Chapter 4 - THE FACE IN THE LOCKET
The smell of gunpowder filled the vault.
I was trembling so hard my teeth chattered. A man had just died in front of me. But my only thought was Lily.
Dominic stood up, holding the tarnished silver locket by its chain.
I recognized it immediately.
I had seen it in the grand portraits lining the mansion’s main staircase. It belonged to Elena Valenti. Dominic’s older sister.
“Elena,” Dominic whispered. His voice was a mixture of grief and pure, lethal rage.
“Your sister took my daughter?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Why? I don’t even know her!”
Elena Valenti had been exiled from the family five years ago after a bitter dispute over the syndicate’s leadership. She was a ghost. A name the staff was forbidden to speak.
“She didn’t do this for you, Emma,” Dominic said, his eyes dark. “She did it for the waterfront deal. The men downstairs in my dining room… they’re finalizing a contract that gives me total control over the city’s shipping ports. Elena wants the blueprints to my security networks at the docks. She used Marcus to get them. And she used your daughter to control Marcus.”
He looked at the locket in his hand.
“She sent this to Marcus to prove she was the one holding the strings.”
Dominic pressed the small clasp on the side of the locket. It sprang open.
He stared at the tiny photograph inside.
He stopped breathing.
“Dominic?” I asked, stepping closer.
He didn’t answer. His face had drained of all color. He looked like the ground had just vanished beneath his feet.
Slowly, he turned the locket so I could see.
I expected to see a picture of Elena. Or maybe Dominic’s late father.
But it wasn’t.
It was a picture of a woman with bright green eyes and a familiar, sad smile. She was standing next to a younger Dominic. They looked happy.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
I knew that face. I saw it in the mirror every single day.
“That’s… that’s my mother,” I whispered, staring at the tiny photograph.
Dominic closed the locket with a sharp snap.
“Your mother was Sarah Collins,” Dominic said. It wasn’t a question.
I stepped back, terrified. “How do you know my mother’s name? She died in a hit-and-run ten years ago.”
“It wasn’t a hit-and-run,” Dominic said quietly. “Sarah was my father’s private accountant. She was the only one who knew where the offshore accounts were buried. Ten years ago, my sister Elena tried to force her to hand over the ledgers. Your mother refused. So Elena had her killed.”
The room spun.
My mother. A quiet bookkeeper from the suburbs. Connected to the Valenti mafia. Murdered.
“And you knew?” I cried, tears of betrayal stinging my eyes. “You knew who I was this whole time?”
“No,” Dominic swore, taking a step toward me. “Emma, I swear to you, I didn’t know. I’ve been looking for Sarah’s daughter for ten years. But your mother changed your last name before she died. She hid you.”
“Then how does Elena know?”
Before Dominic could answer, the heavy steel door of the vault slammed shut on its own.
A loud, electronic beep echoed through the room. The digital keypad on the wall glowed red.
The lights above us flickered, and then went completely black.
We were locked in the vault.
May you like
And from the darkness outside the thick steel door, a woman’s voice echoed through the intercom speaker.
“Hello, little brother,” Elena said. “I see you found my gift.”
