Chapter 4 - THE PEARL NECKLACE
Victor Bellini didn’t wait to be invited inside.
The heavy oak doors of the mansion groaned as they were pushed wide open.
Vanessa’s father walked into the foyer, flanked by a dozen men in tailored suits.
He was a tall, imposing man in his late sixties, leaning on a silver-tipped cane.
He looked past his daughter, past Matteo and Anna, and fixed his dead eyes entirely on Luca.
“Having a little family disagreement, Luca?” Victor asked smoothly.
Luca didn’t flinch.
He slipped the receipt and my father’s pocket watch into his jacket.
“This is a private dinner, Victor. Your daughter was just leaving.”
“I don’t think she is,” Victor said.
He tapped his cane on the marble.
Immediately, his men fanned out, blocking the exits.
Luca’s security guards drew their weapons, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.
Anna instinctively stepped behind her father.
Matteo moved to shield his sister.
I stood frozen by the dining table, my mind racing.
My father. A mechanic. A payoff. A murder.
None of it made sense. My dad was a gentle man who rescued stray dogs and worked sixty-hour weeks. He wasn’t a killer.
Vanessa scrambled to her father’s side, clinging to his arm.
“They know, Papa,” she whispered frantically. “The boy found the receipt.”
Victor didn’t look at her.
He simply backhanded her across the face.
The crack echoed sharply in the large room.
Vanessa crumpled to the floor, holding her bleeding lip.
“You were supposed to marry him and secure the territory,” Victor said coldly. “You couldn’t even manage a simple engagement dinner without letting his brats ruin it.”
Luca took a step forward, his fists clenched.
“If your men touch my children, Victor, I will burn your house to the ground with you in it.”
“You aren’t in a position to burn anything, Luca,” Victor smiled.
He stepped closer to the dining table.
His eyes flicked toward me.
“Ah. The mechanic’s daughter. You look just like him.”
My blood ran cold.
“You don’t know me,” I said.
“I know everything,” Victor replied. “I know your father had a stroke two weeks ago. I know he’s completely paralyzed on his left side. And I know you took this demeaning job just to afford his care.”
He reached into his tailored pocket.
He pulled out a stunning, heavy pearl necklace.
Anna gasped.
“That’s my mother’s,” Anna said, her voice shaking. “She was wearing that the night she died.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes, she was. And do you know who pried it off her neck before the ambulance arrived?”
He threw the pearls onto the table.
They clattered against the fine china.
“Your trusted mechanic, Thomas Reed,” Victor lied, his eyes gleaming with malice. “He cut her brakes for fifty thousand, and he stole her jewelry for a bonus.”
Luca looked at the pearls.
Then he looked at me.
“No,” I said, tears finally spilling over. “No, my father didn’t do that! He’s a good man!”
“He is a rat,” Victor sneered. “And since he is currently helpless in a hospital bed, I think it’s time to tie up loose ends.”
Victor nodded to one of his men.
“Call the hospital. Tell them to turn off Thomas Reed’s life support.”
“NO!” I screamed, lunging forward.
Before Victor’s man could reach for his phone, Luca moved.
He didn’t grab a gun.
He grabbed the pearl necklace off the table.
With one violent pull, Luca snapped the heavy silk string.
Dozens of priceless pearls scattered and bounced across the hard marble floor.
But one bead didn’t bounce.
It hit the floor with a heavy, metallic clink.
It wasn’t a pearl.
It was a tightly rolled, waterproof memory card, painted white.
May you like
Victor’s confident smile instantly vanished.
“Elena always was smarter than you, Victor,” Luca whispered.
