Chapter 2 - THE SEVEN SIGNATURES THAT WERE NEVER MINE|
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Rain hammered against the iron gates while Luca Moretti stared at his phone, his accountant's final words hanging between us like a death sentence.
Someone had stolen $2.4 million using my name.
And the transfer had come from his wife's computer.
Vanessa stood beneath the mansion's golden entrance, her beautiful face suddenly stripped of its arrogance.
"Darling, whatever Daniel thinks he found, there's obviously been a mistake," she called.
Luca didn't answer her.
Instead, he removed his expensive black jacket and draped it over my mother's trembling shoulders.
"Gabriel!" he shouted toward the security booth.
"Open the gates and call an ambulance."
My mother tried to straighten herself in the wheelchair.
"Please, sir, don't make trouble because of us."
Something changed in Luca's expression when he heard those words.
He knelt in the rain until his eyes were level with hers.
"Mrs. Bennett, you haven't caused any trouble."
Then he looked at Vanessa.
"Someone else has."
I had seen Luca Moretti angry before.
I'd watched powerful businessmen turn pale when he raised his voice.
I'd seen armed men leave his office shaking after private meetings.
But I'd never seen him speak so quietly while looking so furious.
Vanessa descended one marble step.
"Luca, you're embarrassing me in front of the staff."
He slowly turned toward her.
"Your embarrassment is not my concern right now."
"That woman brought her sick mother here without permission."
"That woman has worked in my home for five years."
His voice sharpened.
"And apparently, someone has been stealing her wages while I signed the payroll approvals."
Vanessa laughed nervously.
"She's manipulating you."
Luca held up his phone.
"Then explain why seven deposits were redirected to an account connected to your office."
Her smile disappeared.
"I handle household expenses."
"Household expenses don't include stealing from employees."
Gabriel Torres, Luca's longtime security chief, arrived with two guards carrying umbrellas.
They helped move my mother toward the mansion while I gathered the torn prescriptions from the wet pavement.
My fingers shook so badly that I kept dropping the pieces.
Luca noticed.
He took the papers from my hands and carefully placed them inside his coat pocket.
"Claire, those won't help your mother if you collapse beside her."
"I'm sorry, sir."
"Stop apologizing."
I looked up, startled by the force in his voice.
He softened immediately.
"Please, Claire."
"You haven't done anything wrong."
Inside, the mansion felt impossibly warm.
The same marble floors Vanessa had claimed my mother would die on now reflected the flickering flames of the enormous fireplace.
Gabriel brought clean blankets while a housekeeper named Rosa rushed forward with towels.
Vanessa remained near the staircase, watching with undisguised resentment.
"You're turning this into a spectacle," she muttered.
Luca ignored her and spoke into his phone.
"Daniel, I want copies of every payment, every authorization, and every document bearing Claire Bennett's signature."
He listened for a moment.
Then his expression hardened.
"What do you mean the signatures were uploaded together?"
My heart began pounding.
Daniel's voice crackled through the speaker.
"All seven payroll acknowledgment forms were uploaded within twelve minutes last Tuesday."
I stared at the phone.
"But I haven't signed anything, sir."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"That's exactly the problem."
The paramedics arrived minutes later.
One of them checked my mother's blood pressure while the other listened to her breathing.
I watched their faces change.
"Her oxygen level is too low," the older paramedic said.
"We need to transport her immediately."
My mother reached for me.
"Claire, don't let them separate us."
"I won't, Mom."
Luca stepped toward the paramedic.
"She's going to the best hospital available."
I shook my head desperately.
"Sir, please, I can't afford another admission."
He looked at me as though I'd said something incomprehensible.
"You've been working for me for five years, and you're afraid to take your mother to a hospital because I haven't paid you?"
Tears filled my eyes.
"I've been trying to explain for weeks."
He looked away.
For the first time since I'd known him, Luca Moretti seemed ashamed.
As they wheeled my mother toward the ambulance, Vanessa grabbed his arm.
"You're not seriously going to follow them."
He removed her hand.
"My wife is suspected of financial fraud, an employee's mother is critically ill, and someone just stole millions from my accounts."
His eyes met hers.
"What exactly do you think I should be doing?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"You should be trusting me."
Luca answered without hesitation.
"Then give Gabriel your phone and laptop."
She recoiled.
"Absolutely not!"
"Neither device leaves this house until my attorney and the investigators have addressed the evidence."
"You can't treat your own wife like a criminal!"
"Then stop giving me reasons to suspect you."
I climbed into the ambulance beside my mother.
Luca followed in his own vehicle, while Gabriel remained behind to secure the mansion's records.
As the doors closed, my mother squeezed my hand with surprising strength.
"Claire," she whispered, "there's something else."
I leaned closer.
"What is it, Mom?"
"The woman who made me sign those hospital papers gave me a warning."
My stomach tightened.
"What warning?"
She began crying again.
"She said if I told you what she'd done, she'd make sure you went to prison."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
May you like
My mother looked at me with terrified eyes.
"And sweetheart, she told me your boss would be the one to put you there."
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