The car pulled through iron gates that opened automatically. Elena sat in the back seat with Lily sleeping in a car seat beside her. Adelaide was up front with the driver. Nobody spoke.
Elena stared out the window as the Castellano mansion came into view. She had seen photos of it in magazines. Architectural spreads about modern luxury estates. But photos did not capture the sheer size of it. Three stories of glass and stone. Manicured gardens stretching in every direction. Fountains. Sculptures.
The car stopped at the front entrance. The driver opened Elena's door. She climbed out carefully. Her body still ached from the delivery. Every movement reminded her this was not her body. These were not her legs or her muscles or her center of gravity.
Adelaide gathered Lily and the bags. A woman in her sixties stood waiting at the front door.
"Mrs. Castellano," she called with a slight bow of her head. "Welcome home."
"Thank you," Elena said. Her voice sounded wrong. Too uncertain. Victoria would have walked in like she owned the place because she did.
Mrs. Chen's eyes flickered over Elena with an expression that was difficult to read. "Your suite is prepared. The nursery is adjacent. Adelaide will help you settle in."
Suite. Not room. Of course Victoria had a suite.
Elena followed Mrs. Chen through marble hallways. Everything was expensive and cold. Art that probably cost millions hung on walls. Fresh flowers in crystal vases sat on tables that looked like museum pieces. The ceilings were high enough to make her feel small.
They climbed a wide staircase to the second floor. Mrs. Chen led them down another hallway and stopped at double doors. She pushed them open.
The suite was larger than Elena's entire apartment had been in Seattle. A sitting area with cream colored sofas. A bedroom with a king size bed. Floor to ceiling windows overlooking the gardens. A bathroom with a tub that could fit three people.
"I…I stay here alone. Without my husband." Elena asked shakily.
Mrs Chen gave her a sideways glance. "Mr. Castellano's quarters are in the east wing, Ma'am. It's always been that way."
East wing. Adrian lived in a completely different part of the mansion. They did not even share a bedroom.
"Thank you," Elena said.
Mrs. Chen nodded and left. Adelaide brought Lily to the adjacent nursery. Elena heard her moving around but did not follow. She stood in the middle of the sitting room and turned slowly.
This was Victoria's prison. Beautiful and expensive and completely isolated.
Elena walked to the bedroom. The closet was as large as a boutique. Rows of designer dresses and shoes and handbags. Everything organized by color and season. Everything perfect.
She moved to the dresser and opened drawers. Silk lingerie. Cashmere sweaters. Nothing that looked comfortable or lived in.
Then Elena found the bottom drawer. It was locked.
She searched the dresser top. Jewelry boxes. Perfume bottles. A small dish with keys. She tried each one until the lock clicked.
Inside the drawer was a leather journal. She lifted it out carefully. The leather was soft and worn like it had been handled many times.
She opened to the first page. Victoria's handwriting was neat and slanted.
*They want me to marry him. Mother says I have no choice. The hotels are failing. Father made bad investments. The only way to save the company is this merger. Adrian Castellano needs our hotel properties for expansion. We need his money and his name.*
*I don't love him. I don't even know him. But Mother says love is not required in marriages like ours. She and Father built an empire on a practical arrangement. I should be grateful for the opportunity.*
*I'm not grateful. I'm terrified.*
Elena turned pages. The entries continued through the engagement.
*Adrian barely speaks to me. When he does it's about contracts and lawyers and business terms. I tried to have a real conversation at dinner last week. Asked about his work and his interests. He answered in three words or less then went back to his phone.*
*I think he hates me. Or maybe he just hates this arrangement as much as I do.*
More pages.
*I saw them today. Adrian and a woman at a coffee shop. I was driving past and stopped at the light. He was smiling at her. Actually smiling. I've never seen him smile like that. She said something and he laughed. He touched her hand across the table.*
*I asked Mother who she might be. Mother made calls. Found out her name is Rachel something. An old girlfriend from college. They dated for years. She broke his heart when she left.*
*I look like her. Not exactly but similar. Dark hair. Similar build. I never noticed until I saw the photos Mother's investigator found.*
*Adrian didn't choose me because he wanted me. He chose me because I remind him of someone else.*
Elena's hands tightened on the journal. Rachel was not her name but the description fit. Adrian had married Victoria because she resembled Elena. Even after ten years he was still trying to recreate what he had lost.
She kept reading.
*The wedding is in two weeks. I can't sleep. I keep thinking about running away. But where would I go? Mother controls my trust fund. I have no money of my own. No skills. I was raised to be decorative and obedient.*
*David says he'll help me if I ask. He's always been kind to me since we were kids.*
*Maybe that's why I can talk to him. Because he sees me as a person instead of an asset. But his mother works for Adrian's family.*
Elena turned more pages. The entries after the wedding were darker.
*The wedding night was humiliating. Adrian was polite and mechanical. We went through the motions because everyone expected it. Afterward he went to his own room. He hasn't touched me since.*
*I live in the west wing. He lives in the east. A married couple. Can you imagine that? We see each other at formal dinners and public events. We smile for cameras. We lie to everyone.*
*I'm so lonely I could scream.*
Elena flipped the pages, then entries about David.
*David kissed me. We were in his apartment looking at his architectural plans. He said I was beautiful. That I deserved better than this cold marriage. That he'd wanted to tell me for years.*
*I kissed him back. I shouldn't have but I did.*
*I'm having an affair with my housekeeper's son while married to a man who will never love me. I'm exactly the kind of person Mother raised me not to be. Pathetic right?*
*But I don't care anymore.*
More entries. The affair intensifying. Then the pregnancy.
*I'm pregnant. I know it's David's. Adrian and I haven't been together since the wedding night six months ago. He'll know it's not his if he stops to think about the timing.*
*But will he think about it? Does he care enough to check?*
*David wants to run away together. Take the baby and disappear. Start over somewhere new.*
*I want that so badly. But I'm afraid. Mother will destroy him. She'll destroy both of us.*
The final entries were barely legible. Written in a shaking hand.
*I found something. Files on Adrian's computer when he left it open in the library. Communications between Mother and someone at Adrian's company. A man named Marcus Liu.*
*They're planning something. Using the marriage to merge the companies then pushing Adrian out. Taking everything.*
*Adrian doesn't know. He thinks this is just a business arrangement. He doesn't know he's being set up to lose his own company.*
*I should tell him. I should warn him. But if I do he'll ask how I know. He'll look at the files. He'll see the dates and realize I've been accessing his computer.*
*He'll never trust me again. Not that he trusts me now.*
The last entry was dated the day before Lily's birth.
*I can't do this anymore. I can't live this lie. I can't bring a baby into this mess.*
*David is waiting for me. After the delivery. After I'm strong enough to travel. We're leaving together.*
*Or maybe I'll find another way out. Maybe during the delivery something will go wrong. Complications happen all the time. Especially with first babies.*
*Maybe it would be easier if I just didn't wake up.*
Elena closed the journal. Her hands were shaking.
Victoria had planned to die during childbirth. She had researched it. Found ways to make it look natural.
But someone else had also tried to kill her. The suspicious medication.
Two murder attempts on the same day. Victoria's own planned death and someone else's assassination.
And Elena's consciousness had landed in that dying body at exactly the right moment to save it.
Elena stood and walked to the window. The gardens stretched below. Beautiful and empty. Like everything else in this house.
She had saved Victoria's life. But Victoria had not wanted to be saved.
And now Elena was trapped living a life Victoria had been desperate to escape.
A soft knock on the door made Elena turn.
"Mrs. Castellano?" Adelaide's voice came through. "The baby needs you."
Elena took a breath and walked to the nursery. Lily was awake and fussing. Adelaide stood beside the crib looking uncomfortable.
"She won't settle," Adelaide said. "I think she wants her mother."
Elena lifted Lily from the crib. The baby's small face scrunched up. She was going to cry.
"It's okay," Elena whispered. "I'm here. I'm here."
Lily's eyes opened. Dark and unfocused. She looked at Elena's face. At this stranger wearing her mother's features.
And then she settled. Her small body relaxed. Her breathing evened out.
She recognized something. The body or the voice or the heartbeat.
She did not know her mother was gone.
Elena held her tighter. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."
For Victoria. For Lily. For Adrian trapped in his own cold prison in the east wing.
For all of them caught in this impossible mess.