The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 231

Chapter 209 The Correction

Claim

the initial findings. His PA rescheduled a board presentation that had been locked for weeks. In my experience, men who cancel three days of meetings over a personal file are not planning to do nothing.”

“No,” I said. “They’re not”:

“I’m sorry I didn’t catch this in the first sweep,” the investigator said. “It should have been in the initial report.”

“You caught it now,” I said. “Send me everything you have on the genealogy firm’s current progress. I want to know the moment they find the connection.

“Already monitoring,” he said. “I’ll call the moment there’s movement.”

I thanked him and hung up.

I stood in the hallway for a moment with my phone in my hand. The sounds of the kitchen drifted out behind me-Grace making an annoyed sound, Tom explaining something at length, and Bella responding with the patient voice she always used for his morning stories.

Days ago, I sat across from my wife at a table and gave her the full file.

What had changed now was that the man on the other end of that file was no longer just a name on paper. He was moving. His firm was a week away from connecting Isabella Hart to Bella Black. When they did, whatever he planned to do next would begin.

She deserved to know that before it happened.

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I put my phone in my pocket and walked back into the kitchen.

Bella was at the counter with her coffee, half-listening to Tom and half-reading something on her tablet. She looked up when I entered. She read my face the way she always did-in one precise, accurate second.

“Who called?” she asked.

“The investigator,” I said.

Tom looked between us. He always knew when an adult conversation was turning into something that didn’t include him. “Can I be excused?” he asked, already sliding out of his chair.

“Take your bowl to the sink first,” Bella said, keeping her eyes on me.

Tom took his bowl to the sink. He lifted Grace from her high chair with practiced ease and led her down the hallway, holding her small hand.

Bella set her tablet down.

“What did he find?” she asked.

I went to the table and sat down across from her. “He made a correction,” I said. “When he filed the

original report, he told me there was no sign Marchetti knew you existed. No contact, no record. He was right at the time he checked.” I paused. “But he ran a second sweep yesterday. Marchetti hired a genealogy firm in Lyon weeks ago. It was a personal request, he was looking for Elaine.”

Bella’s hands wrapped around her coffee cup.

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Chapter 209 The Correction

Claim

His firm found the same trail we found,” I said. “The birth record, the financial arrangement, and the sealed note with his name on it.” I held her gaze. “He knows a daughter exists. He has your birth name and your birth year. He does not have the connection to who you are now-not yet. But his firm is working on it, and the investigator thinks they will find it within the week.”

Bella was quiet for a long moment.

“He canceled three days of meetings when he got the news,” I said. “He even rescheduled a major board presentation. He isn’t waiting around.”

She looked out the window. The morning light hit the table as she sat perfectly calm as the news sank in.

“He went looking for her,” she said finally.

“Yes,” I said.

“And instead of her, he found” She stopped.

“He found you,” I said quietly.

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