Chapter 3 - The Woman In The Photograph
“Give me that, you pushy little maid,” Vanessa whispered.
Her fingers dug into my collarbone.
Her eyes were wild, stripped of the elegant polish she had worn all evening.
I shoved the locket deep into my apron pocket.
“Don’t touch me,” I said.
I stepped in front of Matteo, shielding him.
He gripped the back of my uniform, breathing heavily.
“Th-that’s my mom’s,” he stammered.
“It’s garbage,” Vanessa sneered. “Just like her.”
She lunged forward, reaching for my apron.
I stepped back, knocking into the hallway table. A heavy vase wobbled, then crashed to the floor.
The noise echoed down the corridor.
Heavy footsteps immediately pounded toward us.
“Step away from them.”
It was Luca.
His lead security guard, a massive man named Russo, was right behind him.
Vanessa instantly dropped her hands.
The victim facade snapped back into place.
“Luca, she stole my necklace! I was packing my things like you asked, and the maid took my jewelry!”
Luca looked at me.
He didn’t ask if it was true.
He didn’t demand I empty my pockets.
He just looked at my face, reading the sheer terror in my eyes.
“What did you find, Claire?” he asked quietly.
I reached into my pocket with shaking hands.
I pulled out the silver locket.
“I found it in the trash, Mr. Moretti. Under the flower she threw away.”
Vanessa’s face went chalk white.
“Don’t open it, Luca,” she said, her voice suddenly trembling. “Please. It’s private.”
Luca walked over and took the locket from my hand.
He recognized the engraving immediately.
V. B. M.
“This belonged to Victoria,” he whispered.
His late wife.
“She gave it to me!” Vanessa cried out. “We were friends, Luca! I didn’t tell you because I knew it would hurt you.”
Luca pressed the latch.
The locket sprang open.
He stared at the photograph.
Vanessa and the mechanic.
He pulled the small picture out and flipped it over.
He read the word: Done.
The temperature in the hallway seemed to drop ten degrees.
Luca didn’t yell.
He didn’t throw anything.
He simply looked at Vanessa with a coldness that made my blood run icy.
“You knew Gregori,” Luca said.
Gregori was the mechanic.
The man who had sworn under oath that the brake line on Victoria’s car had simply rusted through.
“He’s my cousin,” Vanessa sobbed, backing against the wall. “Luca, I swear, I didn’t know what he did! He gave me the locket after she died to keep me quiet. I’ve lived in fear for six years!”
It was a brilliant lie.
But it answered one question, only to open a massive, gaping hole in another.
If Vanessa was terrified of her cousin, why was she marrying Luca?
Luca stared at the photo.
Then he looked at Russo.
“Lock the estate gates. No one leaves. Bring Gregori here.”
Russo nodded and pulled out his phone.
But he didn’t dial.
Instead, Russo looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
May you like
In one fluid motion, Russo dropped his phone, pulled a suppressed pistol from his jacket, and pointed it directly at Luca’s chest.
“Sorry, boss,” Russo said. “But Gregori isn’t coming.”
