Chapter 3 - THE SCAR BENEATH THE WATCH
“Give me the book, Emma,” Dominic whispered, pulling the hammer back on the pistol.
I clutched the heavy ledger against my chest.
My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.
“Mr. Moretti asked for this,” I stammered, backing away until my shoulders hit the cedar chest.
Dominic smiled. It was a cold, lifeless expression.
“Luca doesn’t know what this book is. And he’s never going to.”
He reached out, his thick fingers wrapping around the leather spine.
He yanked it hard.
But I didn’t let go.
“I said give it to me, you stupid maid.”
“What does my father have to do with this?” I demanded, adrenaline overriding my fear.
Dominic’s eyes flickered with surprise.
He looked down at the open page. He saw the photograph of my father with Lucia Moretti.
“Well, well,” Dominic murmured. “You’re Thomas Reed’s kid. The one who survived the fire.”
My breath hitched.
The fire that destroyed my dad’s firm wasn’t an accident.
“You burned it down,” I realized, my voice trembling.
“Your old man was stealing from us. He was washing the Moretti money, but he found out about our side businesses. He got greedy. He should have died in that fire.”
“He had a stroke!” I cried.
“The stroke happened because I paid a nurse to inject him with a blood thinner,” Dominic sneered. “He lived, but his brain turned to mush. We considered it a win. He couldn't talk anymore.”
Tears of pure rage spilled down my cheeks.
My father had spent ten years in a wheelchair, unable to speak, unable to feed himself, because of this monster.
Dominic ripped the ledger from my hands.
“Now, be a good girl and stay quiet, or I’ll finish the job tonight.”
He turned to leave the closet.
But he didn’t make it to the door.
A heavy crystal decanter shattered against the back of his head.
Dominic grunted, dropping the gun and stumbling forward.
I gasped.
Maria Conti stood in the doorway, holding the broken neck of the crystal bottle.
The seventy-nine-year-old seamstress hadn’t even messed up her hair.
“I never liked that boy,” Maria said calmly.
Before Dominic could recover, Luca walked into the room.
He looked at Dominic on the floor, then at Maria, then at me.
“He has a gun,” I warned, my voice shaking.
Luca kicked the pistol across the carpet.
Then he looked at the leather ledger in Dominic’s hands.
Luca knelt, pressing his knee onto Dominic’s back, and pried the book from his fingers.
He stood up and looked at the cover.
Reed & Associates.
Luca’s eyes darted to me.
“Emma. This is your father’s firm.”
“Yes,” I whispered.
He opened it. He saw the photograph.
Luca stared at the picture of his mother holding me as a baby.
“Your father knew my mother?”
“Dominic just said my dad washed money for your family. He said he burned my dad’s office down.”
Luca’s face hardened.
He looked down at Dominic, who was groaning and trying to push himself up.
Luca didn’t yell. He didn’t threaten.
He simply reached down and grabbed Dominic’s left wrist.
Dominic was wearing a heavy gold Rolex.
Luca unclasped the watch and pulled it off.
“Hey!” Dominic slurred. “That’s mine.”
“No,” Luca said quietly. “It isn’t.”
Luca turned the watch over.
He handed it to me.
“Look at the back, Emma.”
I took the heavy gold watch. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely read the engraving on the back casing.
To Thomas. For always keeping the books balanced. — L.M.
It was my father’s watch.
The one he lost in the fire ten years ago.
“He stole it off my dad,” I choked out, a sob finally breaking free.
Luca’s expression turned lethal.
He grabbed Dominic by the collar and hauled the massive man to his feet.
“Where is David Mercer, Dominic?” Luca demanded.
Dominic spat blood onto the carpet. “Go to hell, Moretti.”
“You sent Vanessa into my mother’s chest to steal this ledger,” Luca said. “But you didn’t have the key. David had it. That’s why Vanessa married him seven years ago. To get the key.”
Dominic just laughed.
“You’re too late, Luca. We already own the docks. We already own the warehouses. You marry my sister tonight, or the Bellini family takes everything you have.”
Luca dropped Dominic.
“Take him to the basement,” Luca ordered his security men, who had just rushed into the room.
They dragged Dominic away.
Luca turned to me.
“Emma. Get your coat.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
May you like
Luca looked at the ledger, then at the silver key David Mercer had mailed to Maria.
“We’re going to the hospital,” Luca said. “Because if Dominic is here, then Vanessa is already with your father.”
