Chapter 2 - THE MAN BESIDE THE FIANCÉE
The silence in the dining room shattered the moment I spoke his name.
“Marcus.”
Marcus Vance, the man who had just been toasted as Luca’s new equal in the Chicago syndicate, froze with his wine glass halfway to his mouth.
He was a handsome man in his early forties, with silver at his temples and a smile that never quite reached his eyes. For three years, he had been Luca’s most trusted advisor. He had stood by Luca’s side when Sofia vanished. He had even helped search for her.
Slowly, Marcus set his glass down on the white tablecloth.
“This is absurd,” Marcus said, his voice dripping with condescension. He looked at Luca. “Are you really going to let a maid humiliate me at your engagement dinner?”
Luca didn’t look at him.
He kept his dark, unreadable eyes fixed on me.
“Emma,” Luca said softly. “You’re telling me that my sister gave you a key engraved with Marcus’s name.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vanessa stepped forward, her red satin gown rustling aggressively.
“Luca, she is lying! She’s trying to save her job by making up some hysterical story. Marcus has been nothing but loyal to you.”
“Then he won’t mind emptying his pockets,” Luca said.
The temperature in the room plummeted.
Thirty wealthy, dangerous guests sat perfectly still, holding their breath.
Marcus let out a forced, breathy laugh. “Luca, be reasonable. We’re in the middle of a celebration.”
Luca turned his head. His eyes locked onto Marcus.
“Empty your pockets, Marcus.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened. He looked around the room, realizing that the four men in dark suits standing near the doors had already shifted their hands toward their jackets. In Luca Moretti’s house, loyalty belonged to the boss, not the business partner.
Slowly, Marcus reached into his tailored suit jacket.
He pulled out a silver money clip, a silk handkerchief, and a leather wallet. He set them on the table.
“See?” Vanessa said, her voice shrill with relief. “Nothing. Emma is a liar and a thief. Call security and have her thrown out.”
But I wasn’t looking at the table.
I was looking at the heavy silver lighter Marcus had placed next to his wallet.
“Mr. Moretti,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “The key isn’t in his pocket. It’s in the lighter.”
Marcus’s head snapped toward me, his eyes flaring with genuine panic.
Luca didn’t hesitate. He reached across the table and snatched the heavy silver lighter. It was an antique piece, oversized and custom-made. Luca flipped the lid open. He didn’t strike the flint. Instead, he gripped the inner metal casing and pulled hard.
The lighter separated into two pieces.
The bottom half wasn’t a fuel tank. It was a hollow compartment.
And resting inside, wrapped in a scrap of black velvet, was a small brass key.
The guests erupted into shocked whispers. Vanessa backed away, her hands flying to her mouth.
Luca pulled the key out. He turned it over under the glow of the crystal chandeliers.
There, etched deeply into the brass, was the name: VANCE.
Luca stared at it for a long, agonizing moment. When he finally looked up at Marcus, the betrayal in his eyes had hardened into something lethal.
“My father made two keys,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. “One for my sister, to access his private ledger. And one for the man he intended to take over the legitimate side of this family’s business. My father told me he gave that second key to my uncle.”
Marcus swallowed hard. “Luca, I can explain—”
“My uncle died in a car crash two days before Sofia disappeared,” Luca continued, stepping closer to Marcus. “You told me his key burned in the wreckage.”
Marcus took a step back, bumping into his chair. “Sofia stole it from his house! She was trying to frame me!”
“If she was framing you, why were you hiding it inside a lighter?”
Marcus opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Luca turned to me. “Emma. Why did Sofia give you her key the night she left?”
My hands were shaking, but I forced myself to stand tall in my wine-soaked uniform.
“Because she didn’t just find your uncle’s key, sir. She found the ledger it opened.”
Vanessa let out a sharp gasp.
“Sofia told me she was going to show you the ledger,” I said, looking directly at Marcus. “She said it proved that Marcus and Vanessa had been siphoning millions from the family accounts for years. They were lovers, Mr. Moretti. And they used your grief over your father to rob you blind.”
Vanessa let out a horrific scream. “SHUT UP! SHUT HER UP!”
But Luca didn’t look at Vanessa. He looked at Marcus.
“You stole from my father,” Luca whispered. “And you drove my sister out of this house.”
“Luca, please,” Marcus begged, raising his hands.
“Where is the ledger now?” Luca demanded.
Marcus’s face twisted into a cruel, desperate sneer. He realized he was caught, and the mask finally slipped.
“You’ll never find it,” Marcus spat. “And you’ll never find her, either.”
Marcus reached into his breast pocket, moving too fast for the guards. He didn’t pull out a gun.
He pulled out a crumpled, faded train ticket.
He threw it onto the table.
“She didn’t run away because she was scared of me, Luca,” Marcus smiled, a sick, twisted grin. “She ran away because of what she was carrying.”
Luca picked up the ticket.
May you like
He stared at the destination printed on the faded paper.
“She wasn’t running from me,” Marcus whispered. “She was running to protect the child she was pregnant with. Your nephew.”
