Elena avoided me the next morning.

That alone told me something.

Normally she brought my mother’s breakfast tray to the west sitting room at eight.

That morning another maid came.

“Where’s Elena?”

The maid froze.

“Mrs. Fairchild reᴀssigned her.”

Vivien.

Of course.

“Where?”

“Laundry.”

I found Elena folding sheets.

She nearly dropped one when I entered.

“Mr. Duca.”

“You didn’t bring Mother breakfast.”

“Miss Fairchild changed the schedule.”

“Why?”

Her eyes lowered.

“No reason.”

Lie.

I stepped closer.

“Elena.”

She looked up.

There was fear.

Not of me.

Of what telling me might cause.

“Has Vivien threatened you?”

Her entire body became still.

Too direct.

I had made a mistake.

“What?”

“Answer.”

“No.”

Another lie.

Good.

Now I knew Mia had understood correctly.

I changed tactics.

“How is Mia?”

Confusion.

“Fine.”

“She likes chocolate.”

Elena stared.

“You gave her chocolate?”

“She extorted it.”

That almost made her smile.

Almost.

Then she became serious.

“Mr. Duca, Mia shouldn’t bother you.”

“She didn’t.”

“She’s three.”

“I noticed.”

Elena hesitated.

“She becomes attached to people.”

The warning beneath the words was obvious.

Don’t make promises to her unless you intend to keep them.

I nodded.

“So do adults.”

Her eyes briefly met mine.

Something pᴀssed between us.

Then I left.

At noon, Rocco brought the first results.

Vivien had spent eighty-seven thousand dollars in three months through an account I had never seen.

Not jewelry.

Not clothes.

Payments.

Four recipients.

One security technician.

One private investigator.

One former Duca employee.

And a man named Gabriel Serra.

I knew that name.

Everyone in our world did.

Gabriel Serra worked for the Marcelli family.

Our oldest rival.

My fiancée had been secretly paying one of my enemies.

I did not confront her.

Instead, I invited Vivien to dinner.

Private.

Candles.

Wine.

The kind of evening she enjoyed.

“You’ve been distracted.”

She touched my hand.

“Business.”

“Always business.”

“You knew that before agreeing to marry me.”

She smiled.

“I knew I could improve you.”

I almost laughed.

“Could you?”

“Yes.”

She leaned closer.

“You trust too many people.”

Interesting.

“Who shouldn’t I trust?”

She took a sip.

“Rocco.”

No.

“Your cousin Dante.”

Possible.

“Some staff.”

There.

“Which staff?”

She shrugged.

“That Elena woman makes me uncomfortable.”

My expression remained blank.

“Why?”

“She watches things.”

“What things?”

“Private conversations.”

Another lie.

Vivien continued:

“She’s ambitious.”

“She cleans bedrooms.”

“Women like her use proximity.”

I looked at her.

“What kind of woman is she?”

Vivien smiled.

“Desperate.”

I understood then.

Vivien believed desperation made Elena corruptible.

More importantly—

useful.

After dinner she kissed me.

I kissed her back.

Then watched her walk upstairs.

Rocco stepped out from the side corridor.

“You deserve an award.”

“For?”

“Not strangling her.”

“Find Serra.”

“He disappeared two weeks ago.”

“ᴅᴇᴀᴅ?”

“Unknown.”

That meant our investigation had become more serious.

Mia liked drawing under my desk.

Apparently nobody had informed me this was optional.

One afternoon while I signed contracts, she placed a picture on my papers.

“That’s Mommy.”

Stick woman.

“That’s me.”

Smaller stick person.

“And that?”

A tall figure.

“Bad lady.”

Vivien.

Then Mia had drawn another man.

“Who is he?”

“The whisper man.”

My pen stopped.

“What whisper man?”

“He comes when you go bye-bye.”

I crouched.

“Where?”

Mia pointed toward garden.

“Pretty room.”

The conservatory.

“What does he look like?”

She thought.

“Hair like Rocco.”

Gray?

“Does he talk to Vivien?”

Mia nodded.

Then whispered:

“She says find the key.”

My pulse changed.

“What key?”

Mia shrugged.

“Mommy says don’t listen.”

But Mia listened.

Children always did.

That evening, I searched Vivien’s rooms.

Nothing obvious.

Until I found a pH๏τograph tucked behind a jewelry case.

My father.

Twenty-five years younger.

Standing outside Duca Harbor offices.

Beside him—

Vivien’s father.

And my uncle Alessandro.

On the back:

THE THREE KEYS CONTROL EVERYTHING.

I had never heard of three keys.

Mother rarely managed full sentences after her stroke.

But she understood everything.

I sat beside her.

Placed the pH๏τograph on her blanket.

Her eyes changed.

“Mother.”

Her fingers moved.

“One blink yes.”

She blinked.

“Do you know what the three keys are?”

Yes.

“Money?”

No.

“Property?”

No.

“Documents?”

Yes.

Then she struggled to speak.

I leaned closer.

“Vault.”

“What vault?”

Her hand trembled.

“Old… port.”

The abandoned Duca terminal.

Then one more word.

“Elena.”

I froze.

“What about Elena?”

Mother began fighting for speech.

“Her… father.”

Elena’s father?

I had believed Elena grew up without one.

Mother closed her eyes.

Exhausted.

Before I could continue, Vivien entered.

Her smile disappeared when she saw the pH๏τograph.

Only for half a second.

Enough.

“What are you two discussing?”

I turned it face down.

“Family history.”

Vivien stared at Mother.

Mother stared back.

Hatred.

Pure.

Vivien had lied.

My mother never approved of her.

She was terrified of her.

Elena’s father was Thomas Hayes.

A name absent from her employment application.

Because she believed he died when she was eight.

Rocco found more.

Thomas Hayes had worked for the Duca family.

Not criminal operations.

Accounting.

Specifically, port trust records.

Twenty-one years earlier he vanished.

No body.

His disappearance occurred one week after my father began reorganizing ownership of our waterfront companies.

Then Vivien’s father suddenly became wealthier.

Very interesting.

I confronted Elena carefully.

“Do you remember your father?”

“A little.”

“Did he ever work near the harbor?”

Her face changed.

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“My mother used to mention ships.”

“Did he leave you anything?”

“No.”

Then she remembered.

“A necklace.”

“What kind?”

“A brᴀss pendant.”

My heart тιԍнтened.

“Where is it?”

“Mia wears it sometimes.”

A key.

Vivien had been threatening Elena because Elena unknowingly possessed one of the three keys.