Chapter 3 - The Gold Pocket Watch
Vanessa stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
She didn’t look panicked. She looked annoyed.
“Luca, darling,” she said, smoothing the silk of her dress. “You shouldn’t be in here with the staff. People will talk.”
Luca didn’t move. He held the blue crayon drawing between his fingers.
“Who is Leo?”
Vanessa’s eyes flicked to Sophie, cold and entirely devoid of empathy. “She’s lying to you. Whatever she told you, she’s trying to extort me. The girl is desperate for cash. Everyone knows about her crippled mother.”
Sophie flinched, stepping back until her shoulders hit the tiled wall.
“Don’t speak about her mother,” Luca said. His voice was completely flat.
Vanessa laughed lightly. “Oh, please. It’s a drawing I confiscated from a charity event. The girl stole it from my coat to fabricate a sob story.”
“Margaret Doyle didn’t fabricate the cake topper,” Luca said.
Vanessa’s smile died.
For a fraction of a second, the mask slipped, revealing something desperate and sharp beneath.
“Margaret is a senile old fool,” Vanessa snapped. “Michael and I dated. Briefly. He bought a joke cake. We laughed about it. Then he died. It was a tragedy, but it wasn’t a marriage.”
“She said you were pregnant.”
“She’s out of her mind.”
Luca stepped forward. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to.
“My brother was terrified of you. He ordered a topper that said ‘Baby Makes Three’ and then canceled his own wedding two days later. He kept the porcelain figures for proof.” Luca held up the drawing. “And now I’m holding a picture drawn by a seven-year-old boy who lives at Oakwood. A boy who calls you Mommy.”
“It’s a coincidence.”
“I’m going to Oakwood tomorrow,” Luca said softly. “I’m going to find Leo. And I’m going to order a paternity test.”
Vanessa went completely still.
Then, slowly, her posture changed. The defensive bride vanished.
“You can’t do that,” she said.
“I can. And I will.”
“No, Luca.” Vanessa tilted her head. “Because Leo isn’t Michael’s son.”
The room was silent except for the hum of the washing machines.
“Then whose is he?” Luca asked.
“He belongs to a man who would burn this entire estate to the ground if he knew the boy existed.” Vanessa’s eyes met Luca’s. “Michael found out who the father was. That’s why he canceled the wedding. He was trying to protect your family.”
Luca stared at her. “You were pregnant with another man’s child, and you tried to trick my brother into claiming it?”
“I was trying to survive!” Vanessa hissed, her voice finally breaking. “You have no idea what it’s like to have nothing! To be hunted!”
She turned her glare on Sophie.
“You think you’re so noble, playing the victim with your burnt arm. But you’ve just signed your mother’s death warrant.”
Luca stepped between them, shielding Sophie from Vanessa’s view.
“If you go anywhere near Oakwood,” Luca said, “I will destroy you.”
Vanessa looked at him, her chest heaving. Then she smoothed her dress one last time.
“You won’t have to. The engagement is off.”
She turned and walked out the door, the red silk trailing behind her like blood.
Sophie exhaled a shaky breath, her knees giving out. She slid down the wall until she hit the floor.
Luca knelt beside her. “Are you alright?”
“She’s going to hurt them,” Sophie whispered, tears spilling over her cheeks. “She’s going to Oakwood tonight. I know it.”
“I won’t let her.”
Luca reached into his tuxedo jacket and pulled out his phone. But as he did, his hand brushed against something heavy in his inner pocket.
His father’s old gold pocket watch.
He had carried it every day since he took over the family. Michael used to tease him about it, calling him an old man.
Luca pulled it out.
“Michael borrowed this the week he died,” Luca murmured, staring at the scratched gold casing. “He said he needed it for luck.”
Sophie looked at the watch. “It’s beautiful.”
Luca traced the edge of the metal. “He returned it to my desk the night before the accident. I never opened the back casing.”
With a sudden realization, Luca dug his thumbnail into the hidden seam along the back of the watch.
It clicked open.
Inside, where the secondary gears should have been, there was no machinery.
It was hollowed out.
And tucked perfectly into the circular space was a tiny, rusted brass key.
Sophie leaned forward, her red-rimmed eyes widening. “What does it open?”
Luca stared at the key.
May you like
“The lockbox in my brother’s old bedroom.” Luca looked at Sophie. “The room hasn’t been opened in eight years.”
TITLE: The Leather Journal in the Dark
