Chapter 3 - THE COAT IN THE HALLWAY
The lock clicked with a sharp, metallic snap that echoed in the tiny space.
Vanessa backed me against the shelves of canned tomatoes and imported olive oil. She wasn’t wearing her heels anymore; she had kicked them off, making her movements eerily silent on the tile floor.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied, my voice remarkably steady despite the terror gripping my chest.
Vanessa grabbed the collar of my uniform. “Don’t play stupid with me, you little rat. I saw you bend down. I know my purse spilled. Hand over the ticket.”
She was stronger than she looked. Her perfectly manicured nails dug into my collarbone.
“If you hurt me, Luca will know,” I said, keeping my hands at my sides to avoid drawing attention to my pocket. “He just caught you extorting June. If I show up with bruises, the wedding is over.”
That made her hesitate. The mention of the wedding was her weak spot. She needed to marry Luca. The desperation radiating off her was toxic.
“You think Luca cares about you?” she hissed, though her grip loosened slightly. “You’re the help. You sweep his floors. I am going to be his wife. If I tell him you tried to steal from my purse, he’ll have you thrown onto the street.”
“Then tell him,” I challenged. “Let’s go to his office right now and tell him I found a pawn ticket for his mother’s emerald bracelet.”
Vanessa froze. The color completely drained from her face.
She let go of my uniform and took a step back, hitting the flour bins.
“You read it,” she breathed, her eyes darting frantically around the pantry as if looking for a way out.
“I read it,” I confirmed. “You’re pawning Isabella’s jewelry. And you’re paying someone to keep a boy hidden. Who is Marco to you, Vanessa?”
Before she could answer, the handle of the pantry door rattled violently.
“Claire?” It was Luca’s voice, deep and impatient. “Are you in there?”
Vanessa’s eyes widened in pure panic. She lunged forward, grabbing my wrist. “Please,” she whispered, the cruelty in her voice instantly replaced by a raw, terrifying desperation. “Claire, please. If he finds out about the boy, he’ll kill him. He’ll kill my son.”
The reversal hit me like a physical blow.
Her son.
Vanessa didn’t have any children. Her official biography, the one she constantly bragged about to the high-society wives, claimed she was a career-driven heiress who had waited for the right man.
“Unlock the door,” Luca demanded from the other side.
Vanessa dropped my wrist and scrambled to unbolt the door. She smoothed her dress and forced a fragile, trembling smile as Luca stepped into the pantry.
He looked at Vanessa, then at me. His eyes missed nothing. He noted my rumpled collar and Vanessa’s bare feet.
“What is going on in here?” Luca asked softly.
“I was just apologizing to Claire,” Vanessa said quickly, her voice trembling just enough to sound authentic. “I was telling her how stressed I’ve been about the wedding, and how I took it out on the staff. I’m so sorry, Luca.”
Luca stared at her for a long moment. Then he looked at me. “Did she threaten you?”
I felt the heavy stock of the pawn ticket burning against my thigh. I looked at Vanessa. The terror in her eyes was real. If Luca Salvatore found out she was hiding a secret child, the consequences would be catastrophic. The mafia did not tolerate secrets.
“No, sir,” I said quietly. “She was just apologizing.”
Luca didn’t look convinced, but he nodded slowly. “Get your things, Vanessa. My driver is taking you to your apartment in the city. You are not staying here tonight.”
Vanessa didn’t argue. She nodded meekly, slipping past him and disappearing down the hallway.
Luca turned to me. “June is waiting by the back door. Take my SUV. Make sure she gets inside her house safely.”
“Yes, sir.”
I drove June home in silence. The streets of the city were slick with fresh rain, the streetlights reflecting in the puddles. June sat in the passenger seat, clutching her sapphire ring.
“She’s hiding something, Claire,” June said softly as I pulled up to her small brick house. “Vanessa. She’s been nervous for weeks. Pacing the halls at night. Making phone calls from the garden where she thinks no one can hear.”
“I know,” I said.
I waited until June was safely inside, the porch light flicking off, before I pulled the SUV away. But I didn’t drive back to the Salvatore estate.
I drove to 4th Avenue.
The Gold & Silver Exchange was closed, its metal security gates pulled tight over the windows. I parked across the street, staring at the darkened storefront, trying to piece the puzzle together.
Vanessa was being blackmailed. She was pawning Luca’s heirlooms to pay Marco, the underboss, to keep her secret son hidden. But why Marco? And why keep the boy from Luca?
As I sat there, my phone buzzed in the cup holder.
It was a text from an unknown number.
I saw you at the pawn shop. Come to the alley behind the bakery on 8th Street. Come alone, or the maid gets hurt.
My blood ran cold. They knew about June.
I threw the SUV into drive and sped toward 8th Street. The bakery was closed, the alley behind it pitch black except for a single flickering security light.
I parked the car and stepped out, the cold wind biting through my uniform.
“Who’s there?” I called out, my voice echoing off the brick walls.
A figure stepped out from the shadows of a dumpster. He was wearing a heavy wool coat, the collar pulled up against the wind. He walked with a slight limp.
It was Marco.
“You’re the maid who stands up to the boss’s wife,” Marco said, his voice a low, gravelly rumble. He reached into his coat pocket.
I braced myself, ready to run.
But Marco didn’t pull a gun. He pulled out a small, child-sized winter coat. It was bright red, stained with mud on the sleeves.
He tossed it onto the wet asphalt between us.
“She lied to you,” Marco said.
“Who? Vanessa?”
“Vanessa doesn’t have a son,” Marco said grimly. “That coat belongs to Leo. Luca’s nephew. The boy everyone thinks died in the car crash with his parents two years ago.”
I stared at the little red coat on the ground, the world spinning out from under me.
May you like
“He’s alive?” I whispered.
“He’s alive,” Marco confirmed. “And Vanessa has been paying me to keep him locked in a basement in Queens. Because if Luca finds out the true heir to the Salvatore family is alive, Vanessa loses the entire empire.”
