Chapter 3 - THE WATCH THAT STOPPED FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
“Where did you get that?”
Nico’s voice wasn't quiet anymore. It echoed off the marble walls, sharp and commanding. He reached across the table, bypassing the fifty-thousand-dollar check, and pulled the tarnished silver pocket watch from Victoria’s clutch.
The heavy silver chain dangled from his fingers. The glass face was cracked, stuck forever at 11:42 PM—the exact time his brother, Leo, went missing all those years ago.
Victoria stumbled backward, bumping into her chair. Her carefully practiced poise shattered completely.
“I… I can explain,” she stammered, looking around the room. The eighty guests were murmuring now, the polite silence breaking into confused whispers.
“You told me you didn't know where it went,” Nico said, stepping toward her. “You watched me tear my study apart looking for this on Tuesday. You helped me look.”
“I found it later!” Victoria cried. “I was going to surprise you with it! I took it to a jeweler to get the glass fixed—”
“Don’t lie to him,” I said.
The words left my mouth before my brain could stop them. Every eye in the room snapped to me. A maid in a black-and-white uniform, speaking out of turn at a billionaire’s engagement dinner. I was definitely getting fired. But I couldn't stop.
“Hannah,” Nico said, turning to me. “What do you know?”
I swallowed hard. “Last week, sir. When you were in New York for meetings. Miss Victoria didn't take it to a jeweler. I saw her taking it out of the locked drawer in your father’s old study.”
Nico’s eyes widened. “My father’s study? That room has been sealed since he died.”
“She had a key, sir,” I continued, my hands trembling. “She went in there with a man. A tall man with a scar above his left eyebrow.”
The color drained from Nico’s face. He looked at Victoria as if he were seeing a stranger. “Marcus,” he whispered. “You brought Marcus into my home?”
Marcus was Nico’s father’s old enforcer. A brutal man who had been exiled from the family years ago.
“Nico, listen to me—” Victoria pleaded, grabbing his arm again.
He violently shook her off. “You paid off my mother figure. You paid off the mother of my maid. And you’re conspiring with the man who ruined my childhood. Why?”
Victoria stopped crying. The panicked, desperate woman vanished. In her place, a cold, calculated expression settled over her features. She stood up straight, smoothing her silk dress.
“Because you are soft, Nicholas,” Victoria said, her voice dripping with venom. “Your father built an empire, and you’re turning it into a charity. You care more about old women in faded dresses and little maids than you do about power.”
She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at the watch.
“I didn't take that watch to hurt you. I took it because inside the casing, your father left a message. A message that proves Leo didn't just disappear.”
The entire room went dead silent.
Nico looked down at the watch in his hand. He fumbled with the back casing, prying it open with his thumb.
A small, folded piece of yellowed paper fell out.
Nico caught it. He unfolded it. As he read the words, his hands began to shake uncontrollably.
“No,” Nico whispered. “No, that’s impossible.”
He looked up at Ruth. His eyes were wide with a grief so profound it made my chest ache.
“Ruth,” Nico choked out. “My father didn't kill Leo.”
Ruth covered her mouth with her hands, a stifled sob escaping her lips.
Nico turned slowly to face me. The look in his eyes made my blood run cold.
“Hannah,” he said, his voice breaking. “My father gave Leo away. He gave him to a waitress named Mary Sullivan.”
My mother.
Before I could process the words, before I could understand that the mafia boss’s missing brother was somehow connected to my poor, sweet mother—the heavy oak doors of the dining room burst open.
May you like
A little boy, no older than seven, stood in the doorway. He was wearing faded jeans and holding a familiar silver rosary.
“Excuse me,” the little boy said, his voice echoing in the silent room. “My mom said I was supposed to give this to Nico DeLuca.”
