Chapter 2 - THE GOLD CUFFLINK
The heavy oak doors of the dining room clicked shut. The sound echoed like a gunshot. Thirty-eight of Chicago’s most powerful people were frozen in their chairs. Nobody breathed. Nobody reached for their champagne. Luca Moretti stood perfectly still, his dark eyes locked on the woman he was supposed to marry in three months. Vanessa’s face had lost all its color. The elegant, cruel smirk she had worn while torturing a sixty-three-year-old widow was gone. “Luca,” Vanessa whispered, her voice trembling. “She’s lying. The grief has made her hysterical.” Rosa Marino did not back down. She stood straighter, her hands gripping her cheap black purse. “Frank worked for your father before you were even born, Mr. Luca,” Rosa said, her voice echoing in the silent room. “He never lied to this family. And he didn't lie to me.” Luca slowly turned his head. He looked toward the far end of the long dining table. Sitting near the window, swirling a glass of scotch, was Matteo Moretti. Luca’s younger brother. Matteo was twenty-eight, known for his reckless spending and reckless temper. Right now, Matteo was staring at his glass, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “Matteo,” Luca said softly. The younger brother flinched. “Stand up.” Matteo slowly stood. He adjusted his expensive suit jacket, trying to look unbothered, but a bead of sweat was tracing its way down his temple. “Luca, come on,” Matteo forced a laugh. “You’re going to listen to the help? The old man drove his Cadillac off the Stevenson Expressway. He was probably drunk.” “I told you,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a lethal frequency. “Frank hasn't had a drink in twenty years.” Luca took a step toward his brother. “Were you in the garage the night Frank died, Matteo?” Matteo swallowed hard. “No.” Rosa reached into her purse again. “Frank knew you wouldn't believe him,” she said, her voice shaking. She pulled out a small plastic evidence bag. Inside the bag was a single, heavy gold cufflink. It was shaped like a lion’s head, with two small emeralds for eyes. “The police gave me Frank’s personal effects this morning,” Rosa said. “They found this clutched in his left hand. They thought it belonged to him. But Frank didn't own gold.” The entire room stared at the plastic bag. I recognized that cufflink immediately. I polished Matteo’s jewelry every Thursday. It was a custom set he had commissioned in Italy. Luca recognized it too. He looked at Matteo’s wrists. Matteo was wearing a silver watch, but his shirt cuffs were buttoned with plain plastic discs. “Where is the other lion, Matteo?” Luca asked. Matteo took a step back, bumping into the window glass. “I lost it,” Matteo stammered. “Weeks ago.” “You’re a liar,” Vanessa snapped, suddenly pointing at Matteo. “Tell him the truth, Matteo! Tell him you were stealing cars from the estate and Frank caught you!” Vanessa was trying to save herself by throwing Matteo to the wolves. It was a brilliant, vicious pivot. But Matteo’s face twisted in pure, desperate rage. “Don't you put this on me, Vanessa!” Matteo shouted. “You think I'm taking the fall for your mess?” Matteo turned to Luca. “I was in the garage, Luca. Yes. But I wasn't the one who hit Frank. I was trying to stop her.” Vanessa lunged forward, her manicured hands formed into claws. “Shut your mouth!” Daniel, the head of security, stepped effortlessly between them, catching Vanessa by the arms and pushing her back. “Stop who?” Luca asked, entirely ignoring his screaming fiancée. “Vanessa,” Matteo breathed, his chest heaving. “Frank came back to the garage early that night. He caught Vanessa trying to move a body into the trunk of the spare Lincoln.” My stomach dropped. A body. The room began to spin. “Who was in the trunk?” Luca demanded. Matteo looked at the floor. “I don't know her name. A girl. Early twenties. Vanessa said she was a blackmailer who tried to extort her father. She said the girl was already dead. But when Frank looked in the trunk…” Matteo swallowed visibly. “The girl groaned. She was still alive. Frank tried to pull his phone out to call 911. Vanessa grabbed a heavy wrench from the workbench and hit him in the back of the head.” Rosa let out a strangled, broken sob. I reached out and wrapped my arms around the older woman, holding her upright as her knees buckled. “Frank fell,” Matteo whispered. “I panicked. I grabbed him to see if he was breathing. That must be when he grabbed my cufflink. Vanessa told me if I didn't help her stage Frank’s accident on the highway, she would tell you I killed him.” Luca stood perfectly still beneath the crystal chandelier. The silence was deafening. He looked at Vanessa. “You murdered a man who was like a father to me.” “He’s lying!” Vanessa screamed, tears streaming down her face. “It’s a setup! Matteo is trying to ruin us!” Luca didn’t yell. He simply turned to Daniel. “Lock the estate gates. Nobody leaves. Take Vanessa and Matteo to the study.” Then, Luca looked down at the plastic bag in Rosa’s hand. “And bring me the keys to the spare Lincoln.” My heart hammered against my ribs. Because if the Lincoln hadn't been moved since that night, the woman might still be inside. And as Luca turned toward the hallway, I saw a flash of pale blue plastic sticking out of Vanessa’s designer purse on the table. It was a hospital visitor’s bracelet. I knew exactly what it looked like, because I had worn the exact same one every day for three weeks while visiting my brother in the ICU. The date printed on the blue plastic was the exact day Frank had died. And the name printed under the barcode wasn't Vanessa’s. It was the name of the girl who had vanished from my brother’s hospital room three weeks ago.
