Discouraged, she left the room and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
As she reached it, she heard an odd trilling noise.
It took her a moment to realize that the landline was ringing. It was the very first time since she had been there that she’d heard it ring.
There was nobody in the kitchen, and she wondered if she should let the call go through to voicemail, but then decided it would be better to answer. She needed information, and every phone call to the house represented an opportunity to gather it.
She picked it up.
“Rossi residence, Cassie speaking,” she said formally.
“I thought I should warn you.”
The caller was a woman, her voice sharp and angry. Cassie drew in a shocked breath as she realized that Ms. Rossi herself was on the line.
“Warn me? About what?”
Her mind raced, thinking immediately of the children. Had there been a security breach, or an incident somewhere nearby? They were safely in bed having their nap, or at least, they had been an hour ago.
“I have cameras installed throughout my home,” Ms. Rossi told her, and Cassie drew in a sharp, shocked breath.
How long had she been watching? What had she seen? Would she replay the footage and find out what Cassie had been doing, and the extent of her search?
Cassie felt appalled by this revelation.
“I was just checking quickly for—” she began, her voice quivering, knowing that there was no justification to explain her actions.
Ms. Rossi didn’t give her a chance to get the words out.
“I would advise you to mind your own business from here on. Trust me when I tell you it will be in your best interests to do so.”
With a click, she disconnected.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cassie replaced the phone clumsily, shaken by the revelation that the house had internal surveillance in place. In such a security-conscious household, she should have guessed cameras would be installed. She had no idea where they were located, and now that she’d been found out, she was scared to look.
It was possible that Ms. Rossi was watching her at this very moment.
With her head bowed, Cassie made her way up the marble staircase. She went to her room and shut herself inside. She hoped there were no cameras here, but knew that there could well be. This was Ms. Rossi’s home and her rules. Cassie had made an unforgivable mistake by embarking upon her reckless search.
She’d expected Ms. Rossi would have fired her immediately. She hadn’t, but that didn’t mean that there would be no consequences. Of course there would be. Now she had to wait and see what would unfold. She felt sick with dread.
Ashamed, and afraid of being in the cameras’ eye, Cassie hid away in her room until early evening, when it was time to get the children up and dressed. After waking them, she heard the front door opening and smelled food being prepared in the kitchen. It seemed that Ms. Rossi was home for the evening and Cassie felt her stomach twist in fear.
However, as Ms. Rossi walked inside, she was speaking on the phone. Her voice sounded strained.
“Yes, Maurice. Please ask the police to dispatch a vehicle immediately. The vehicle was a black SUV. I unfortunately didn’t see the plates. No, I have no idea. There might not have been a plate on the front of the car.”
Cassie leaned over the balcony, grasping the rail anxiously as she listened to the one-sided conversation below.
“Yes. They were standing outside my house when I arrived and when they saw me, they jumped back into the car and sped off. They must do a thorough check of our property. Thank you, Maurice.”
She disconnected. Looking up, she saw Cassie.
“There has been a security breach,” she explained. “I arrived home to find a car parked outside the house. Two men were about to scale the wall. They fled as soon as I arrived. Maurice is calling our local security company and the police, who should be here in a few minutes.”
“Oh, that’s so frightening. I didn’t hear anything, and nobody broke into the house. The children are safe. They’ve been having a nap,” Cassie said.
She ran back upstairs and closed her bedroom curtains. She glanced out into the darkness as she did so, terrified at the thought that the house, or the girls, might have been targeted. This was a serious threat; these were real criminals. What would have happened if Ms. Rossi hadn’t seen them, and they had broken into the home?
She hoped that they were not still out there, waiting in the dark. No wonder Ms. Rossi had cameras installed, and monitored them frequently, if incidents like this occurred.
Cassie went to the children’s rooms and drew their curtains. Then she sat with them quietly until she heard voices downstairs.
They were speaking Italian, but from the tone of the voices she guessed nothing was wrong.
“Grazie di tutto,” she overheard Ms. Rossi say in grateful tones, before the door closed.
Thank you for everything. Cassie remembered that phrase from her book.
She and the children trooped downstairs and took their seats in the small dining room.
Ms. Rossi made no mention of the incident. They ate in silence. Cassie was quivering with tension, and even though the food was tasty, she had to force herself to choke it down. With this incident over, she knew that Ms. Rossi’s attention would be redirected onto Cassie’s own misdemeanors, and she anticipated that at any moment, she might be summarily fired.
She glanced from Nina to Venetia and back again as the family ate, wishing that the girls would open up to her. She felt as trapped as they were, in the iron grasp of an abusive woman who had them under such tight control that neither child would speak a word.
Nina was icily self-possessed, taking
