Chapter 2 - THE GHOST IN THE ROOM
“Ask your uncle who was driving.”
Mr. Bellini’s words dropped into the quiet room like a stone down a well.
Frank’s face drained of color.
He looked at Luca, his hands shaking so violently he had to grip the edge of the poker table.
Luca didn’t look at Vanessa. He didn’t look at her father. His dark eyes were locked entirely on the man who had raised him.
“Uncle Frank,” Luca said. His voice wasn’t angry. It was terrifyingly calm. “What is he talking about?”
“Luca, please,” Frank whispered. “It was twenty years ago.”
“Who was driving the car when my father went into the lake?”
I stood frozen near the discarded poker chips. I was just the maid. I should have walked out the kitchen door and never looked back. But my feet wouldn’t move.
Mr. Bellini adjusted his silk tie, looking remarkably smug for a man who had just been caught cheating.
“Tell him, Frank. Tell him how his father was bleeding out in the passenger seat before the car ever hit the water. Tell him how you walked away without a scratch.”
Vanessa crossed her arms. “This is ridiculous. We’re supposed to be celebrating our engagement, Luca. Are you really going to listen to the help and a gambling addict?”
Luca finally turned to her.
“If you speak again in this room, Vanessa, the wedding is off. Right now.”
Vanessa’s mouth snapped shut. Her face flushed a deep, ugly red.
Frank reached into his shirt. His trembling fingers pulled out a silver St. Christopher medal on a heavy chain. I’d seen him rub it a hundred times when he was stressed, but I’d never seen him take it off.
He placed it on the green felt table, right next to the two identical aces of spades.
“Your father gave me this,” Frank said, his voice breaking. “Five minutes before the crash. He knew we were being followed. He knew he wasn’t going to make it.”
Luca took a step forward. “You were driving.”
“I had to!” Frank cried out, tears finally spilling over his weathered cheeks. “He was shot, Luca! We found out the Bellinis were skimming from the union fund. He confronted them. They put a bullet in his ribs and told me to drive him to the hospital. But they cut the brake lines.”
The room went completely still.
Mr. Bellini let out a sharp, dismissive laugh. “A desperate lie from a desperate old man.”
“Then why,” I heard myself say.
Everyone turned to me. My heart hammered against my ribs. I shouldn't speak. I was crossing a line that could get me killed in this world.
“Why what, Emily?” Luca asked softly.
“Why did he use an extra ace of spades to cheat tonight?” I looked at Mr. Bellini. “If the extra ace was just a coincidence twenty years ago... why use the exact same card to steal Frank’s cabin today? It’s not just a cheat. It’s a threat. A reminder.”
Mr. Bellini’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. The gentlemanly facade was gone.
Luca reached out and picked up the St. Christopher medal. He ran his thumb over the tarnished silver.
“The Bellinis didn’t cut the brakes,” Vanessa said suddenly, ignoring Luca’s previous warning.
Her father shot her a warning glare, but she stepped forward, reaching into her designer clutch.
“You want the truth, Luca? My father didn’t kill yours. We’ve been protecting your family’s reputation for two decades.”
She pulled out a folded piece of yellowed paper. It looked old. Brittle.
“This is the original, un-redacted police report from the night of the crash,” Vanessa said, slapping it down on the table. “Read the name of the officer who found the car. Read who covered up the bullet wound and reported it as an accident.”
Luca unfolded the fragile paper. I watched his eyes scan the typewritten words.
His face went completely blank.
May you like
He slowly looked up from the paper, his gaze shifting past his uncle, past his fiancée, landing dead on me.
“Emily,” Luca said, his voice a hollow echo. “Why is your father’s signature on this report?”
