Chapter 4 - THE POISONED INHERITANCE
Arthur Bellini’s words hung in the air like smoke.
The two men behind him stepped into the kitchen, their hands resting ominously inside their suit jackets.
The caterers froze, terrified.
“Get out,” Arthur barked at the hired help.
The caterers didn’t wait. They fled through the back doors.
Only Maria, Luca, and I remained.
“You kidnapped Paul,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a lethal calm.
“I simply relocated him,” Arthur replied, taking a slow drag of his cigar. “He was becoming nostalgic. Digging out old chairs. Stirring up ghosts. Give me the key, Luca. We are going to be family in a few months. Let the past stay buried.”
Vanessa stepped forward, her eyes locked on Luca.
“Luca, please,” she said, trying to sound reasonable. “My father is just trying to protect the company. If the press finds out your mother had an illegitimate child with the help, the stock will plummet.”
Luca looked at Vanessa. The disgust in his eyes was absolute.
“You knew,” he said. “You knew about my brother.”
Vanessa flinched but held her ground. “I knew my father made a hard choice to secure our legacy.”
“You threw away my mother’s chair to destroy the key,” Luca continued, stepping toward her. “You fired Maria to silence her. You are exactly like him.”
He turned his gaze back to Arthur.
“Where is Paul?”
Arthur smiled, a cold, reptilian curving of his lips.
“He’s resting comfortably in the trunk of a car parked by the river. You have until midnight to hand over the key. If you don’t, the car rolls into the water.”
My stomach plummeted. It was 10:30 PM.
Answer one: Arthur’s motive wasn’t just shares. It was covering up a kidnapping.
Open two: If the key proved Arthur’s crimes, why hadn’t Elena used it years ago? What else was in that safety deposit box?
Luca didn’t blink. He held up the silver key.
“You want it?” Luca asked.
“Be smart, boy,” Arthur warned.
Luca turned and dropped the key directly into the massive, industrial garbage disposal set into the deep kitchen sink.
He slammed his hand onto the red activation button.
The machine roared to life with a horrifying, grinding scream. Sparks flew from the drain as the heavy steel blades shredded the silver key into useless metal shavings.
Arthur lunged forward, his face purple with rage.
“Are you insane?!” Arthur bellowed.
Luca turned off the disposal. The silence was deafening.
“The key is gone,” Luca said coldly. “Which means you have no reason to kill Paul. And you have no leverage left.”
Arthur stared at the sink, breathing heavily. Then, he began to laugh.
“You stupid, arrogant boy,” Arthur sneered. “You think that key was my leverage? The key was your only proof. Without the papers in that box, you can’t prove I took the child. You can’t prove anything.”
Arthur adjusted his suit jacket.
“The engagement stands. You will marry Vanessa, or I will take this company apart piece by piece, and I will destroy everyone in this room.”
He looked at Maria. “Starting with the cook.”
Arthur turned on his heel and walked out. Vanessa shot Luca one last desperate look before following her father.
When the doors swung shut, Maria collapsed into a chair, weeping.
I looked at Luca. He was staring at the sink.
“Why did you do that?” I whispered. “We needed that key.”
Luca turned to me.
He reached into his pocket.
He opened his hand.
Resting in his palm was the silver key.
My breath caught.
“Answer one,” Luca said quietly. “Never show the enemy your real weapon.”
“But the disposal—”
“I dropped one of Vanessa’s silver forks down the drain,” Luca said.
A reversal that made me dizzy with relief.
“We have the key,” Luca said, his eyes burning with a fierce light. “But we need to find Paul before midnight. And we need to get into that bank.”
“The bank doesn’t open until nine tomorrow morning,” I pointed out.
“I own the bank,” Luca replied.
He looked at Maria. “Maria, pack a bag. Emma will drive you to a hotel under a fake name. You are not safe here.”
Maria shook her head stubbornly. “I’m not leaving you, Luciano.”
“You have to,” Luca insisted.
“No.” Maria stood up, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. She looked at the red sauce pot still sitting on the counter. “Elena made me swear to protect you. I failed her first boy. I won’t fail you.”
She reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper.
“Arthur thinks he holds all the cards,” Maria said, her voice steadying. “But he doesn’t know I kept this.”
She unfolded the paper and handed it to Luca.
I leaned in to look.
It was a faded receipt from a private detective agency. Dated twenty-five years ago.
“Elena never stopped looking for him,” Maria said. “She found him, Luciano. She found your brother.”
Luca’s hands shook as he read the name on the paper.
“He’s alive?” Luca asked.
“Yes,” Maria said.
May you like
She looked directly at me.
“And you know exactly where he is, Emma.”
