Chapter 2 - THE ONE-WAY TICKET
The silence in the wine cellar was so absolute I could hear the faint hum of the climate control system.
Luca Moretti didn’t blink. He didn’t yell. He didn’t reach for his phone again.
He just stared at me.
“A debt,” he repeated quietly.
“Yes, sir.”
“To a man.”
“Yes.”
He turned slowly toward the tagged bottles. A fortune in vintage wine, quietly priced and prepared for immediate sale, all to keep a man from making a single phone call before Saturday’s wedding.
“Did she say a name?”
“No, sir. Mr. Keller asked if it was a gambling debt. She laughed and said she wished it were that simple.”
Luca walked over to the tasting table. He traced the edge of the leather folder containing the inventory.
“Go to your room, Emma.”
I hesitated. “Mr. Moretti, if she finds out I told you—”
“She won’t.” His voice was calm, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. “Because I don’t know anything yet. And neither do you. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
I hurried up the back stairs to the staff quarters. My hands were shaking. I unlocked my small room at the end of the hall, slipped inside, and locked the door behind me.
It was cramped, containing only a single bed, a dresser, and a small closet.
But it wasn’t just mine.
I crouched beside the bed and lifted the long blanket.
“Leo?” I whispered.
A tiny face peered out from the shadows. My six-year-old nephew clutched his favorite stuffed bear. He had been hiding in this room for three weeks, ever since my sister died and our landlord locked us out. I couldn’t afford a sitter. I couldn’t afford an apartment. If Mrs. Carter found out I was hiding a child in the staff quarters, I’d be fired on the spot.
“Is it morning yet?” Leo whispered.
“No, sweetie. It’s still nighttime.”
I pulled him into my arms, hugging him tight. He smelled like the lavender soap I used to wash his clothes in the tiny sink.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.
“I drew a picture. For the nice lady.”
My chest tightened. “What nice lady, Leo?”
“The one with the red dress. I saw her in the hallway when you were working.”
My heart stopped. “Vanessa? You saw Vanessa? Did she see you?”
Leo nodded innocently. “She gave me a piece of candy. She said if I stayed real quiet, it would be our secret.”
A wave of cold dread washed over me. Vanessa knew. She knew about Leo. That’s why she had been so confident I wouldn’t tell Luca about the wine cellar. She thought she held the ultimate leverage over me.
I smoothed out the drawing. It was a crude sketch of Leo and a woman in a red dress.
I needed to pack. We had to leave tonight.
Before I could grab my duffel bag, there was a soft knock at my door.
I froze.
“Emma.”
It was Luca’s voice.
I shoved Leo gently back under the bed. “Not a sound,” I breathed.
I opened the door a fraction. Luca stood in the dim hallway. He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket anymore.
“Sir?”
“I need you to come to the master suite,” he said softly.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
I followed him up the grand staircase. The guests were gone. The house was dead quiet. We bypassed the guest wing and entered his private suite.
Vanessa wasn’t there.
“Where is she?” I asked nervously.
“Taking a bath,” Luca said, gesturing toward the closed bathroom door where water was running.
He walked over to a velvet armchair. Over the back of the chair hung Vanessa’s expensive beige trench coat.
“She went out for two hours this morning,” Luca said quietly. “She told me she was at the florist.”
He reached into the pocket of the trench coat. He pulled out a small, rectangular piece of thick paper and handed it to me.
It was a train ticket.
Printed this morning. Paid in cash.
Destined for Montreal.
Date of departure: Friday at 11:00 PM.
The night before the wedding.
May you like
“She’s not paying a debt, Emma,” Luca said softly, his dark eyes locking onto mine. “She’s paying an extraction fee. She’s running.”
Then, the bathroom door handle clicked.
