Chapter 4 - The Secret Hidden In My Father’s Watch
I stared at the small, faded business card in Luca’s hand.
Reed & Sons Fine Jewelry.
It was an old design. My father had stopped using that logo twenty years ago, long before his stroke, long before the robbery.
“I don’t understand,” I stammered. “My father never mentioned the Moretti family. Never.”
Luca didn’t look angry anymore. He looked entirely unsettled.
“My mother died twenty-six years ago, Emma. It was ruled a car accident.” He traced the edge of the card. “But this… this changes things.”
Teresa gripped her cane with both hands. “Lucia loved jewelry. But she only bought from the Italians downtown. Never a Reed.”
Luca looked at me. His dark eyes were intense, searching my face.
“Emma. Your father is at St. Jude’s Rehabilitation Center, right?”
“Yes,” I said. “He’s paralyzed on his left side, and his speech is heavily impaired.”
“We need to see him,” Luca said.
“Tonight?” I asked, looking at the grandfather clock. It was almost midnight.
“Right now.”
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Luca’s black Range Rover. He drove himself, leaving Marcus behind to secure the estate.
The city lights blurred past the window. I clutched my mother’s silver bracelet in my lap.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly into the silence of the car.
Luca kept his eyes on the road. “For what?”
“For ruining your engagement.”
Luca let out a harsh, dry breath. “You didn’t ruin anything, Emma. You saved me from marrying a monster. The woman abandoned a six-year-old child to live in a mansion.”
He glanced at me, his expression softening slightly.
“You stood up for my mother’s plate. You defended something old and broken because you understood its worth. Vanessa only understood price tags.”
We pulled into the quiet parking lot of St. Jude’s.
The night nurse knew me well. She hesitated when she saw Luca, intimidated by his tailored tuxedo and towering presence, but she let us through.
Room 412 was dark, save for a small reading lamp.
My father, Arthur Reed, sat propped up in his hospital bed. His hair was completely white now. The stroke had ravaged his body, pulling the left side of his face down slightly.
“Dad?” I whispered, walking to the edge of the bed.
His good eye opened. When he saw me, a small, crooked smile appeared. He reached out with his right hand, and I took it.
“Em… ma,” he slurred.
“I’m here, Dad. I brought someone.”
I stepped aside, allowing Luca to approach.
“Mr. Reed,” Luca said respectfully. “My name is Luca Moretti.”
The moment my father heard that name, his body tensed. His heart monitor began to beep faster.
“Dad? It’s okay,” I said, alarmed.
My father’s right eye went wide. He stared at Luca, taking in his face, his dark hair, the structure of his jaw.
“Lu… cia,” my father choked out.
Luca froze. “You knew my mother? Lucia Moretti?”
My father nodded frantically. His breathing became shallow and fast. He used his good hand to point aggressively toward the door, trying to sit up.
“Dad, calm down!” I said, pressing the nurse call button.
“No… no…” my father grunted. He wasn’t pointing at the door.
He was pointing at his bedside table.
Specifically, at the old, tarnished gold watch resting beside his water cup.
It had been on his wrist the night of the robbery. The thieves had taken the safe, but they had left him wearing this watch. He refused to let the nurses take it off during the day.
Luca followed his gaze. He reached out and picked up the heavy gold timepiece.
“The watch?” Luca asked.
My father nodded, hitting his own chest with his good hand. “Open.”
I frowned. “Dad, it’s just a watch.”
“Open,” my father insisted, his voice surprisingly forceful.
Luca turned the watch over. He found a small notch near the casing. Using the edge of his thumb, he popped the back panel off.
It wasn’t just a watch. It was a locket-style casing.
Inside the back cover, pressed flat against the metal, was a tiny, folded square of paper.
Luca carefully extracted it with his large fingers.
He unfolded it under the reading lamp.
I leaned in.
It was a faded, handwritten address.
442 West 8th Street, Apartment 4B.
Underneath the address, in my father’s handwriting, were two words.
Save him.
Luca stared at the paper. “This address… it’s in the Narrows. It’s the worst part of the city.”
My father grabbed Luca’s sleeve. His grip was surprisingly strong.
“Boy…” my father wheezed, tears forming in his eyes. “Vanessa’s… boy.”
My blood ran cold.
“Leo?” Luca asked.
My father nodded frantically. “Thorne… took him. Hidden.”
I looked at Luca in shock. “Teresa said Vanessa abandoned Leo to a state home. Was she lying?”
“No,” Luca said grimly, his jaw clenching. “Teresa found a file that said he was in a state home. But Vanessa’s brother is a criminal. If Richard Thorne took the boy from the system to hide him…”
Luca looked at the address.
“Vanessa didn’t just abandon her son, Emma. She’s been paying her brother to keep him hidden in the slums so her secret wouldn’t get out.”
Luca pocketed the address and looked at me.
“We’re going to get him.”
Before we could leave, my father pulled my arm. He forced my hand open and dropped his gold watch into my palm.
“Dad, no, you need this—”
“Give… to him,” my father interrupted, looking at Luca.
I handed the watch to Luca.
Luca looked down at it, and the air seemed to leave his lungs entirely.
He turned the watch over, running his thumb over the intricate engraving on the front casing that I had seen a million times but never understood.
It was a crest.
A lion standing over a sword.
“Emma,” Luca whispered, his voice trembling for the first time.
“What is it?”
“This isn’t your father’s watch,” Luca said.
He looked up at my father, who was weeping silently.
May you like
“This watch,” Luca said, “belonged to my father. He was wearing it the night he was murdered.”
TITLE: The Drawing of the Woman In Red
