Chapter 4 – THE LOCKED COMPARTMENT

The fuse hissed, burning bright red in the darkness.

“Move!” Luca yelled.

He grabbed my mother by the waist and dragged her backward. I scrambled on my hands and knees, tearing my palms on the sharp gravel.

We threw ourselves over the low brick wall separating the garden from the patio just as the explosive detonated.

The blast shook the ground, sending chunks of stone, dirt, and hot metal raining down over us. The deafening roar left a high-pitched ringing in my ears.

“Sarah! Mom!” Luca coughed, waving away the thick cloud of gray smoke.

“I’m okay,” I choked out, helping my mother sit up. She was trembling, clutching the collar of her ruined navy dress, but she was unhurt.

Luca peeked over the brick wall, his handgun drawn.

The garden was silent. The shooter was gone, having used the explosion to cover their escape.

“They knew,” Luca growled, holstering his weapon. “Someone knew my father buried a box here. They dug it up, took the evidence, and left that trap for us.”

“But who?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Only my mother knew.”

My mother was staring at the smoking crater where the stone angel used to be.

“No,” she whispered. “There was one other person.”

We both looked at her.

“Who, Mary?” Luca asked gently.

“The night Antonio gave me the instructions… Dr. Vance was still in the house. I thought he was in the drawing room, but I heard a floorboard creak in the hallway. I think he was listening.”

“Dr. Vance,” Luca repeated, his jaw tight. “He took the evidence. He’s been blackmailing the Bellinis for twenty years using my father’s files.”

Luca pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

“Marco,” Luca said to his captain. “I need the current address for Dr. Arthur Vance. Bring him in. Alive.”

He hung up and looked at me.

“We can’t stay here. The estate is compromised. There’s a safe house downtown. You and Mary are going there.”

“I’m not leaving you to fight them alone,” I said, surprising myself with the conviction in my voice.

Luca stared at me. For a moment, I saw the ghost of Antonio Moretti in his eyes.

“You have his stubbornness,” Luca said, a faint, sad smile touching his lips. “Fine. But you do exactly what I say.”

An hour later, we were in the back of an armored SUV, speeding through the rainy streets of the city. My mother had fallen asleep against my shoulder, exhausted by the shock and the trauma of the night.

I looked at the silver pocket watch, which Luca had placed on the console between us.

“If Vance has the financial records,” I said quietly, “why did Vanessa try to send my mom to a psychiatric ward tonight? Why not just kill her?”

Luca stared out the rain-streaked window.

“Because Vanessa’s father didn’t know about you. Vanessa found out on her own. She was trying to get rid of your mother quietly so she wouldn’t trigger a war. If Roberto knew a true Moretti heir was alive, he would have ordered a hit immediately.”

“How did Vanessa find out?”

Luca reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, velvet jewelry box.

He opened it, revealing a delicate gold bracelet with a strange, intricate charm attached to it. It looked like a tiny crest.

“She left this behind when she ran,” Luca said.

I frowned. “It’s just jewelry.”

“No, it’s not,” Luca replied softly. “Look closer at the charm.”

I leaned in.

Engraved on the tiny gold shield was the initial ‘M’, surrounded by a wreath of ivy.

“That’s our family crest,” I said.

“Yes. But this bracelet wasn’t Vanessa’s. It belonged to my mother. She gave it to her favorite nurse before she died of cancer.”

I froze.

“What?”

“My mother’s favorite nurse was a young woman who worked at the hospital twenty-five years ago,” Luca said, looking directly at me. “Her name was Mary.”

I looked down at my sleeping mother.

“My mother was your mom’s nurse?”

“Yes,” Luca said. “And she was wearing this bracelet the day you started working at the mansion four years ago. I recognized it. I always knew who you were, Sarah.”

My mind reeled. “You knew? Then why let her clean floors? Why let Vanessa treat her like trash?”

“Because I had to protect you,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion. “If I elevated you, if I showed you any favor, my uncle and the Bellinis would investigate you. As long as you were just a maid, you were invisible.”

Before I could respond, Luca’s phone buzzed.

He answered it on speaker.

“Boss,” Marco’s voice cracked through the line. “We’re at Dr. Vance’s clinic. You need to get down here.”

“Did you secure him?” Luca asked.

“No, Boss,” Marco said grimly. “He’s dead. Someone got to him first.”

Luca cursed under his breath. “Did they take the files?”

“The safe is blown open,” Marco replied. “But they didn’t take everything. We found something clutched in his hand.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a child’s drawing, Boss. A crayon drawing of a house with a red door.”

My mother’s eyes suddenly shot open. She hadn’t been fully asleep.

She stared at the phone in horror.

“Mom?” I asked. “Do you know that drawing?”

“It’s yours, Sarah,” she whispered, her whole body shaking. “You drew it when you were six years old. I kept it framed on my nightstand in the servant’s quarters.”

Luca slammed the brakes, pulling the SUV to the side of the road.

“If Vance had Sarah’s drawing,” Luca said, his voice hollow, “it means the person who killed him… the person who stole the files…”

“It’s someone who lives inside our house,” I finished, a cold dread washing over me.