Chapter 5 - THE POISONED CHALICE
We walked back into the grand foyer. The remaining guests had been ushered into the drawing room by the security staff.
Vanessa was waiting at the bottom of the grand staircase. She had stopped crying. Her face was a mask of cold, desperate resolve.
When she saw Leo holding Luca’s hand, she closed her eyes for a brief, agonizing second.
“Take the boy to the kitchen, Claire,” Luca ordered, not taking his eyes off his wife.
“I’m staying with him,” Leo said firmly, gripping Luca’s hand tighter.
Luca looked down, surprised by the boy’s strength. He nodded once. “Okay. You stay right here.”
He turned back to Vanessa. He held up the gold pocket watch.
“You sent for him,” Luca said, his voice echoing off the marble floor. “Maria died last week, and you sent a car for my son. You paid for it with my father’s watch. Why?”
Vanessa gripped the banister. “Because Teresa was going to kill him, Luca.”
The words hit the room like a physical blow. Aunt Angela dropped her evening bag on the floor.
“What did you say?” Luca demanded.
“Maria didn't just get sick!” Vanessa shouted, the carefully manicured facade completely gone. “Teresa found out where they were living! She has been paying Maria off for seven years to stay away. But Maria wanted more money. She threatened to come here tonight, to this party, and expose the whole thing.”
Vanessa walked down the final two steps. “Teresa told me before dinner. She told me she had ‘handled’ Maria permanently, and that the boy was being sent to a state orphanage under a false name. She wanted me to go into her burgundy bag, find the birth certificate, and burn it so you would never know.”
I felt a cold chill wash over my skin. I looked back at the dining room doors.
“But I couldn't do it,” Vanessa sobbed, looking at Leo. “He’s a little boy, Luca. I couldn't let her throw him away like trash. I found out where the driver was taking him, and I bought him off with the watch to bring him here instead.”
Luca stood frozen. The mother he had just watched collapse, the woman he had loved and respected his entire life, had murdered the mother of his child.
“You’re lying,” Angela sneered. “Teresa would never do such a thing. She is a woman of God.”
“She’s a monster!” Vanessa screamed.
My catering radio buzzed again.
“Claire,” David’s voice came through, completely frantic. “The paramedics just called the security gate. You need to tell Mr. Moretti.”
I pressed the button. “Tell him what, David?”
“Mrs. Moretti didn't have a heart attack,” David said, his voice echoing loudly in the quiet foyer. “The hospital just ran her blood. She was poisoned. Someone put digitalis in her champagne.”
Everyone in the room stopped breathing.
Luca slowly turned his head to look at Vanessa.
Vanessa stepped back, her face turning sheet white. “No. No, Luca, I didn't—”
“You poured the champagne for the toast,” I said quietly, the memory flashing crystal clear in my mind. “You handed her the glass.”
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Vanessa looked at me, pure terror in her eyes. “I didn't poison her! Someone else must have put it in!”
She backed away, looking wildly around the room. Then, she turned and ran up the stairs.
