Chapter 2 - THE UNCLE’S CONFESSION
The dining room was so quiet I could hear the hum of the crystal chandelier above us.
Thirty-eight guests sat frozen in their chairs.
The recording of my mother’s voice had just exposed the man sitting at the end of the table.
Uncle Carlo.
Luca’s father’s own brother.
Carlo slowly took his hands off the linen tablecloth. He was a heavily built man in his late sixties, with silver hair and a tailored suit that suddenly looked too tight for his chest.
“Luca,” Carlo said, his voice strangely calm. “You aren’t going to believe a dead secretary over your own blood.”
Luca didn’t blink.
He didn’t yell. He didn’t reach for a weapon.
He simply looked at his security chief.
“Marco,” Luca said quietly. “Escort our guests to the front gates. The engagement dinner is over.”
The room erupted into nervous movement. Chairs scraped against the marble floor. Women grabbed their evening bags. No one spoke a word to Luca or Vanessa as they hurried out.
Within two minutes, the massive dining room was empty.
Only six of us remained: Luca, Teresa, Marco, Vanessa, Uncle Carlo, and me.
I was still kneeling on the floor, clutching my apron, the broken pearls scattered around my knees.
“Get up, Rachel,” Luca said gently.
I stood, my legs trembling.
Vanessa stepped toward Luca, her voice shrill. “This is insane! You’re ruining our night because of some fake audio file!”
Luca ignored her. He walked slowly toward his uncle.
“My father trusted you, Carlo. He gave you control of the shipping ports.”
Carlo wiped a bead of sweat from his temple. “And I made us millions, Luca. I built this family alongside him.”
“Then why was Elizabeth Bennett investigating you?”
“She wasn’t!” Carlo snapped, pointing a thick finger at me. “Her mother was a thief! She was funneling money to Vincent Bellini behind our backs. I was the one trying to stop it!”
Vanessa gasped. “Don’t you dare drag my father into this!”
“Your father is a parasite!” Carlo shouted back.
“Stop,” Teresa commanded.
Everyone looked at the eighty-year-old woman. She was holding the edge of the table, her knuckles white.
“Carlo,” Teresa whispered. “My husband knew. He told me before his heart gave out. He said the ports were bleeding money, and the signatures on the transfers belonged to you.”
Carlo’s face turned violently red. “He was sick, Teresa! His mind was going!”
“His mind was perfect,” Luca said, his voice dropping an octave. “And now I understand why you insisted on handling Elizabeth’s funeral arrangements. You needed to make sure her house was scrubbed before I could look through her files.”
My breath caught in my throat.
When my mother died suddenly of a “stroke” last year, Carlo had been the first one at the hospital. He had paid for the casket. He had packed up her apartment, claiming he was saving me the emotional pain.
I looked at Carlo, my stomach turning to ice.
“You went through my mother’s things,” I whispered.
Carlo sneered at me. “I was protecting the family from a rat.”
Luca closed the distance between them in two steps. He grabbed Carlo by the lapels of his suit and slammed him against the mahogany wall. The impact rattled the oil paintings.
“Did you kill her?” Luca demanded, his voice shaking with a quiet, terrifying rage. “Did you touch Elizabeth?”
“No!” Carlo choked out, struggling to breathe. “I swear to God, Luca! It wasn’t me! It was Vincent! Vincent had her killed because she found the real ledger!”
Vanessa rushed forward, grabbing Luca’s arm. “He’s lying! Luca, please, he’s lying to save himself!”
Luca shoved Vanessa back without looking at her.
He stared into his uncle’s eyes.
“If you didn’t kill her, Carlo, why did you forge her signature to transfer twelve million dollars two days after she was in the ground?”
Carlo stopped struggling. His eyes darted toward Vanessa, then back to Luca.
“Because the money wasn’t for me,” Carlo rasped. “And it wasn’t for Vincent either.”
Luca’s grip tightened. “Then who was it for?”
Carlo let out a broken, bitter laugh.
“You think Vanessa is marrying you because she loves you?” Carlo coughed. “Vincent doesn’t care about a wedding. He owes twelve million dollars to the Sinaloa cartel. The transfer in Elizabeth’s name was the first payment. This marriage is just collateral.”
Vanessa went completely rigid. All the color drained from her face.
Luca slowly released his uncle.
He looked at his fiancée.
“Is that true?” Luca asked.
Vanessa’s lips trembled. “Luca… you have to understand. My father… they were going to kill us.”
“So you planned to drain my family’s accounts from the inside,” Luca said, his voice dead of emotion.
“It was just a loan!” she cried.
Teresa shook her head in disgust. “You are exactly like your father. A snake.”
Carlo slumped against the wall, rubbing his throat.
“I didn’t want any of this,” Carlo muttered. “But Vincent found out I was skimming from the ports. He blackmailed me. He said if I didn’t help him frame Elizabeth and pay off the cartel, he’d tell your father everything.”
I felt physically sick.
My mother had died because these two men were covering up their own greed.
“Where is the real ledger, Carlo?” Luca asked.
“I don’t know,” Carlo swore. “Elizabeth hid it before she died. But I found something in her apartment. Something she was trying to mail to Teresa.”
Carlo reached into his suit jacket.
Marco immediately drew his weapon. “Hands where I can see them!”
“It’s not a gun,” Carlo said quickly.
He slowly pulled out a heavy, antique silver pocket watch.
I recognized it instantly. It had belonged to my grandfather. My mother kept it on her nightstand.
Carlo tossed it onto the dining table.
“It doesn’t keep time,” Carlo said. “But it’s heavy. When I shook it, something rattled inside.”
Luca picked up the silver watch. He pressed the release button on the side. The back panel popped open.
There were no gears inside.
Instead, a small brass key fell onto the table.
Luca frowned. He looked at me. “Rachel, is this a safety deposit key?”
I shook my head, staring at the brass object. “No. My mother didn’t have a safety deposit box.”
Teresa stepped forward. She looked down at the key.
Suddenly, she placed a trembling hand over her mouth.
“Mom?” Luca asked. “Do you know what this is?”
May you like
Teresa looked up, her eyes wide with shock.
“Yes,” Teresa whispered. “It’s the key to the cedar chest at the foot of my bed. But Elizabeth couldn’t have hidden anything in there… unless she was in my bedroom the night she died.”
