Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Fitting Room
Celeste Arden was found at 4:20 that afternoon.
Alive.
Barely.
A Moretti security team discovered her inside an abandoned tailoring studio in South Boston after tracing a private car seen leaving her apartment building.
She had been drugged.
No major injuries.
No memory of being taken.
Daniel ordered her transferred to a private hospital room.
Rachel insisted on seeing her.
Celeste opened her eyes just after midnight.
The moment she saw Rachel, she began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Rachel stopped beside the bed.
Daniel remained near the door.
Marco stood outside.
Celeste looked toward Daniel and visibly shrank.
Rachel noticed.
Daniel did too.
He stepped backward.
“I’ll wait outside.”
Celeste stared at him.
Daniel left without another word.
Rachel pulled a chair close.
“Tell me what happened.”
Celeste shook her head.
“They’ll kill me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You hurt me because strangers told you to?”
“No.”
Celeste cried harder.
“It started as normal instructions.”
“From Daniel?”
“I thought so.”
Rachel waited.
“The first email asked me to make your gala wardrobe more formal.”
“That sounds normal.”
“It was.”
“Then?”
“A woman called.”
“Who?”
“I never got her name.”
“What did she say?”
“That Mr. Moretti was unhappy with your figure.”
Rachel looked away.
Even knowing the truth, the sentence still hurt.
Celeste whispered,
“She said your marriage was business and Daniel expected you to look like a Moretti wife.”
“Why believe her?”
“Because she knew things.”
“What things?”
“Your measurements. Daniel’s schedule. The exact room assigned for photographs. Private guest lists.”
Rachel frowned.
“Did you recognize her voice?”
“No.”
“Accent?”
“Boston. Educated. Older than us.”
Rachel immediately thought of Sophia.
But she remembered her own warning.
Truth first.
“Then the calls changed,” Celeste said.
“How?”
“She started threatening me.”
“With what?”
“My brother.”
Rachel frowned.
“He owns a restaurant in Providence. He owes money.”
“To Daniel?”
Celeste shook her head.
“To people who said they worked for Daniel.”
Rachel understood.
“You thought Daniel would hurt your brother.”
“Yes.”
“And they told you to tighten the garment.”
Celeste cried.
“I told them you were bruising.”
Rachel’s anger rose.
“What did they say?”
“That bruises would help.”
Rachel went still.
“Help what?”
“Make you afraid of him.”
Outside the room, Daniel heard through the partially open door.
His face became stone.
Rachel asked the next question carefully.
“Why?”
Celeste looked toward the door.
“They said once you were afraid enough, you’d leave.”
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
“Leave Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Why do they care?”
Celeste swallowed.
“Because of the inheritance.”
Rachel frowned.
“What inheritance?”
Celeste stared.
“You don’t know?”
Daniel entered.
“No,” he said. “She doesn’t.”
Rachel turned.
Daniel’s expression told her something important had been hidden.
“Know what?”
Daniel closed the door.
“My grandfather’s trust.”
Rachel waited.
“When we married, a dormant voting provision activated.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means if I remain married for twelve consecutive months, I gain controlling voting rights over Moretti Freight Holdings.”
Rachel stared.
“You never told me.”
“It wasn't relevant to why we married.”
“It seems relevant now.”
“You're right.”
Daniel rarely admitted that so quickly.
Rachel stood.
“So somebody wants us divorced before twelve months.”
“Yes.”
“How long have we been married?”
“Six weeks.”
Celeste whispered,
“They said you wouldn't last until three months.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who said that?”
“The woman.”
Rachel asked, “Anything else?”
Celeste nodded slowly.
“She said your wife is already insecure. We only need to make her believe you see what she sees.”
Rachel froze.
The insult was cruel because it was accurate.
Whoever orchestrated this knew Rachel's history.
Her insecurities.
Her discomfort in elite rooms.
Her fear that Daniel would eventually look at her and realize she did not belong.
“How would she know that?” Rachel whispered.
Daniel’s eyes darkened.
Only people near Rachel could know.
People who had watched her closely.
Then Celeste said,
“There was a name.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What name?”
“She accidentally used it once.”
“Whose?”
“Dennis.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
Her former manager.
Dennis Cole.
The man who had tried to stop her from flagging the counterfeit hospital equipment.
Daniel looked at Rachel.
She whispered,
“He works at St. Catherine.”
“Not anymore,” Daniel said.
“What?”
“Dennis resigned two days after we married.”
Rachel had not known.
“Where is he now?”
Marco entered after checking his phone.
“We just ran him.”
He looked grim.
“Dennis Cole became procurement director for a company called Halcyon Medical Imports.”
Rachel frowned.
Daniel understood first.
“Who owns it?”
Marco answered.
“A holding company registered in Delaware.”
“And that belongs to?”
Marco looked at him.
“Sophia Moretti.”
Silence.
Daniel turned toward the window.
His aunt.
The woman who taught him to read financial statements.
The woman who had held him at his mother's funeral.
The woman who called Rachel temporary.
Rachel quietly said,
“This still isn’t proof.”
Daniel looked at her.
“No.”
“But it’s enough to ask questions.”
“Yes.”
Celeste reached for Rachel’s wrist.
“Wait.”
Rachel looked down.
“There’s another thing.”
“What?”
“The woman told me never to damage your face.”
Rachel felt cold.
“Why?”
Celeste began crying again.
“Because they needed you recognizable.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“For what?”
Celeste whispered,
“The video.”
Rachel’s heart began pounding.
“What video?”
“I don't know.”
“She said when it was time, the cameras needed to see Rachel clearly.”
Daniel and Rachel looked at each other.
This was no longer about forcing a divorce.
Somebody needed footage of Rachel.
Someone wanted her identifiable.
Marco’s phone rang.
He stepped into the hallway.
Five seconds later he returned.
“Boss.”
Daniel turned.
“We found Dennis Cole.”
“Where?”
“In one of Halcyon’s warehouses.”
“Alive?”
Marco's expression answered first.
“No.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
Daniel immediately reached toward her.
Then stopped.
She noticed.
He still remembered.
Do not touch without permission.
Rachel looked at his hand.
Then at him.
Slowly, she placed her hand into his.
Daniel closed his fingers around hers.
Marco continued.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Police found a laptop beside Dennis.”
Daniel waited.
“A video file was open.”
Rachel asked, “Of what?”
Marco looked at her.
“You.”
Rachel’s grip tightened around Daniel’s hand.
“Doing what?”
Marco hesitated.
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Say it.”
“Entering a Moretti Freight warehouse the night counterfeit equipment disappeared.”
Rachel stared at him.
“I’ve never been there.”
“I know.”
Marco continued.
“But the footage looks real.”
Daniel understood.
A deepfake.
Or staged footage.
Rachel’s face.
Rachel’s body.
Rachel walking into a crime scene.
May you like
Someone was no longer merely trying to make Rachel leave Daniel.
They were preparing to make Daniel believe she betrayed him.
