Chapter 1 – THE SILVER POCKET WATCH

The silence in the dining room was absolute.

Luca Moretti’s question hung in the air, heavy and dangerous. He wasn’t looking at his fiancée with the adoration of a man about to be married. He was looking at her like a stranger.

Vanessa’s face flushed beneath her expensive makeup.

“Luca,” she forced a laugh, adjusting the diamond on her finger. “You’re overreacting. I was simply maintaining the standard of your household. You know how employees can get if you blur the lines.”

Luca didn’t blink. “She is a grandmother. And this is a child.”

“He is a complication,” Vanessa shot back, her tone sharpening. “And since we are being honest in front of our guests, perhaps Linda should explain why she’s so desperate for this job in the first place.”

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Vanessa reached into her designer clutch and pulled out a small, velvet pouch. She tossed it onto the banquet table. It landed next to the crystal wine glasses with a heavy thud.

“Go ahead, Linda,” Vanessa said, her voice dripping with venom. “Tell Luca what I found in your locker in the staff room this morning.”

Marco, the restaurant manager, frowned and reached for the pouch. He opened it and tipped the contents into his palm.

A collective gasp rippled through the older guests at the table.

It was a silver pocket watch. Intricately engraved with the Moretti family crest.

Luca’s breath hitched. “That’s my father’s watch. My mother kept it in her private safe.”

Vanessa crossed her arms. “Exactly. And I found it wrapped in a dirty apron in your housemaid’s locker. She didn’t want the afternoon off to go to a court hearing, Luca. She wanted the afternoon off to pawn a family heirloom to pay off her dead husband’s gambling debts.”

Emily grabbed my arm, her eyes wide with panic. “Mom? What is she talking about?”

Ben clutched his family tree to his chest, looking back and forth between me and the silver watch.

Luca stepped closer to me. The anger in his eyes was gone, replaced by a profound, heartbreaking disappointment.

“Linda,” he said quietly. “Is this true? Did you take it?”

I looked at the watch. The silver was tarnished, but I remembered the weight of it in my hands. I remembered the night it was given to me.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered. “It was in my locker.”

Vanessa smiled triumphantly. “You see? She’s a thief. I was trying to protect you, Luca. I fired her quietly this afternoon, but she refused to leave.”

“I didn’t steal it,” I said, my voice shaking but rising in volume. I looked directly into Luca’s eyes. “I didn’t steal it, Mr. Moretti.”

“Then how did you get it?” Vanessa demanded.

I took a deep breath, feeling the plastic beads of Ben’s bracelet press against my wrist. I needed courage. I found it in my grandson’s frightened eyes.

“Your mother gave it to me, Luca,” I said softly.

Luca froze. “My mother died two years ago.”

“I know,” I replied. “She gave it to me the night before she passed.”

Vanessa let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “A convenient lie from a desperate woman. Why would Isabella Moretti give her most prized possession to the maid?”

I turned to Vanessa, my fear entirely replaced by a sudden, protective anger.

“Because she asked me to hide it from you, Vanessa.”