Chapter 6 - THE BLOOD-STAINED PAPER
The delicate waltz of the music box seemed to mock the horrifying silence in the dining room.
Luca Moretti stared at the folded, blood-stained paper in Margaret’s hand. He didn’t reach for it. He stood perfectly still, his broad shoulders rigid, like a man bracing for a fatal impact.
"Poisoned," Luca repeated. The word tasted like ash in the air.
Margaret nodded, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. "Catherine knew, Luca. In her final weeks, she knew the medicine the doctors were giving her was making her weaker. The hospital—St. Jude’s—was heavily funded by Don Bellini’s charity foundation. He had people on the inside."
I covered my mouth with my trembling hands. My mother was currently receiving treatment in a facility recently bought by the Bellini family. A wave of sickening dread washed over me.
Luca finally moved. He reached out and took the medical report.
He unfolded it slowly. The paper was brittle, the edges yellowed with age. The dark red stain in the corner was a grim reminder of how it had been secured.
Luca's dark eyes scanned the faded text. I watched his jaw clench, the muscles in his neck tightening until they looked like steel cables.
"Thallium," Luca whispered. "They gave her small doses of heavy metal poisoning. Over months. It mimics heart failure."
"She figured it out too late," Margaret sobbed softly. "She paid a private toxicologist to run her blood work secretly. When he brought her this report, she made me hide it inside the music box. She knew if Don Bellini found out she had proof, he wouldn't just kill her. He would kill you, too. You were only twenty-six, Luca. You weren't ready to take over the family yet."
Luca looked up, his eyes burning with a grief so profound it made my chest ache.
"She let them kill her," Luca said, his voice breaking. "To buy me time to build my strength."
"She sacrificed herself so you could live," Margaret confirmed. "She made me swear never to show you this report until you were powerful enough to destroy the Bellinis. And until you found a woman who would protect your heart, not your business."
Margaret looked at me. "That’s why she was so desperate to find the girl with the silver bracelet. She wanted you to have someone pure before I unleashed this darkness on you."
Luca slowly folded the report and placed it in his pocket. The grief in his eyes was instantly replaced by a terrifying, cold fury.
He pulled his phone from his jacket. He dialed a number and held it to his ear.
"Marco," Luca commanded. "Lock the estate. No one leaves. No one enters. Arm every man we have."
He hung up and turned to me.
"Megan," Luca said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Pack a bag. You are moving into the east wing of the mansion tonight."
"Mr. Moretti, I can't," I panicked. "My mother—"
"I have already sent an extraction team to the Oakwood Care Facility," Luca interrupted. "They are moving your mother to a private, secure hospital downtown. I own the building. The Bellinis cannot touch her there."
Relief crashed into me so hard my knees buckled. Luca caught my arm, steadying me. His touch was firm and grounding.
"You are under my protection now," Luca promised, looking deeply into my eyes. "Both of you."
Before I could thank him, a loud, frantic banging echoed from the grand foyer.
"Luca! Let me in!" a woman's voice screamed from the other side of the heavy oak doors.
It was Vanessa.
Luca gestured for Margaret and me to step back behind the large dining table. He walked out into the foyer and signaled his guards to open the front doors.
Vanessa stumbled inside, completely frantic. Her perfect hair was wild, her silk dress stained with mud from the driveway.
"Luca, you have to help me," Vanessa cried, running toward him and grabbing the lapels of his suit. "My father knows I failed. He knows the police didn't arrest the maid. He's going to kill me, Luca!"
Luca didn't flinch. He looked down at the woman he was supposed to marry in four days with absolute disgust.
"Where were you going to run with my mother's diamonds, Vanessa?" Luca asked coldly.
Vanessa froze. Her eyes darted wildly, realizing her theft had been discovered.
"I... I was trying to save us!" Vanessa stammered, fresh tears spilling over. "My father’s business is bankrupt, Luca! The shipping ports have been losing money for years. He owes millions to the Russian cartel. He forced me to marry you so we could merge our assets and pay off his debts!"
"And when I cancelled the wedding tonight, you decided to steal my mother's heirloom to pay them off yourself," Luca deduced, stepping back to break her grip on him.
"If I don't give the Russians money by tomorrow, they are going to execute my entire family!" Vanessa screamed, falling to her knees. "Please, Luca. You have to give me the diamonds. You owe my family!"
"I owe your family nothing," Luca said softly.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the blood-stained medical report. He tossed it onto the marble floor in front of Vanessa.
Vanessa looked down at the paper. As she read the words, all the fight drained out of her body.
"Your father poisoned my mother," Luca said, his voice echoing in the massive foyer. "He murdered her slowly over six months to destabilize my family."
Vanessa covered her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. "I didn't know," she whispered. "Luca, I swear to God, I was only a teenager. I didn't know he killed her."
"I believe you," Luca said coldly. "But you are still a Bellini."
Luca signaled to Marco, who stepped forward.
"Throw her out," Luca ordered.
"No! Luca, please!" Vanessa shrieked as Marco grabbed her arms and dragged her toward the front door. "The Russians will kill me! You can't leave me out there!"
"Tell your father I know what he did," Luca called after her as she was dragged into the rain. "Tell him the Moretti family is coming for him."
The heavy oak doors slammed shut, locking Vanessa out in the storm.
Luca stood in the quiet foyer for a long moment. Then, he turned back to the dining room, walking toward Margaret and me.
He looked exhausted, the weight of a ten-year-old murder finally resting heavily on his shoulders.
"Margaret," Luca said quietly. "Take Megan to her new room. Make sure she has everything she needs."
"Yes, Luca," Margaret nodded, gently taking my hand.
I looked at the powerful mafia boss. He looked so incredibly alone in this massive, empty mansion.
"Mr. Moretti," I said softly.
He looked up at me.
"Thank you," I whispered. "For saving my mother."
Luca offered a small, sad smile. "You saved mine first, Megan. We are just settling debts."
Margaret led me up the grand staircase. But as we reached the top landing, a sudden, terrifying crash shattered the silence of the house.
The front doors hadn't just been knocked on. They had been rammed open.
"Nobody move!" a rough voice shouted from below.
I peered over the balcony railing, my heart stopping.
May you like
Standing in the foyer, dripping wet from the storm, was Don Bellini. And standing behind him were twenty heavily armed men, their weapons aimed directly at Luca.
"You think you can throw my daughter out in the rain?" Bellini snarled, raising a shotgun. "The wedding is back on, boy. Or you die tonight."
