Chapter 5 - THE LIES WE TELL IN RED SILK
The dining room erupted into shocked whispers. The mayor’s wife clutched her pearls. A prominent judge shook his head in disgust at the betrayal of the "help."
Vanessa stood in the center of it all, playing the traumatized victim flawlessly. She clutched the wooden rosary to her chest as if she had just saved a holy relic from a feral thief.
Answer one: Vanessa didn't know Luca’s mother’s rosary was made of diamonds. She had grabbed Eleanor's wooden rosary from the cooler to use as a prop, assuming it looked old enough to be a family heirloom.
Open two: If Vanessa was bold enough to stage a robbery in front of Chicago's elite to cover up Natalie's disappearance, what was her endgame? She had to know Luca would eventually check the safe.
"She shoved you?" Luca asked, his voice echoing loudly over the jazz music.
"Violently," Vanessa whimpered, leaning into his chest. "I think she sprained my wrist, Luca. The poor girl must be desperate for money, but to attack me in our home..."
Luca gently took Vanessa by the shoulders and pushed her back, just enough to look her directly in the eyes.
"That's terrible, darling," Luca said smoothly. He reached into his tuxedo pocket. "Because it's quite a miracle you wrestled my mother’s heirloom away from her."
"I fought bravely for it," Vanessa said, offering a fragile smile.
"I can see that," Luca replied. He pulled his hand from his pocket and held it up to the chandelier light.
Dangling from his fingers was a breathtaking, diamond-encrusted rosary. It threw shattered rainbows across the expensive wallpaper.
"Especially since my mother's rosary has been in my pocket all evening."
The dining room went dead silent. The piano player stopped mid-chord.
Vanessa’s fragile smile froze on her face. Her eyes darted from the diamonds in Luca's hand to the cheap wooden beads in her own. The color drained from her perfectly contoured cheeks.
"I... I must have been mistaken in the panic," Vanessa stammered, taking a step back. "It was dark, she had so many things in her bag—"
"She only had a canvas duffel," Luca interrupted, his voice losing every ounce of its warmth. "And the rosary you're holding belongs to an elderly florist named Eleanor Vance. A woman you locked inside a broken refrigerator three hours ago."
The mayor’s wife let out a strangled gasp.
Vanessa’s chest heaved. The victim act vanished in a fraction of a second. Her posture straightened, the vulnerability evaporating into something hard and venomous.
Reversal: Vanessa didn't break down and beg for forgiveness. She didn't try to run. Instead, a cold, arrogant smirk spread across her face.
"Well," Vanessa said, tossing the wooden rosary onto the nearest silver platter with a clatter. "I suppose the engagement is off, then."
Luca stared at her. "You have no idea what's off, Vanessa. Everyone out."
He didn't yell, but the command struck the room like a whip. The twenty-four guests didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled for the exits, abandoning their coats and half-empty champagne flutes, desperate to avoid the wrath of a Moretti.
Within sixty seconds, the dining room was empty. Only Luca and Vanessa remained.
"You're a sociopath," Luca said quietly.
"I'm a survivor," Vanessa snapped, crossing her arms over her red silk gown. "And you're a fool, Luca. You think you've caught me? You think rescuing some pathetic maid and a bratty kid changes anything?"
Luca’s blood boiled at the mention of Leo, but he kept his face stone. "I know about David."
For a split second, Vanessa’s eye twitched. But she recovered instantly.
"David was a weak, pathetic man who couldn't give me the life I deserved," she sneered. "I took what was mine and left him in the gutter where he belonged."
"And my brother, Marco?" Luca asked softly. "Did he belong in the gutter, too? Because the boy you abandoned had his leather bracelet."
Vanessa laughed. A sharp, cruel sound. "Your brother was an idiot who asked too many questions. He saw me leaving David’s apartment with the cash. He tried to play hero. So I ran him over."
Luca’s hands balled into fists. It took every ounce of his discipline not to end her life right there over the dinner table.
"You're going to confess to the police," Luca said. "And then I'm going to make sure you spend the rest of your life in a cage."
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Cliffhanger: Vanessa reached into her gown and pulled out a folded piece of paper. It wasn't a weapon. It was a printed flight itinerary.
"I'm not going anywhere near a cage, darling," Vanessa smiled wickedly. "Because while you were playing knight in shining armor in the greenhouse, I used your laptop in the study. I authorized the transfer of sixty million dollars from the Moretti syndicate accounts to a shell company in the Caymans. And if I don't enter a passcode on my phone in the next ten minutes... the federal government gets an anonymous email with the exact location of your shipping ledgers."
