Chapter 4 - THE MISSING WATCH
The foyer went dead silent.
Only the sound of the rain lashing against the high windows filled the space.
Luca didn’t look at Dominic right away.
His eyes stayed fixed on the little boy in the blue coat.
Twins.
He had two grandsons.
And one was missing.
“Isabella,” Luca said, his voice dropping into the terrifyingly calm register he only used before someone died. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
Isabella was shaking so hard her teeth chattered.
I instinctively grabbed a warm blanket from the hall closet and draped it over her shoulders. She looked at me with wild, grateful eyes, pulling Leo closer to her side.
“I was at the park,” she stammered, wrapping the blanket around her son. “Just an hour ago. I turned to get Leo’s juice box from the stroller. It took two seconds. When I turned back, Matteo was gone.”
“Matteo,” Luca repeated the name like a prayer.
“A black SUV tore away from the curb,” she cried. “I ran after it, but I couldn't catch them. Then my phone rang.”
“Who was it?” Luca demanded.
Isabella slowly raised a trembling hand.
She pointed straight down the hallway.
At Dominic.
“It was his voice, Dad,” she whispered. “Uncle Dominic told me if I ever wanted to see Matteo alive again, I had to come here. Tonight. And tell you that Vanessa orchestrated the whole thing.”
Luca slowly turned his head.
He looked at his younger brother.
Dominic stepped out of the shadows.
He didn’t look panicked. He looked completely at ease, sliding his hands into his tailored pockets.
“She’s hysterical, Luca,” Dominic said smoothly. “The girl has been estranged for three years. She’s looking for a payday. Or someone to blame because she lost her kid at a park.”
“He’s lying!” Isabella screamed.
“I was at the dinner table the entire evening,” Dominic pointed out, looking at Luca. “With thirty witnesses. How could I have snatched a child from a park?”
“You didn’t do it yourself,” I blurted out.
The words left my mouth before my brain could stop them.
Both men snapped their heads toward me.
I was breaking every rule of survival in this house.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about the photo in my shoe.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed into dark slits. “Excuse me, Emma?”
I ignored him and looked at Luca.
“Sir. When Vanessa dropped her purse in the dining room, a photograph fell out. I picked it up.”
I reached into my shoe and pulled out the crumpled picture.
I handed it to Luca.
Luca stared at the image of Isabella and Leo at the park.
Then he flipped it over.
He read the black marker.
Target secured. Waiting for your green light. - M.
“M,” Luca said quietly.
He looked up at his brother.
“Marcus. Your driver.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. Just a fraction, but it was enough.
“Vanessa didn’t hire Marcus,” Luca continued, taking a step toward Dominic. “Vanessa is terrified of you. She gave Isabella the locket three years ago because you told her to. You wanted my heir out of the picture. And now that you realized Isabella had children—boys who could inherit my seat—you decided to finish the job.”
“You’re getting paranoid in your old age, brother,” Dominic said, stepping backward toward the front door.
But Luca moved faster than I had ever seen a man his size move.
He crossed the foyer in two strides, grabbing Dominic by the throat and slamming him against the mahogany wall.
A framed mirror crashed to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces.
“Where is Matteo?” Luca roared.
Dominic choked, grasping at Luca’s massive hands.
He grinned, his teeth stained with blood from biting his own lip.
“If you kill me… you’ll never find him.”
“If you don’t tell me, I will take you apart piece by piece!”
“Dad, wait!” Isabella shouted.
Luca didn’t let go, but he turned his head.
Isabella stood up. The blanket slipped off her shoulders.
She walked toward Dominic, her eyes filled with a sudden, sharp clarity.
“It’s not just about the succession, is it?” Isabella asked.
She reached into her coat pocket.
She pulled out a heavy, silver pocket watch.
It was battered, the glass cracked, the silver tarnished with dark, rusted stains.
Dominic saw the watch.
For the first time all night, genuine fear flashed across his face.
“Where did you get that?” Dominic breathed.
“My mother gave it to me,” Isabella said softly. “Right before she died in that 'accident' twenty years ago. The car crash you always said was black ice.”
Luca released Dominic’s throat, stepping back in shock.
He looked at the watch.
“That’s our father’s watch,” Luca whispered. “I buried Dominic with that watch when our father died.”
He looked at his brother. “Why did Isabella’s mother have it?”
Isabella clicked the pocket watch open.
She held it up.
Inside the casing, carved into the silver, were two words.
For M.
“Because it didn't belong to your father,” Isabella said, tears filling her eyes again. “It belonged to Marcus. Your driver. My mother found it in the wrecked car before she bled to death. She realized Marcus cut her brake lines. And she realized who ordered him to do it.”
May you like
She looked dead at Dominic.
“Marcus took Matteo,” Isabella said, her voice shaking but furious. “Because Marcus is the only one who knows where you buried my mother’s real autopsy report. The one that proves you murdered her.”
