Chapter 5 - THE POCKET WATCH
My blood ran cold.
The phone nearly slipped from my hand.
“Vanessa?” I choked out, panic crushing my chest. “Where is my mother?”
“She’s fast asleep in her recliner,” Vanessa’s voice purred through the speaker. “It’s a shame she’s in so much pain from her physical therapy. It would be terrible if she… had an accident in the kitchen.”
“Don’t you touch her!” I screamed.
Luca crossed the room in two strides. He snatched the phone from my hand.
“Vanessa,” his voice was pure ice. It wasn’t a threat. It was an execution order. “If you harm a single hair on that woman’s head, there isn’t a hole deep enough on this earth for you to hide in.”
Vanessa laughed.
It was a sharp, ugly sound.
“Oh, Luca, darling. I’m not at her apartment.”
Luca frowned.
“My sister Chloe is sitting in Julia’s kitchen right now,” Vanessa said lightly. “I’m actually standing outside your study window.”
Luca snapped his head toward the heavy velvet curtains.
He walked over and yanked them open.
Through the rain-streaked glass, standing on the manicured lawn in her brilliant red engagement gown, was Vanessa.
She was holding a cell phone to her ear.
And in her other hand, she held a heavy, vintage gold pocket watch.
Luca’s breath hitched.
“Do you recognize it, Luca?” Vanessa smiled through the glass. “The original Moretti pocket watch. The one your grandfather brought from Italy. The one that holds the master key to the family’s Swiss safety deposit boxes.”
I stared in horror.
“You see,” Vanessa said through the phone, “the bearer bonds were a nice bonus. But the Swiss accounts? That’s generational wealth. And now, I have the key.”
Luca stared at her through the glass.
“If you leave with that watch,” he said evenly, “I will hunt you down.”
“If I don’t leave with this watch,” Vanessa countered, “Chloe turns on the gas stove in Julia’s apartment and walks away. Your choice, darling.”
Tears streamed down my face. “Mr. Moretti, please. My mom.”
Luca looked at me. He saw my terror.
He didn’t hesitate.
He spoke into the phone. “Go. Take it and run.”
Vanessa smirked through the window.
“A wise decision. Do not follow me. Do not call the police. Chloe stays at the apartment until I’m safely at the airport. Ciao, Luca.”
She turned and sprinted across the lawn toward a waiting black sedan.
“Mr. Moretti!” I cried. “She has everything! She’s taking your family’s legacy!”
Luca watched the taillights of her car disappear down the driveway.
Then, his expression completely changed.
The panic vanished. The anger dissolved into a cold, terrifying calm.
He handed me my phone.
“Call your neighbor,” he ordered Daniel. “Have them go knock on her mother’s door right now.”
Then, Luca walked over to his massive oak desk.
He reached underneath the heavy wood, feeling for a hidden latch.
A tiny click echoed in the room.
A secret drawer slid open.
Luca reached inside.
And pulled out the exact same vintage gold pocket watch.
I gasped. “But… she just took it!”
“She took a replica,” Luca said, his voice dark. “I knew she was looking for it three weeks ago when I caught her snooping in my files.”
He turned the heavy gold watch over in his hand.
“The one she just stole doesn’t hold a vault key, Julia.”
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Luca looked up, his eyes flashing.
“It holds a military-grade GPS tracker.”
