Chapter 2 - THE ENVELOPE BEHIND THE PENDULUM
Nobody in the dining room dared to breathe.
Luca stood perfectly still, his dark eyes locked on the woman he was supposed to marry in three weeks.
“I’ll ask you one last time, Vanessa,” Luca said. His voice didn’t echo. It was dangerously soft. “How did you know there was an envelope in my father’s clock?”
Vanessa’s red silk dress suddenly looked less like royalty and more like a target.
She looked at the wealthy guests staring at her. Then at me.
“Emma,” Vanessa snapped, her voice trembling. “Get this old man out of here. Now.”
I didn’t move.
I needed my paycheck to cover my father’s medical bills, but I wasn’t stupid. You don’t interrupt Luca Moretti when he is unraveling a lie.
Arthur Bell stepped forward, his polished shoes silent on the marble floor.
“She knew,” Arthur said gently, “because the person who put it there told her.”
Luca turned back to the grandfather clock.
He didn’t wait for Vanessa’s permission. He walked over to the towering mahogany timepiece.
He inserted the tiny brass key Arthur had given him into a barely visible hole behind the heavy brass pendulum.
A loud click echoed through the room.
A secret wooden panel popped open.
Luca reached inside.
He pulled out a thick, yellowed envelope sealed with red wax.
But as he pulled it out, something else caught on the edge of the compartment and fell to the floor with a metallic clatter.
I instinctively stepped forward and picked it up.
It wasn’t a document.
It was a delicate, silver necklace with a small sapphire pendant.
Vanessa saw it and let out a choked gasp. Her hands flew to her mouth, and she collapsed into her chair, weeping instantly.
Luca looked at the necklace in my hand, then at his fiancée.
“This belonged to your mother,” Luca said, his brow furrowing in deep confusion. “She reported it stolen fifteen years ago.”
“She didn’t report it stolen,” a deep voice said from the head of the table.
Everyone turned.
It was Julian, Luca’s underboss and oldest friend. The man who had trained Luca after his father died.
Julian calmly wiped his mouth with a linen napkin and stood up.
“I took it,” Julian said, his eyes cold and unblinking.
Luca froze. “You?”
“To ensure Enzo Bellini’s loyalty,” Julian stated simply. “And recently, to ensure Vanessa’s. She didn’t go to the clockmaker for money, Luca. She went because I told her if she didn’t retrieve that envelope tonight, I would send this necklace to the FBI along with the files that prove her father ordered the hit on your uncle.”
Vanessa sobbed, burying her face in her hands.
Luca looked at the man he had trusted with his life.
“You blackmailed my fiancée?”
“I protected this family,” Julian countered, stepping closer. “Your father was weak at the end, Luca. He hid that envelope because he was going to betray us all. Open it.”
Luca stared at the heavy yellow envelope.
He broke the red wax seal.
He pulled out the folded papers inside.
As his eyes scanned the first page, the color completely drained from his face.
He didn’t look at Julian. He didn’t look at Vanessa.
May you like
He looked directly at me.
“Emma,” Luca whispered. “What is your father’s real name?”
