Chapter 2 - THE SILVER LOCKET
The silence in the dining room was so absolute you could hear the crystal chandeliers chiming in the draft.
Carlo Bellini stared at his daughter with a look of utter disgust. Vanessa's flawless posture finally crumbled. Her shoulders slumped, and the arrogant sneer she reserved for the hired help twisted into genuine panic.
“Dad, stop,” Vanessa hissed.
“No,” Carlo said, his voice echoing off the marble floors. He looked directly at Luca. “My daughter has bankrupted my company, Luca. She’s three million dollars in debt to men who do not accept apologies. The only way she could pay them back was through our family merger.”
Luca didn't flinch. “Our merger is a real estate contract, Carlo. It has nothing to do with my daughter’s health.”
“It has everything to do with her trust fund,” Carlo replied bitterly. “Your late wife, Elena, left fifty percent of the Moretti estate in a blind trust for Sofia. If Sofia reaches adulthood healthy and capable, she inherits control. But if she is deemed permanently incapacitated...”
“Control reverts to me,” Luca finished, his voice dropping to a terrifying, deadly calm.
“Exactly,” Carlo said. “And as your wife, Vanessa would have legal access to those accounts. She needed the girl in a Swiss facility, certified as permanently disabled by Dr. Bianchi, so she could liquidate Sofia’s trust the day after your wedding.”
My stomach churned. I pulled Sofia closer against my apron, feeling the child’s small heart hammering against her ribs. She was eleven years old. She had lost her mother, lost the use of her legs, and the woman pretending to be her new mother was actively plotting to steal her future.
Luca turned to Lorenzo Bianchi. The Italian doctor was already backing toward the exit.
“Is this true?” Luca asked. It wasn't a shout. It was a promise of violence.
Lorenzo swallowed hard. “Mr. Moretti, I was paid for a medical opinion. Nothing more.”
“Get out of my house,” Luca whispered. “If I ever see you in Chicago again, you won't leave.”
The doctor fled. Luca turned his dark eyes onto Vanessa.
“The wedding is off,” Luca said. “Pack your things. You have one hour to leave this estate.”
“Luca, please!” Vanessa lunged forward, grabbing his suit jacket. “My father is lying! He’s trying to save his own skin!”
“Get your hands off me,” Luca warned.
Vanessa’s desperation turned to pure venom. She whipped around, her eyes locking onto Sofia. In a flash of terrifying speed, she reached out and grabbed the delicate silver locket resting around Sofia’s neck—the one belonging to her late mother.
“You think you’re so safe now, you little brat?” Vanessa shrieked, yanking the chain.
The silver snapped. Sofia cried out, stumbling backward into my arms.
I shoved Vanessa hard. She stumbled in her heels, dropping the locket onto the polished marble floor. The impact popped the clasp open.
Luca stepped between us, shielding Sofia, but his eyes dropped to the open locket.
Inside was a tiny, folded photograph of Sofia’s mother, Elena. But it wasn't the picture that made Luca freeze.
Tucked behind the photo was a small, tightly folded receipt from a private investigator.
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It was dated the exact day of Elena's fatal car crash. And the name billed on the receipt wasn't Vanessa's.
It was Carlo Bellini.
