Chapter 5 - THE MAN FROM ST. CATHERINE'S
Mr. Cole arrived at the estate at 2:14 that afternoon.
He came with two police officers and a smile.
Emma saw him through the security monitor.
She immediately vomited.
Isabella found her on the bathroom floor.
No questions.
No demands.
She simply knelt beside Emma and held her hair.
When Emma finished, Isabella wet a towel.
“He can't come inside.”
Emma laughed weakly.
“He always comes inside.”
“Not here.”
“You don't know him.”
Isabella looked toward the door.
“No. He doesn't know me.”
Downstairs, Mr. Cole told Vincent that Emma was unstable.
A habitual liar.
A thief.
A troubled child.
He said she had attacked staff members.
Run away repeatedly.
Invented abuse for attention.
Vincent listened.
Then he placed Peter Vale's photograph on the desk.
Mr. Cole's smile disappeared.
Vincent saw it.
“So you know him.”
“He worked maintenance.”
“He entered my home last night.”
“I can't explain that.”
“He tried to kill Emma.”
Mr. Cole adjusted his tie.
“Mr. Romano, children like Emma often become involved with dangerous people.”
Vincent smiled.
Tony looked away.
Everyone who knew Vincent understood that smile.
“Dangerous people,” Vincent repeated.
“Yes.”
“Like me?”
Mr. Cole swallowed.
“I didn't mean—”
Vincent leaned across the desk.
“Emma arrived at your institution as an infant. Thirteen years later, one of your employees followed her into my home and tried to murder her.”
“I had no knowledge—”
“Then you're incompetent.”
Mr. Cole stiffened.
“Or you're lying.”
The police officers shifted.
Vincent looked at them.
“Did either of you verify Mr. Cole's story before bringing him to my gate?”
Neither answered.
Vincent understood.
So did Tony.
The corruption Claire Bennett had uncovered was not dead.
It had grown.
Upstairs, Emma heard a sound.
A door.
She turned.
Mr. Cole stood at the end of the hallway.
Alone.
Emma's body stopped working.
He smiled.
“There you are.”
She ran.
He caught her before the stairs.
His hand closed around her arm.
Emma screamed.
Then Mr. Cole was ripped backward.
Vincent hit him once.
Only once.
Mr. Cole crashed into the wall.
Vincent stood between him and Emma.
“You touched her.”
Mr. Cole spat blood.
“You don't know what she is.”
Vincent's voice became terrifyingly calm.
“She is a child.”
“She has the key.”
Emma froze.
Vincent looked down.
Mr. Cole realized his mistake.
Too late.
Tony appeared with three guards.
Vincent smiled again.
May you like
“What key, Mr. Cole?”
And for the first time in thirteen years, the man who had controlled Emma's entire life looked afraid.
