Chapter 5 - THE FAMILY HEIRLOOM
The handwriting on the second page was rushed, terrified.
“Sarah Reed took the money. She promised to hide the boy. If the Bellinis find out he lived, they will kill him.”
I stared at the words.
My mother? Stole money? Hid a boy?
“My mother was a good person,” I rasped, stepping back. “She was a housekeeper here twenty years ago. She wouldn’t steal.”
Vanessa laughed. “Your mother was a rat. She took a hundred thousand dollars from the Moretti estate and vanished into the night.”
Luca gently took the ledger from my shaking hands. He read the page.
His eyes widened.
He didn’t look angry. He looked entirely shattered.
“She didn’t steal it,” Luca whispered. “My mother gave it to her.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Don’t be an idiot, Luca. Why would your mother give a maid a fortune?”
“Because she was paying her to run.” Luca looked at me, his eyes searching my face. “Emily, did your mother ever talk about a brother? Did she ever mention taking in a child?”
I shook my head, my mind spinning. “No. It’s just been me and her. I don’t have a brother.”
Then I froze.
I remembered something. A heavy, silver bracelet. A family heirloom my mother kept locked in a wooden box beneath her bed. She told me never to touch it. She said it belonged to a ghost.
“The hospital bracelet,” I whispered, my voice scratching painfully.
“What?” Luca asked.
“My mother kept a silver medical bracelet. It has a name engraved on it. Not mine.”
Before I could say the name, the sound of police sirens echoed up the driveway.
Vanessa panicked. She lunged forward, trying to snatch the ledger from Luca’s hands.
“Give it to me! That belongs to my family!” she screamed.
Luca caught her wrist without flinching.
“Daniel,” Luca called out.
The head of security stepped into the hallway, his face unreadable.
“Escort Miss Bellini to the police,” Luca ordered. “Show them the security footage of her assaulting Emily in the music room.”
Daniel grabbed Vanessa’s arm. She kicked and screamed, hurling insults as she was dragged away down the marble corridor.
The threat was gone. But the mystery had just blown wide open.
May you like
Luca looked at me.
“Emily. We need to go to your apartment. Right now.”
