Chapter 4 - THE SIGNATURE IN BLOOD
Vanessa stared at the faded photograph on the table. It showed a younger Michael Russo handing a thick envelope to a man in a dark trench coat.
“Where did you get that?” Vanessa hissed, her elegant facade cracking like cheap glass.
“Dominic gave it to me,” Sophia answered, standing tall despite her age. “He kept files on everyone. Especially the people he didn't trust.”
Adrian looked from his aunt to his fiancée, betrayal etching deep lines into his face. “Vanessa. Did you know what Michael did?”
“Adrian, please,” Vanessa pleaded, her tone suddenly shifting to a desperate whine. “I was a child eighteen years ago! I didn't know anything about my uncle’s business!”
“Then why,” Lily spoke up, her voice surprisingly steady, “did you try to fire me the day after I was hired?”
Everyone turned to the young maid.
Lily wiped her tears, standing taller. “Three years ago, when I first started working here, Vanessa saw my mother’s silver bracelet on my wrist. She dragged me into the kitchen, demanded to know where I got it, and told the staffing agency to terminate me immediately.”
I looked at Lily, stunned. “You never told me that.”
“Because Mr. Moretti intervened,” Lily said, looking at Adrian. “He said I was a good worker and overruled her. But Vanessa has made my life a living hell ever since. She knew who I was. She knew I was the child who survived.”
Vanessa sneered, dropping the victim act entirely. “You’re a rat in a uniform. You don't belong at this table.”
“She belongs here more than you do,” Adrian said. The authority in his voice was absolute. He pulled the diamond engagement ring off his finger and set it next to the silver bracelet. “The wedding is off.”
Vanessa stared at the ring, her chest heaving. A dark, ugly laugh escaped her throat.
“You think you can just dismiss me?” Vanessa mocked. “My family owns half the shipping ports you rely on, Adrian. You break this engagement, you break your empire.”
“I’d rather burn it to the ground than marry a woman who wants my niece dead,” Adrian countered.
Vanessa’s eyes turned lethal. She reached into her red evening gown.
“I warned you, Adrian,” she whispered.
She pulled out a small, heavy object. Not a gun. A solid brass key.
“Frank thinks he saved Elena that night,” Vanessa smiled, holding the key up to the light. “But Frank doesn't know what happened after he left the shelter.”
My heart stopped.
“I checked the shelter the next morning,” I said, stepping forward. “They were gone. The staff said they moved to a secondary safe house.”
“They didn't move,” Vanessa laughed. “My uncle Michael found them. And this key... opens the storage unit where he kept the souvenirs.”
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She tossed the key onto the marble floor. It clattered loudly, stopping right at Lily’s feet.
“Go ahead, maid,” Vanessa sneered. “Ask Frank why your mother’s coat was locked in my uncle’s basement all these years.”
