Chapter 4 - THE TRAIN TICKET TO BOSTON
I dropped the ticket as if it had burned my fingers.
It fluttered to the hardwood floor, landing right at Luca’s polished shoes.
He looked down, then slowly picked it up. He read the name.
His dark eyes snapped up to mine.
“Emma.” His voice was dangerously quiet. “Why is your mother’s name on a train ticket hidden in my mother’s secret room?”
My hands were shaking violently. “I don't know. I swear to God, Mr. Moretti. My mother is a retired school teacher. She lives in a small apartment downtown. We moved to Chicago from Boston when I was six.”
Vanessa let out a harsh, mocking laugh.
“A coincidence? The maid just happens to be the daughter of the woman who fled on a train twenty years ago?” She looked at Luca. “She’s a spy. Her family has been playing you.”
“I didn't even know who you were until I took this job!” I shot back, tears of panic welling in my eyes.
Luca didn't yell. He stepped toward me, holding the ticket.
“How old are you, Emma?”
“Twenty-eight.”
He looked at the date on the ticket. 1998.
“Twenty years ago,” Luca calculated softly. “You were eight years old. Do you remember moving?”
“Barely,” I whispered. “My mom said my father died, and we needed a fresh start. We packed in the middle of the night.”
Father Gabriel let out a heavy sigh, leaning heavily on his cane.
“Sarah Sullivan didn't run because her husband died, Emma,” the priest said. His voice was filled with deep, heavy sorrow. “She ran because she was Elena Moretti’s private nurse.”
I stopped breathing.
“My mother was a nurse?”
“Yes,” Father Gabriel said. “And she was the one who smuggled that baby out of this house.”
Luca turned to the priest. “Emma’s mother took the boy?”
“Elena begged her to,” Father Gabriel explained. “Your father was coming for the child. Elena gave Sarah a bag of cash and this train ticket, and told her to take the boy as far away as possible.”
Vanessa crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing.
“Then where is the boy now?” she demanded. “If he’s the bastard heir to the Moretti family, he has a claim to half your empire, Luca. Where did this nurse hide him?”
Father Gabriel closed his eyes. He looked suddenly incredibly frail.
“He didn't make it to Boston.”
“What do you mean?” Luca asked.
“Your father’s men caught them at the station,” the priest whispered. “Sarah managed to escape with you, Emma. But they took the boy.”
A wave of nausea hit me. My mother had been carrying a baby? I tried to search my childhood memories, but they were blurry, terrifying flashes of running in the dark.
Suddenly, Father Gabriel swayed.
His cane slipped on the hardwood floor.
“Father!” I cried, rushing forward as the old man collapsed to his knees.
Luca caught him by the shoulders before he hit the ground. The priest was gasping for air, his hand clutching his chest.
“His heart,” Vanessa said, taking a step back in horror. “Luca, he’s having a heart attack.”
“Call an ambulance, Emma!” Luca yelled, easing the priest onto his back.
I fumbled for my phone, my fingers shaking as I dialed 911.
Father Gabriel gripped Luca’s sleeve with surprising strength. His face was pale, his lips turning blue.
“Luciano,” the priest gasped.
“Don't speak, Father. Hold on,” Luca said, pressing two fingers to the old man’s neck.
“The tape,” Father Gabriel choked out, his eyes wide and terrified. “The original tape.”
“Vanessa has it,” Luca said, glaring up at his fiancée.
Vanessa shook her head frantically. “I don't! I swear, Luca, I couldn't find the original! I only found the copy!”
Father Gabriel pulled Luca closer, his voice barely a whisper.
“Under… the altar. The chapel.”
His eyes rolled back, and his grip on Luca’s sleeve went slack.
“Father!” I screamed.
Luca immediately started chest compressions. “Where is that ambulance, Emma?!”
“Three minutes!” I yelled, dropping the phone.
I knelt beside Luca to help. As I reached to loosen the priest’s stiff white collar, my hand brushed against something hard tucked inside his cassock.
A heavy, gold chain.
I pulled it out to clear his airway.
Attached to the end of the chain was a heavy gold signet ring.
I froze.
It bore the Bellini family crest.
Vanessa saw it at the exact same moment.
She let out a piercing scream.
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“That’s my brother’s ring!” Vanessa cried, falling to her knees beside me. “My brother disappeared twenty years ago! Why does this priest have his ring?!”
TITLE: THE RING BENEATH THE CASSOCK
