Chapter 10 - THE NECKLACE
Two months later.
The Moretti estate was bathed in warm autumn sunlight.
The oppressive, cold atmosphere that had defined the house during Vanessa’s reign was entirely gone. The staff walked with lighter steps. There was laughter echoing in the halls.
Little Leo was running across the back lawn, chasing a golden retriever puppy Luca had bought him.
My mother was sitting on the terrace, wrapped in a cashmere blanket, sipping tea. The real medication, prescribed by competent doctors, had worked miracles. She was walking with a cane now, her mind sharp and her spirit returning.
And me?
I wasn’t wearing a maid’s uniform.
I was wearing a soft cream sweater and jeans, standing in the library, looking at the massive oil painting of Luca’s grandfather.
I belonged here, but the transition hadn’t been easy.
I had moved into the guest wing. Luca treated me like a queen, but the lines of our relationship were still blurred. He was a billionaire syndicate boss transitioning to legitimate business. I was the girl who used to scrub his floors.
Insecurity is a hard habit to break.
The heavy library doors clicked open.
Luca walked in. He was wearing a tailored suit, having just returned from a meeting with the Commission to finalize the Bellini family’s exile.
He looked exhausted, but the moment he saw me, the tension melted from his shoulders.
“You’re hiding,” he noted, walking up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.
“I’m admiring the art,” I deflected, leaning back into his solid warmth.
He kissed the side of my neck, right below the faded scar behind my left ear. My hearing had returned completely, but the scar remained as a reminder.
“I have something for you,” Luca murmured.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long, velvet box.
He popped it open.
Resting on the black silk was a breathtaking, vintage diamond necklace. It caught the library light, throwing fractured rainbows across the walls.
“Luca,” I gasped. “That’s beautiful. But it’s too much. I can’t accept this.”
“It’s not a gift you can refuse, Emma,” he said softly, lifting the necklace from the box. “It was my grandmother’s. It goes to the matriarch of the Moretti family. It belongs to the woman who holds this family together.”
He clasped it around my neck. The diamonds felt heavy and cold against my collarbone.
I turned around to face him. “I’m not a matriarch, Luca. A few months ago, I was pouring your coffee.”
“A few months ago, you were the only real person in this house,” he corrected, his hands resting on my hips. “I love you, Emma. I want you by my side. Permanently.”
My heart soared, but before I could answer, the library doors flew open.
“Emma!”
It was my younger sister, Chloe. She had driven up from the city. But she didn’t look happy to see me. She looked furious.
And trailing behind her, looking smug and entitled, was my estranged uncle, Arthur.
May you like
The man who had abandoned my mother when she first got sick.
“Well,” Uncle Arthur sneered, looking around the opulent library. “Look who finally hit the jackpot.”
