Chapter 6 - The Voice of a Dead Woman
Maya Bennett had heard people say fear could freeze the blood.
She had always thought it was just something dramatic people said in movies.
But standing in Daniel’s hospital room with Vincent Caruso staring at her like the floor had disappeared beneath him, Maya understood.
Her blood felt frozen.
Her fingers still clutched the phone. The unknown number had already disappeared from the screen, leaving only her own reflection in the black glass.
Pale face.
Wide eyes.
A woman who had walked into a restaurant one night and accidentally stepped into a nightmare wearing diamonds, grief, and the voice of a dead mother.
Daniel broke the silence first.
“Maya,” he said carefully, “tell me that wasn’t who I think it was.”
Maya looked at Vincent.
He had not moved.
His entire body was still, but his eyes were burning.
“She said,” Maya whispered, “I was kind to her son.”
Marcus closed the hospital room door.
The click sounded final.
Dr. Elaine Porter looked between them. “Do I need to know what is happening?”
“No,” Vincent said.
“Yes,” Maya said at the same time.
Vincent’s eyes snapped to hers.
Maya did not back down.
“My brother is your patient now,” she told Dr. Porter. “And someone already tried to get to him because of me. So yes, you need to know there is a threat.”
Dr. Porter’s expression tightened, but she did not panic. Maya liked that.
“I can arrange a secured transfer,” the doctor said. “My facility has private intake access. But I need to know whether this is a custody issue, a criminal issue, or something else.”
Vincent looked toward the window. “Something else.”
Daniel gave a sharp laugh. “That’s comforting.”
Maya walked to his bedside and took his hand. “Danny, listen to me. You are going to transfer with Dr. Porter. You are going to let them help you.”
“And you?”
“I’ll be fine.”
He stared at her. “You say that every time things are absolutely not fine.”
Vincent spoke quietly. “Your sister will be protected.”
Daniel looked at him with open distrust. “By the same people who let someone find my hospital room?”
Marcus answered, “They were not my people.”
Daniel looked at him. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“It shouldn’t,” Marcus said.
Maya turned to Vincent. “Can the call be traced?”
“Already being done.”
“How?”
He glanced at Marcus.
Marcus held up his phone. “The number was masked. But not well enough.”
Maya swallowed. “So who was it?”
Vincent’s face was unreadable. “Either Isabella…”
“Or someone with her voice,” Maya finished.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “Isabella is Ethan’s mother?”
Maya nodded.
“The dead wife?”
Maya nodded again.
Daniel looked at Vincent. “No offense, but your life is insane.”
“None taken.”
“You should take some. It was offensive.”
For half a second, something almost human crossed Vincent’s face. Not a smile exactly. More like the memory of one.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
Maya felt it before he spoke.
“Ethan.”
He answered immediately.
Rosa’s voice came through, shaking. Maya could not hear every word, but she heard Ethan crying in the background.
Vincent’s jaw tightened. “Put him on.”
A pause.
Then Ethan’s broken little voice came through the speaker.
“Daddy?”
Vincent closed his eyes briefly. “I’m here, buddy.”
“She called the house.”
Every person in the room went silent.
Vincent’s voice stayed gentle with visible effort. “Who called?”
“Mama.”
Maya gripped Daniel’s hand.
Vincent opened his eyes. “What did she say?”
“She said I have to be good or Maya will get hurt.”
Maya’s stomach dropped.
Daniel tried to sit up. “What?”
Vincent’s face went cold in a way Maya had not seen before. It was not anger yet. It was something below anger. Something older and more dangerous.
“Ethan,” he said softly, “listen to me. Maya is safe. You are safe. No one is allowed to scare you.”
“But she sounded sad.”
“I know.”
“She said you made her go away.”
Vincent’s breath caught.
Maya watched him struggle.
A cruel person would have defended himself.
A proud man would have corrected the child.
Vincent did neither.
He said, “I’m sorry you heard that.”
Ethan cried harder.
Vincent’s voice lowered. “I am coming home now. Stay with Rosa and do not answer any phone. Do you understand?”
“Is Maya coming?”
Vincent looked at Maya.
She took one step closer to the phone. “I’m coming too, sweetheart.”
Ethan sniffled. “Rabbit misses you.”
Maya blinked back tears. “Tell Rabbit I miss him too.”
The call ended.
Maya looked at Vincent. “Who has access to your house lines?”
“Too many people.”
“Fix that.”
Marcus nodded once, already typing.
Daniel tugged Maya’s sleeve. “You’re going back there?”
“I have to.”
“No. You don’t.”
Maya looked at him, and for the first time all morning, her voice softened completely.
“He’s five.”
Daniel’s anger collapsed into fear. “You’re my sister.”
“And you’re my brother. That’s why you’re going with Dr. Porter.”
Daniel turned his head away.
Maya knew that look. It meant he was trying not to cry.
She leaned down and kissed his forehead like she had when they were kids.
“I am not choosing him over you,” she whispered. “I’m trying to keep both of you alive.”
Daniel’s eyes closed.
“I hate this,” he said.
“Me too.”
Dr. Porter stepped forward. “The transport team is ready. We leave through the service bay. Mr. Bennett will not be listed under his name during intake.”
Vincent looked at her. “Use mine.”
Everyone turned.
Dr. Porter lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Admit him under Caruso protection. Anyone searching for Daniel Bennett hits a wall.”
Maya stared at him.
Daniel did too.
“You understand what that means?” Marcus asked quietly.
Vincent’s eyes remained on Maya. “Yes.”
Daniel looked between them. “I do not understand what that means.”
Marcus said, “It means anyone who goes after you will be seen as going after Vincent directly.”
Daniel swallowed. “Oh.”
Maya looked at Vincent carefully. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I brought danger to your family.”
“You barely know us.”
Vincent’s gaze flicked toward Daniel, then back to her.
“You came to my table when my son was screaming and everyone else chose comfort over courage. That makes you more familiar to me than most people I’ve known for years.”
Maya had no answer for that.
Outside the hospital room, the secured transfer began. Marcus placed two men with Daniel. Dr. Porter personally supervised every movement. Daniel tried to joke as they wheeled him out, but Maya saw the terror beneath it.
At the elevator, he caught her hand.
“Promise me something,” Daniel said.
“Anything.”
“If this gets too big, you run.”
Maya forced a smile. “I’m very good at running.”
“No, you’re not. You’re good at staying.”
That broke something in her.
She kissed his hand.
“I’ll call when I can.”
Daniel held her gaze. “Maya.”
“What?”
“Don’t let that boy turn into another reason you forget yourself.”
The elevator doors closed before she could answer.
Maya stood there long after Daniel disappeared.
Vincent stayed beside her.
For once, he did not speak.
That almost made it worse.
Finally, Maya wiped her face and turned to him.
“We go back to Ethan.”
Vincent nodded.
They left the hospital through a secured exit. Outside, sleet had turned to rain. The city looked washed in dirty silver.
Marcus rode in the front passenger seat. Vincent and Maya sat in the back.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
Then Maya said, “Tell me about Isabella.”
Vincent’s gaze stayed on the window.
“She loved old movies,” he said after a long pause. “Hated roses. Pretended to like expensive wine, but drank coffee so sweet it barely qualified as coffee.”
Maya listened.
“She sang when she was nervous. She gave money away behind my back. She used to tell Ethan stories about lions who were afraid of butterflies.”
His voice thinned.
“She was not built for my world.”
“Did you love her?”
Vincent looked at Maya then.
“Yes.”
The answer was simple.
Too simple to be a lie.
“Did she love you?”
Something darker crossed his face.
“I thought so.”
Maya watched rain slide down the window. “What happened before she disappeared?”
Vincent’s mouth tightened. “We fought.”
“About what?”
“Leaving.”
Maya turned toward him. “She wanted to leave you?”
“She wanted to leave the family.”
“That’s different.”
“It did not feel different at the time.”
“What did you do?”
Vincent was silent for so long Maya thought he would not answer.
Then he said, “I told her no.”
Maya’s chest tightened.
“I told her Ethan was a Caruso. That our son belonged protected, not hidden. That she was afraid because she didn’t understand power.”
His expression twisted with disgust at himself.
“She said power was what men called fear when they had enough money.”
Maya looked at him. “She sounds smart.”
“She was.”
“And then?”
“She took Ethan to the chapel that night. The next morning, she was gone. The boat exploded off Long Island three hours later.”
Maya’s breath caught. “You saw a body?”
“No.”
“Then why did everyone say she died?”
“Because her ring was found. Her blood. Her coat.”
“And because someone wanted you to stop looking.”
Vincent’s eyes hardened. “Yes.”
The SUV climbed Blackwater Hill.
The gates opened.
Maya expected alarms. Guards. Chaos.
Instead, the estate was silent.
Too silent.
Marcus spoke into his radio.
No answer.
His body changed instantly.
“Stop the car.”
The SUV halted halfway up the drive.
Vincent reached beneath his coat.
Maya whispered, “What is it?”
Marcus looked toward the mansion.
“The guards aren’t responding.”
Vincent’s face went still.
Then every light in the mansion went out.
Blackwater Hill vanished into darkness.
And from Maya’s phone, which had not rung, a woman’s voice suddenly whispered through the speaker.
“Come inside, Vincent.”
Maya dropped the phone.
The screen was black.
But the voice continued.
May you like
“Ethan is waiting.”
---
