Chapter 6 - THE LIES WE WEAR
Bianca stepped carefully over a knocked-down mannequin, her designer heels clicking sharply against the hardwood floor. She looked immaculate, wearing a pristine white cashmere coat that contrasted sharply with the chaos in my mother’s shop.
Her four armed guards immediately fanned out, their weapons drawn and trained on Nico.
"Drop it, Nico," Bianca ordered, her voice devoid of the sweet, tearful tone she’d used at the dinner party.
Nico slowly lowered his gun, placing it on the cutting table. "Bianca. You're out of your depth."
"Am I?" She laughed, a brittle, ugly sound. She looked down at Claire and Vance, who were still zip-tied on the floor. "I have to admit, Claire, you played me perfectly. I thought you were just a snobby stylist. I didn’t realize you were working for a bottom-feeder like Vance to steal my father's leverage."
"Your father is a murderer, Bianca," Nico said, his voice cold. "He burned Matteo alive."
Bianca flinched, but quickly recovered her icy demeanor. "My father did what was necessary to protect our family's interests. Matteo was weak. He wanted to legitimize the Bellini businesses. He wanted peace. In our world, peace is just another word for surrender."
She turned her gaze to me, her eyes narrowing with pure venom. "And you. The stupid little maid. You ruined everything. If you had just lied about the veil, none of this would be happening."
"I don't lie to protect monsters," I said, keeping my mother safely behind me.
Bianca sneered. "Check the back room," she ordered two of her men. "Find the boy and the box. My father wants no loose ends tonight."
My heart stopped. Leo was in the SUV, out back. If they looked out the window...
"He's not here," Nico lied smoothly, stepping slightly to block their view of the back hallway. "I sent him to a safe house."
"Don't lie to me, Nico," Bianca snapped. "We tracked Claire’s phone. He has to be here."
One of the guards shoved past Nico and disappeared into the back hallway. A moment later, he shouted, "There's an SUV in the alley! Someone's inside!"
Panic seized my chest. "No!" I screamed, lunging forward.
One of the guards grabbed my arm, twisting it painfully behind my back. My mother cried out, but Bianca pointed a slim silver pistol directly at her chest. "Quiet, seamstress."
The guard returned from the back door, dragging a struggling, kicking Leo by his coat collar.
"Let me go!" Leo screamed, clutching the silver music box desperately to his chest.
"Ah," Bianca smiled, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the box. "Bring him here."
The guard threw Leo to the floor at Bianca's feet. The silver box clattered loudly against the wood, popping open. The gold watch and the photograph spilled out.
Bianca picked up the photograph, examining her father's handshake with the corrupt fire chief. She sighed. "Such a shame. Lucia was always too smart for her own good."
She held the photograph up and flicked a lighter, setting the corner of the paper on fire.
"No!" Nico roared, struggling forward, but two guns were instantly pressed to his head.
We watched in horrified silence as the only piece of physical evidence proving Carlo Rossi murdered Nico's brother burned to ashes, falling onto the floorboards of my mother's shop.
Bianca stomped on the ashes, grinding them into the wood. She smiled victoriously.
"There. The proof is gone," she said. She looked down at Leo. "Now, we just have to get rid of the last remaining witness to my father's messy little fire."
She raised her gun, aiming it at the seven-year-old boy.
"Wait!" I screamed, desperation tearing through my throat. I had to stop her. I had to buy time.
"Wait," I gasped. "The photo wasn't the only proof."
Bianca paused, her finger resting on the trigger. "What are you talking about?"
I looked at Nico. He gave me a tiny, imperceptible nod. He trusted me to play the game.
"Lucia Bellini didn't just leave a photograph," I lied rapidly, my mind racing. "She kept a ledger. A detailed journal of every payoff your father made to the city officials. Dates, times, bank account numbers."
Bianca's face paled slightly. "You're lying."
"Am I?" I challenged, pulling myself out of the guard's grip. "I cleaned her room for nine months. I know every secret compartment in that mansion. Why do you think Claire was trying to steal all of her furniture? The ledger is hidden inside the false back of Lucia's sewing armoire."
Bianca stared at me, searching for a lie. But I was a seamstress. I knew furniture. I sounded completely convincing.
"If you kill us," I said steadily, "the Bellini capos will eventually find that ledger. But if you take me back to the mansion, I'll show you exactly where it is. You can destroy it all."
Bianca lowered the gun. She looked at her guards. "Take the maid and the boy to the car. Nico and the mother stay here with two men. If I don't find this ledger in twenty minutes, shoot them both."
"Emma, no!" my mother cried.
I looked back at my mother, giving her a brave smile. Then I looked at Nico.
"It's going to be okay," I told him softly.
As the guards shoved me and Leo out the door, I caught sight of the floor where Bianca had dropped her father's gold watch.
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It was gone. Nico had palmed it when he was pushed.
I had just given Nico the only weapon he needed.
