Chapter 6 - THE GOLD WATCH
I felt the cold metal of the keys against my palm.
Elena was crying silently by the coat rack.
Frank smiled, adjusted his tie, and walked back to the party.
Adriana slumped against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor.
Rosa stood frozen, staring at the space where her son had just been.
“Mrs. Moretti,” I whispered to Elena. “Come with me.”
I guided her through the kitchen corridors, avoiding the main staff.
We slipped out the back delivery door into the freezing Chicago night.
Luca’s black SUV was parked in the alley.
I unlocked it.
“Get in,” I said.
She climbed into the passenger seat, shivering.
I got into the driver’s seat.
I had no idea where I was supposed to take her.
But before I could start the engine, the back door opened.
Luca climbed in.
He didn't say a word. He just leaned forward, grabbed Elena by the shoulders, and buried his face in her neck.
She broke down, wrapping her arms around him.
For two solid minutes, the only sound in the car was their weeping.
Eight years of grief, fear, and loss poured out in the dark.
Finally, Luca pulled back.
He cupped her face.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I am so sorry I didn't protect you.”
“You didn't know,” she cried.
“I know now.”
Luca looked at me in the rearview mirror.
“Drive, Emma.”
“Where?”
“To the restaurant.”
Luca owned a high-end Italian restaurant downtown. It was closed for private renovations.
As I drove, Luca held Elena’s hand.
“Why did you really come back?” he asked her. “Frank said Adriana was paying you to stay away.”
Elena wiped her eyes.
“I never took a dime from her. I came back because I found something in my sister’s belongings.”
She reached into her bag.
She pulled out a heavy, gold pocket watch.
It was scratched and dented.
“They gave me Clara’s personal effects from the crash,” Elena explained. “This was in her coat pocket.”
Luca stared at it.
“That’s my father’s watch.”
“I know.”
Elena opened the face of the watch.
The glass was shattered.
The hands were frozen at exactly 11:42.
“The police report said the crash happened at 1:15 AM,” Elena said.
Luca frowned.
“Why would his watch be broken at 11:42?”
“Because,” Elena whispered, “Clara didn't crash on the ice.”
She looked at Luca, her eyes filled with terror.
“She was run off the road.”
Luca stopped breathing.
“And the man who did it,” Elena continued, “lost his watch in the wreckage when he checked her pulse to make sure she was dead.”
Luca took the watch.
He turned it over.
There was a fresh, deep scratch on the gold casing.
It matched a dent in the steering wheel of the wrecked car.
“It wasn't your father who ran her off the road,” Elena said.
Luca looked up.
“It was Frank.”
My hands gripped the steering wheel.
Frank Moretti didn't just cover up a crime.
He committed murder.
And he thought he had killed Elena.
Suddenly, Luca’s phone buzzed in his pocket.
He pulled it out.
May you like
It was a text from Adriana.
He knows you left. He has Sophie.
