Chapter 7 - THE BRACELET IN THE CABIN
“Leo! Mia!” Sofia screamed, dropping to her knees on the wooden pier as Luca carried the children off the boat.
The kids broke away from their uncle and ran into their mother’s arms. Sofia buried her face in their hair, sobbing uncontrollably.
I stepped out of the SUV, wrapping my arms around myself to ward off the freezing wind. Seeing them safe brought tears to my eyes.
Luca stood over them, his chest heaving, his gun lowered. He looked at me, giving a silent nod of gratitude.
But as the police sirens began wailing in the distance, Luca turned his attention back to the yacht.
“Get them in the car,” Luca told his guards. “Keep Vanessa restrained.”
He walked back onto the boat.
I didn’t know why, but my feet moved on their own. I followed him up the ramp.
“Emily, stay back,” Luca warned, stepping into the yacht’s luxurious cabin.
“I just want to make sure no one else is here,” I said softly.
The cabin was a mess of half-packed duffel bags and discarded food wrappers. Luca was searching the main console.
Then I saw it.
Resting on a velvet chair in the corner of the cabin.
A delicate, diamond-encrusted bracelet.
It wasn’t Vanessa’s. I had seen Vanessa’s jewelry collection a hundred times while cleaning her room. This was older. Classic.
I picked it up. “Mr. Moretti?”
Luca turned. When he saw the bracelet, his face went completely pale. The tough, unbreakable mafia boss suddenly looked like he had seen a ghost.
He snatched the bracelet from my hand, inspecting the clasp.
“Where did you find this?” he demanded, his voice thick with an emotion I couldn't identify.
“Right there,” I pointed to the chair. “Is it yours?”
Luca stared at the diamonds. “It belonged to my mother.”
I frowned. “Your mother passed away ten years ago.”
“I know,” Luca whispered. “And this bracelet was buried with her.”
A chill that had nothing to do with the wind swept through me.
Someone had opened a grave. Someone had taken it. And they had left it here, on the boat where his niece and nephew were supposed to be taken away.
It was a message.
Luca’s phone rang. He pulled it out. The caller ID was blocked.
He answered, putting it on speaker.
“Did you like the gift, Luca?” a raspy, distorted voice asked.
Luca’s knuckles turned white. “Who are you?”
“Vanessa was just a pawn,” the voice chuckled. “She thought she was getting her father’s territory back. She didn’t realize she was just helping me get your attention.”
“You dug up my mother,” Luca snarled.
“I’m just getting started. You have the children. But you don’t have the necklace, do you?”
I froze. The $80,000 diamond necklace from the dinner party. In all the chaos, we had completely forgotten about it.
“Daniel still has it,” Luca said confidently. “He’s unconscious in my dining room.”
The man on the phone laughed. “Check Daniel’s pockets when you get home, boss. He handed it to one of my men at the party before you even noticed it was gone.”
“Keep it,” Luca said. “It’s just diamonds.”
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“It’s not just diamonds,” the voice whispered. “And if you want to know what’s hidden inside the pendant, you’ll bring Vanessa to the old steel mill on 5th Street alone. Come in one hour, or the police get the evidence of who really killed Vanessa’s father.”
The line went dead.
