Chapter 8 - THE GUARD WHO SOLD HIS LOYALTY|
I had never seen Luca move so quickly.
The moment he read Vanessa's message, he turned toward the church entrance.
"She's with my mother."
Detective Ruiz stepped in front of him.
"We're going to handle this carefully."
"Carefully?"
"My mother is seventy-nine years old."
"Then don't make a decision that puts her at greater risk."
Luca stopped.
His breathing was heavy.
I could almost see the two men fighting inside him.
The son who wanted to run straight home.
And the man his father had begged him to become.
I touched his arm.
"Rosa isn't alone."
He looked at me.
"Nico is with her."
Luca immediately called his security chief.
The first attempt went unanswered.
So did the second.
On the third attempt, Nico picked up.
"Boss, Rosa's safe."
Luca shut his eyes.
"Where is she?"
"In the locked family sitting room with one of Detective Ruiz's officers."
"Vanessa isn't here."
"Are you certain?"
"We searched the occupied rooms and checked the exits."
"She left during the blackout."
Ruiz asked Nico to put Rosa on the phone.
A few seconds later, her familiar voice came through.
"Luca?"
"Mama."
"Oh, thank God."
He gripped the phone.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Claire?"
"I'm here, Mrs. Moretti."
"Oh, sweetheart."
"I knew you'd keep him from doing something foolish."
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
Luca glanced at me.
Rosa continued.
"Your father would have been proud of you both."
Luca looked toward the letter in his hand.
"I found it, Mama."
There was a long silence.
Then Rosa whispered, "You read it?"
"Yes."
"All of it?"
"All of it."
I heard her begin crying.
"I wanted you to know what he truly believed."
Luca's own eyes filled.
"I do now."
The connection ended after Nico confirmed that additional officers had arrived.
Ruiz arranged for the documents from St. Agnes to be secured as evidence.
We returned to the mansion shortly before dawn.
The grand staircase looked different under the cold morning light.
Less magnificent.
More like a place where terrible things had been hidden beneath expensive decorations.
Rosa was waiting in the sitting room.
She stood when Luca entered.
He crossed the room and embraced her.
Neither spoke for a long time.
Then Rosa held him at arm's length.
"You look like your father."
Luca smiled sadly.
"I hope not too much."
She touched his cheek.
"More like the man he was becoming."
Nico appeared in the doorway.
"There's news about Evan Mercer."
Ruiz moved toward him.
"What did he say?"
"The officers found financial records on his phone."
"Someone paid him to reactivate the old security code and disable the cameras."
"Who?"
Nico looked at Luca.
"The payments came through a consulting account connected to Victor Sloane."
Rosa closed her eyes.
"And Vanessa?"
"There are messages between them."
Ruiz asked that the original phone and records be preserved for forensic examination.
Nico continued.
"Evan says Vanessa told him you were losing control of the estate."
Luca gave a bitter laugh.
"That's what she called it?"
"She said you were becoming unstable."
"That your mother was manipulating you."
"And that removing certain documents would protect the family."
I shook my head.
Vanessa had tried to make two injured women look unreliable.
Now she had tried to make Luca look dangerous.
It was the same pattern.
Discredit the person who might tell the truth.
Then control what everyone else believed.
Ruiz turned toward Rosa.
"Mrs. Moretti, did Vanessa ever ask you to sign anything?"
Rosa frowned.
"She brought me papers last week."
"What kind?"
"She said they concerned my medical care."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"Did you sign them?"
"No."
Rosa's expression became troubled.
"Claire told me to let our family attorney review anything important."
I remembered that afternoon.
Vanessa had arrived with a beautiful leather folder and a smile that seemed almost sincere.
She told Rosa the documents would help arrange better care if her health deteriorated.
Something about her insistence frightened me.
So I had quietly suggested waiting.
Vanessa hadn't spoken to me for the rest of the day.
Now I understood why.
Ruiz asked to see the papers if they could be located.
Rosa pointed toward a drawer.
"They're there."
I retrieved the folder.
Inside were medical authorization forms.
But there was another document beneath them.
A proposed agreement granting Vanessa decision-making authority over Rosa's finances and living arrangements.
Luca read it.
His face hardened.
"She wanted control over my mother's home."
Ruiz examined the dates and signatures.
"She may have been assembling authority over multiple parts of the estate."
Nico placed another folder on the table.
"We also checked the notarization attached to the trust amendment."
"The notary named on the document died six months ago."
Ruiz looked sharply at him.
"We'll verify that directly."
"But if it's accurate, these documents were almost certainly falsified."
Luca closed his eyes.
Eleven days of marriage.
That was all it had taken for Vanessa to attempt to dismantle his mother's independence, rewrite his inheritance, and help a man connected to his father's murder enter the house.
I looked at Rosa.
Her hands were trembling again.
But she wasn't hiding them.
She looked directly at Luca.
"I told you she frightened me."
"I know, Mama."
"At first, I thought it was because I was getting old."
Luca knelt beside her.
"No."
"You were seeing something I refused to see."
She touched his hair.
"I didn't want to turn you against your wife."
"You didn't."
He looked at the bruises on her wrist.
"She made her own choices."
My phone suddenly vibrated.
I glanced at the screen.
An unknown number had sent a message.
It contained a photograph of the small apartment building where I lived.
I recognized the front steps.
The cracked blue door.
The flowerpot my elderly neighbor kept beside the entrance.
Below the photograph were six words.
"Servants should know when to disappear."
My hands went numb.
Luca noticed immediately.
"Claire?"
I showed him the screen.
His expression turned cold.
Ruiz took one look and asked me not to delete anything.
"Claire, this is a direct threat."
I stared at the photograph.
For three years, I had believed the worst thing that could happen to me was losing my job.
Now someone knew where I slept.
Where I bought groceries.
Where I walked home alone after dark.
Luca stepped closer.
"You won't be going back there until it's safe."
I looked up at him.
For a moment, the old instinct to obey almost returned.
But then I remembered Antonio's letter.
"Let me decide what happens to me," I said quietly.
Luca stopped.
Then he nodded.
"You're right."
Ruiz offered to arrange a protected place to stay.
I accepted.
Not because Luca ordered me to.
Because I wanted to live.
And I wanted to see this through.
Then Ruiz's phone rang.
She listened for several seconds.
Her expression changed.
When she ended the call, she turned toward Luca.
"Victor Sloane has contacted a newspaper."
"He's claiming you personally authorized transfers from the workers' relief fund."
Luca stared at her.
Ruiz continued.
"He says he has documents proving you knew about the money."
Rosa whispered, "That's a lie."
Luca said nothing.
I looked at his face.
May you like
And suddenly I realized something far more frightening than Victor's threat.
Luca wasn't certain his mother was right.
