Chapter 3 - THE LUNCHBOX
The air in the room vanished.
My eyes locked on the blue plastic.
It had a sticker of a yellow dump truck on the corner.
Leo’s lunchbox.
I had left it in the staff locker room downstairs.
Vanessa stepped into the sitting room.
She closed the door behind her with a quiet click.
“You left this in the kitchen, Caroline.”
Her voice was smooth.
Too smooth.
“It’s a cute lunchbox. ‘Leo’. That’s a strong name for a little boy.”
My hands began to shake.
I quickly slipped the faded photograph into my apron pocket before she could see it.
“Give it to me,” I whispered.
“Of course.”
She held it out.
But when I reached for it, she didn’t let go.
Her grip was like iron.
“He goes to Oak Creek Elementary, doesn’t he?”
My blood ran cold.
“How do you know that?”
Vanessa smiled.
It didn’t reach her eyes.
“I pay attention to the people in my home, Caroline. Just like you do.”
She leaned closer.
“You saw something today. You heard something.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Her voice dropped to a vicious whisper.
“If Luca calls off this wedding, my father will cut me off entirely. I will have nothing.”
She finally let go of the lunchbox.
I pulled it against my chest like a shield.
“Keep your mouth shut,” she said. “Or I might decide to pick Leo up from school tomorrow myself.”
She turned and walked out of the room.
I stood there, trembling violently.
I didn’t go to Luca.
I didn’t hand him the photograph.
I ran out the back door of the mansion and drove straight home.
The next morning, I was terrified.
I called the school.
I told them under no circumstances was anyone but me allowed to pick up Leo.
When I arrived back at the mansion for my shift, my stomach was in knots.
I walked into the grand foyer.
The house was chaotic.
Caterers were carrying in flowers for the wedding.
I went to the coat closet to hang my jacket.
I reached into my pocket to check for the photograph.
It was gone.
Panic seized me.
I checked my other pockets.
Nothing.
I had it last night. I knew I did.
“Are you missing this?”
I turned around.
Luca was standing in the doorway of his study.
Between his fingers, he held the faded photograph of Vanessa and the baby.
“You dropped it in the driveway last night,” he said.
I rushed toward him.
“Mr. Moretti, she threatened my son. I can’t do this. I quit.”
Luca didn’t blink.
He handed me the photograph.
“Look at the man standing next to her.”
I took the photo with trembling hands.
I looked closely at the man’s face.
He had a jagged scar above his left eyebrow.
He was smiling at the camera, his arm wrapped tightly around Vanessa.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“His name is Marco.”
Luca’s voice was dead calm.
“He was my younger brother.”
I stared at him in shock.
“Was?”
“He died in a car accident five years ago.”
Luca stepped closer.
“And that baby she’s holding? That’s my niece.”
My mind spun.
“But Vanessa said she never had children.”
“Exactly.”
Luca took a slow breath.
“Marco was supposed to inherit the family business. When he died, it fell to me. Vanessa came to me for protection. We grew close. We got engaged.”
He looked at the picture.
“She told me the baby died in the crash with Marco.”
“You think she lied?”
“I know she lied.”
Luca turned toward his desk and picked up a piece of paper.
He turned it around for me to see.
It was a child’s drawing.
Done in bright, messy crayons.
It showed a little girl with dark hair, standing next to a man with a scar.
“I found this tucked inside the lining of Vanessa’s suitcase this morning,” Luca said.
He turned the paper over.
There was a date written on the back in fresh blue ink.
October 12th.
Two days from now.
And one day before the wedding.
“She’s paying someone off,” Luca said softly. “And I think Daniel is helping her.”
Before I could process that, the study door swung open.
May you like
It was Daniel.
And he was holding my son, Leo, by the hand.
