Chapter 2 - THE NAME ON THE STAFF LIST
Anna had been working in the mansion for four days.
Ethan learned that from the household manager, who arrived in the living room looking as though she would prefer to be anywhere else. The staffing agency supplied Anna under the name Nora Bell, with temporary housekeeping credentials and instructions that she would assist with preparations for Vanessa’s charity dinner.
Ethan had been in Chicago negotiating the sale of a commercial property portfolio.
Vanessa approved the hire herself.
That detail bothered him.
The mansion had a permanent household staff. Temporary workers were normally screened by the manager, not Ethan’s fiancée. Vanessa rarely paid attention to hiring unless the employee would be visible to guests.
“Did you know who she was?” Ethan asked.
Vanessa folded her arms. “I recognized her after she arrived.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was trying to understand what she wanted.”
“So you threw a pitcher at her?”
“It slipped.”
Ethan looked toward the glass.
Then at the security camera above the fireplace.
“We’ll see.”
Vanessa left the room before he could stop her. He instructed security to keep her away from Anna and Lily, then brought both of them into the small sitting room beside his study.
Anna refused to sit until Lily had a blanket and something to eat.
That was the first thing Ethan recognized about her beyond her face. She had always been more concerned with whether other people were comfortable than with admitting she needed help herself.
When the doctor arrived, Anna allowed an examination but asked that Lily remain within sight. Her cheek was bruised, her hands had several small cuts, and her right shoulder showed an older yellowing mark.
The doctor asked how it happened.
Anna looked at Ethan.
“Vanessa grabbed me yesterday when I tried to enter the west office.”
Ethan felt his jaw tighten.
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“Because I had one more day.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
Anna hesitated.
“The records company empties your grandfather’s office.”
Ethan frowned.
His grandfather’s private office occupied the mansion’s west wing. It had remained largely untouched since Walter Whitmore died, although Ethan’s father recently ordered it cleared for renovation.
“Why would you need anything from there?”
Anna reached into the pocket of her soaked uniform and removed a folded sheet protected inside a plastic sleeve.
It was a copy of an old company shareholder register.
Whitmore Development.
Owner: Walter Whitmore Family Trust.
Beneficiary interest: Anna Bell.
Ethan stared at the page.
“Why is your name on this?”
“Because my father helped your grandfather build the company.”
Ethan knew Anna’s father, Michael Bell, worked for Walter decades earlier. He had been told Michael was an accountant who left after a disagreement about compensation.
Anna shook her head when Ethan repeated that version.
“He was a founding partner.”
She explained that Michael Bell contributed land and engineering patents to the company’s earliest projects. Walter promised him a twenty-two-percent interest, later placed into a trust for Anna after Michael died.
Ethan had never heard of it.
“My father said your family had no ownership left.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Six years ago. The week before I was supposed to leave.”
He remembered the week. Anna accused his father of hiding financial records and asked Ethan to delay a major redevelopment project. They argued. He told her she had misunderstood the documents.
Three days later, she vanished.
Anna continued quietly.
“I wasn’t trying to take your company. I was trying to stop your father from taking something that had never belonged to him.”
Before Ethan could answer, his phone vibrated.
A message from his father.
Vanessa says Anna Bell has returned. Do not sign anything she puts in front of you.
Ethan looked toward the closed door.
May you like
He had not told his father Anna was there.
Vanessa had.
