Chapter 5 - THE GUEST WHO SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE|
Luca stared at the funeral photograph as though he were looking at a ghost.
"Vanessa told me we met at a charity gala last year."
Olivia nodded.
"I remember."
"She said she'd never known anyone in our family before that night."
Olivia pointed at the photograph.
"Then explain why she was standing twenty feet from our mother's grave."
I leaned closer.
The woman's face was partly hidden, but her posture looked familiar.
Her long dark hair was pinned beneath a black hat.
Around her wrist was the same distinctive bracelet Vanessa wore at dinner the previous evening.
A single ruby hung from its center.
I remembered polishing that bracelet after Vanessa complained that the clasp had scratched her dressing table.
It had an inscription on the back.
V.B. — ALWAYS.
Luca looked at me.
"Claire, are you certain?"
"About the bracelet?"
"Yes."
"I've cleaned it myself, sir."
Olivia exhaled sharply.
"Then this wasn't an accident."
Luca folded the photograph.
"Tell me everything you know about Silas Voss."
His sister's face hardened.
"Mom hired him to manage the North Harbor Youth Trust."
"That was before she died."
"Exactly."
Olivia pulled out a chair.
"The trust was supposed to fund tutoring, counseling, and emergency housing for children whose families couldn't afford those services."
Luca nodded.
"I know what the foundation did."
"Do you know what happened to its money?"
He said nothing.
Olivia continued.
"Mom discovered invoices from residential facilities that couldn't account for the children they supposedly served."
Luca frowned.
"She told me there were accounting problems."
"No, Luca."
Olivia's voice sharpened.
"She told you someone was stealing from vulnerable families."
He looked away.
"She wanted an independent investigation."
"And you told her she was embarrassing the family."
The words struck him hard.
I stepped toward the doorway, but Olivia stopped me.
"Please stay, Claire."
I hesitated.
"Are you sure?"
"You're the person Benjamin trusted when the rest of us weren't listening."
Luca gave a small, defeated nod.
Olivia opened another folder.
"Three days before Mom's accident, she told me she'd obtained proof that Voss had forged signatures on contracts."
"What contracts?"
"Placements, payments, guardianship authorizations."
I felt sick.
"Like Benjamin's letter?"
Olivia nodded.
"Exactly like Benjamin's letter."
Luca stood and walked toward the window.
Outside, the Chicago skyline shone beneath the gray morning sky.
For years, people across the city had feared the Moretti name.
Yet the most dangerous person in Luca's life had apparently been sitting at his dinner table.
"Why didn't you tell me about Voss?" Luca asked.
Olivia's eyes filled with tears.
"I tried."
He turned.
"You told me you thought Mom was murdered."
"Because I did."
"You never showed me proof."
"Because you refused to look."
The silence that followed was terrible.
Finally, Luca whispered, "I should have listened."
Olivia wiped her cheeks.
"Yes."
There was no cruelty in her answer.
Only three years of grief.
At that moment, Mateo entered.
"Boss, your attorney is on the phone."
Luca took the call.
"Go ahead, Maya."
Maya Chen had represented the Moretti family's legitimate businesses for years.
She was also one of the few people willing to challenge Luca directly.
Her voice was loud enough for me to hear.
"I checked the residential placement letter."
"And?"
"There's no valid court authorization, and the notary information is false."
Luca closed his eyes.
"Keep going."
"The company listed as Hawthorne Residential Services is connected to a property in Wisconsin."
"Is it licensed?"
"Not as a residential care facility."
Olivia leaned forward.
"What kind of property is it?"
"A privately leased former lodge."
I gripped the back of a chair.
"They were going to take Benjamin to an empty lodge?"
"That's where the transport paperwork directed them," Maya answered.
Luca's voice dropped.
"And after that?"
"We don't know."
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Maya continued.
"I've contacted the appropriate authorities and arranged for an independent document examiner."
Luca stared at the forged letter.
"Find everyone involved."
"We're already working on it."
After the call, I noticed something sticking out from Olivia's folder.
It was another photograph.
In this one, Rosa Moretti stood beside a young woman at a charity event.
The young woman wore a dark blue dress.
Her face was turned toward the camera.
I pointed.
"Who is that?"
Olivia examined it.
"An administrative assistant who worked for the trust."
My heart began beating faster.
"Do you know her name?"
Olivia checked the label on the back.
"Victoria Bell."
I stared at the smiling woman.
Her hair was lighter.
Her nose looked slightly different.
But her eyes were unmistakable.
"That's Vanessa."
Luca snatched the photograph.
For the first time that morning, he looked truly stunned.
"She told me she had never worked for North Harbor."
Olivia's expression changed.
"Victoria Bell disappeared from the foundation's records immediately after Mom died."
Luca stared at his wife's younger face.
Then he whispered, "I married the woman who helped Voss get close to my mother."
And from the doorway, a soft voice answered.
"You have no idea what your mother was hiding, Luca."
May you like
Vanessa stood there.
She was wearing her ruby bracelet.
