
Celeste’s chin lifted. “Yes. We did a private test before Noah was born because Dominic demanded it.”
Sophia looked up at me. “So he is my brother?”
The adults in the room froze.
I knelt beside her.
“It looks that way.”
She considered Noah. “Do you like dinosaurs?”
Noah nodded.
“I have a triceratops at home,” she said. “You can borrow it, but not forever.”
It was the first normal moment any of us had experienced since the gala.
Celeste covered her mouth and turned away.
Mrs. Alvarez took the children to the breakfast room with coloring books. As soon as they were out of earshot, Celeste’s composure broke.
“He asked me to marry him last month,” she said. “He said he was waiting until after the gala to announce it publicly. He told me the company board had approved a transition plan and that you had been paid a settlement.”
“He paid no settlement.”
“I gave up my job. I moved Noah. I sold my apartment.”
I wanted to hate her. Part of me did. She had stood on Dominic’s arm while he toasted their future. She had occupied a space stolen from me and my daughter. But the woman in front of me had been deceived too. Her crime was believing the same man I had believed.
“Where did you meet?” I asked.
“At a pediatric charity fundraiser. Dominic said he was there representing the Sterling Foundation.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Which fundraiser?”
“Bright Haven Children’s Initiative. Three years ago.”
The name meant little to me, but Victor’s reaction was immediate.
“What?” I asked.
He ignored me and looked at Celeste. “Who introduced you?”
“Chloe.”
The room went silent.
Celeste continued, confused. “She said Dominic was separated and lonely. She helped arrange our first dinner.”
“Did Chloe know about Noah?” Victor asked.
“She planned his first birthday party.”
I thought of the Connecticut photograph. Dominic and Chloe with another child. Chloe introducing Celeste to a married man. Chloe blocking me from the elevator as if she wanted the confrontation to occur exactly as it had.
“What was Chloe’s relationship with Dominic?” I asked.
Celeste’s face tightened. “I thought they were too close. Dominic said she was loyal because she had been with the company from the beginning. They argued constantly. Sometimes she spoke to him like she owned him.”
“Did you ever visit the Connecticut house?”
“No. Dominic told me it was a corporate retreat under renovation.”
Victor showed her the photograph of Lila.
Celeste went pale.
“You know her,” I said.
“I’ve seen her once.”
“Where?”
“Dominic’s office. She was sitting behind Chloe’s desk after hours.”
“What did Chloe say?”
“She said Lila was her niece.”
Victor exchanged a glance with Naomi.
Celeste looked from one of us to another. “What is this?”
“We don’t know yet,” I said.
An analyst entered and handed Victor a printed transcript. “We found the voice memo Ms. Rowan mentioned. You should hear it.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
Victor pressed play.
Dominic’s voice filled the room, intimate and confident.
“I know you’re scared, but Vivienne can’t stop us. Her family will protect the name before they protect her. By the time anyone realizes what I’ve done, the trust will already be moved. You and Noah will be safe.”
There was a pause, then Celeste’s recorded voice: “And if she refuses the divorce?”
Dominic laughed softly.
“She won’t be around long enough to refuse anything.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the speaker.
Celeste whispered, “He told me he meant you were moving to Europe.”
Victor replayed the final sentence.
She won’t be around long enough.
My mind returned to the life insurance policies. To Dominic’s sudden interest in my travel schedule. To the anniversary trip he had insisted we postpone twice. To the new vitamins he had ordered for me because he said I looked tired.
Naomi broke the silence. “We need those supplements tested.”
I turned to Victor. “Send someone to the apartment.”
“Already done.”
His phone rang before he finished speaking.
He answered, listened, and looked at me.
“What?” I demanded.
“The apartment has been entered.”
“By whom?”
“Unknown. No forced entry. Your housekeeper found the kitchen cabinets open and the home office stripped.”
“My jewelry?”
“Untouched.”
“Documents?”
“Gone.”
Sophia’s voice drifted from the breakfast room as she explained to Noah that purple was a better dinosaur color than green.
Victor listened to the caller again.
Then his face changed.
“What did they take?” I asked.
“Your medication, your laptop, and every paper containing your signature.”
He ended the call.
A second later, Celeste’s phone rang on the table.
The screen displayed UNKNOWN NUMBER.
She looked at me. I nodded.
She answered on speaker.
At first, there was only breathing.
Then a young girl’s voice whispered, “Mom?”
Celeste went rigid. “Who is this?”
The girl began to cry.
“Please don’t let him take me back.”
A man’s voice sounded in the background, too muffled to identify.
The call disconnected.
Victor traced it immediately, but the result came back within seconds: a disposable phone near the New York–Connecticut border.
Celeste stared at the dead screen.
“She called me Mom.”
I looked again at the photograph of Lila Mercer, the missing pendant around her neck.
And for the first time, I wondered whether Dominic’s second family was not a family at all.
May you like
Maybe it was a collection of children he needed for reasons none of us yet understood.
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