Chapter 7 - THE NECKLACE
"My adoptive father told me the key was lost twenty years ago," Luca said, taking the heavy silver necklace from my palm. His fingers brushed mine, warm and calloused.
"My mother wore it every day," I said. "She made me swear never to take it to a jeweler or show it to anyone."
Daniel leaned over the table. "Boss, if this opens the main vault, the Bellini family secrets aren't the only thing in there. The official succession document is in there. The one naming you the sole Boss."
Luca nodded slowly. "Vanessa called the Commission meeting for tonight at the Grand Continental Hotel. She’s going to present her forged marriage license and claim my estate. If we can get into the vault and retrieve the real succession document before the meeting, we destroy her entirely."
"The bank is heavily guarded," Daniel warned. "And Vanessa has Bellini men watching every Moretti asset just in case."
"They're looking for me," Luca said, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips. "And I'm dead."
At 3:00 PM, a sleek black town car pulled up to the rear entrance of the First Chicago Bank.
I stepped out. I was wearing a sharp, tailored black suit Luca had procured for me, a wide-brimmed hat, and dark sunglasses. My left arm was still bound, but the adrenaline masked the pain.
Luca was dressed in a chauffeur's uniform, his face obscured by a pulled-down cap and a thick, fake beard Daniel had sourced. It was enough to pass a casual glance.
We walked into the lavish marble lobby. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.
I approached the head teller.
"I am the executor for the Elena Morgan estate," I said, my voice steady, handing over my mother's death certificate and my own ID. "I am here to access Box 814."
The teller checked the documents. She looked at the silver key necklace I had placed on the counter.
"Of course, Ms. Morgan. Right this way."
We followed her down into the subterranean vault. The air grew cold and heavy.
She unlocked the master grid, allowing me to insert the silver key into the secondary lock. With a heavy click, the long metal box slid out.
The teller left us alone in the private viewing room.
Luca opened the lid.
Inside were stacks of pristine bearer bonds, gold bullion, and a thick velvet pouch.
But Luca ignored all of it. He reached for a sealed manila envelope at the very bottom.
He broke the wax seal.
He pulled out the succession document, signed in blood by his biological father, naming him the undisputed heir.
"We have it," Luca breathed.
But as he pulled the document out, another photograph fluttered to the table.
I picked it up.
It was a picture of my mother, Elena. But she wasn't wearing a nurse's uniform.
She was wearing a stunning, diamond-encrusted evening gown, standing arm-in-arm with Luca's biological father, smiling radiantly at a gala.
"Luca," I whispered, the room spinning. "My mother wasn't just a nurse. Who was she?"
Luca stared at the photo, his face draining of color.
Before he could answer, the door to the viewing room clicked.
And locked from the outside.
"Did you really think a fake beard would fool my men, Luca?"
The voice came through the intercom speaker on the wall.
May you like
It was Vanessa.
"I have your security chief, Daniel. And more importantly," she purred, "I have a little boy named Toby sitting in the back of my car."
