Chapter 2 – THE BRACELET IN THE SHADOWS

Luca’s eyes dropped to Vanessa’s wrist.

The silver charms clinked softly against each other as Vanessa instinctively tried to pull her arm behind her back. But she was too slow.

Luca closed the distance between them in two massive strides. He grabbed her wrist. He wasn’t gentle.

“Luca, you’re hurting me!” she gasped.

He lifted her arm into the light.

I recognized that bracelet immediately. Eleanor used to wear it every Friday when she came to bake with Emma. I remembered Emma sitting on the kitchen stool, touching each little silver charm. There was a tiny silver bird, a small book, and an emerald birthstone. Emma’s birthstone.

“Eleanor,” Luca said, his voice dangerously low. “Is this yours?”

Eleanor stepped forward, her hands shaking so badly she had to grip the back of a chair. She stared at the bracelet, her eyes welling with fresh tears.

“My husband gave that to me on our tenth anniversary,” Eleanor whispered. “When Nora was born, he added the little silver book. When Emma was born, Nora bought me the emerald. I haven’t seen it in a month.”

Vanessa’s breathing was shallow and fast. “She’s confused! She’s an old woman, Luca! I bought this at an antique shop in Paris!”

“It has my daughter’s initials engraved on the back of the emerald,” Luca said, his voice dropping an octave.

He twisted Vanessa’s wrist slightly.

The emerald caught the light. And there, plain as day, were the tiny letters E.M.

Vanessa stopped fighting. Her face drained of all color.

“I… I found it,” she stammered, changing her story immediately. “I found it in the basement. I thought it was just cheap costume jewelry that someone threw away. I was going to ask if anyone owned it.”

“You thought it was costume jewelry?” Luca asked quietly. “So you decided to wear it to our engagement dinner?”

“I just thought it matched my dress!” she cried, tears of frustration ruining her perfect makeup.

“Where did you really find it, Vanessa?”

“In the basement!”

Eleanor shook her head. “I never go in the basement. I kept that bracelet in a velvet pouch inside Nora’s old jewelry box. In the master bedroom.”

The guests began whispering. Several men pushed their chairs back, sensing the danger in the air.

Luca dropped Vanessa’s arm as if her skin burned him.

He looked around the dining room, taking in the white roses, the crystal, the terrified guests, and the expensive caterers.

“Everyone out,” Luca commanded.

Nobody moved.

“I SAID GET OUT!” he roared.

The room erupted into chaos. Chairs scraped violently against the hardwood. Wealthy businessmen and their wives scrambled toward the double doors, leaving behind their coats and purses. Vivian grabbed Chloe’s arm and tried to drag her away, but Luca pointed a finger at them.

“Not you,” Luca said to Vivian. “You and your daughters stay right here.”

Vivian froze, her face pale with absolute terror.

Within sixty seconds, the massive dining room was empty, save for Luca, Emma, Eleanor, Vanessa, her mother, her sister, and me. I tried to step back into the shadows of the kitchen, but Luca saw me.

“Stay, Claire,” he said. “You’re the only person in this house who ever tells me the truth.”

I nodded, my heart pounding against my ribs.

Vanessa fell to her knees, grabbing the edge of Luca’s suit jacket.

“Luca, please listen to me. I was just trying to protect you! You hold onto these things, these ghosts, and it’s destroying us! I am your future! Nora is the past!”

Luca looked down at her with absolute disgust.

“You stole from an old woman. You stole from my dying wife. And you broke my daughter’s heart.”

“Because they won’t let you move on!” Vanessa screamed, her voice shrill and desperate. Then, she looked up at him, her eyes hardening. “If you call off this wedding, my father’s syndicate will pull out of the harbor deal. You will lose millions, Luca. Millions. You need my family.”

Luca let out a cold, dark laugh.

“I am Luca Moretti. Your father needs me to breathe. I don’t need his money. And I certainly don’t need his thief of a daughter.”

Vanessa sobbed, burying her face in her hands.

Emma hid her face in Eleanor’s dress.

I stood by the kitchen doors, trying to process everything. But as my eyes darted around the room, a memory suddenly flashed in my mind.

Earlier this morning.

I had been cleaning the kitchen when Vanessa walked in, looking over her shoulder. She had holding a small black velvet pouch. I had seen her toss it aggressively into the kitchen trash can, hiding it beneath a layer of coffee grounds.

I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time. I assumed it was trash.

But Eleanor just said her bracelet was kept in a velvet pouch.

I turned around and ran into the kitchen. I went straight for the large stainless steel trash bin. I dug my hands past the discarded vegetables, the coffee grounds, and the empty cartons.

My fingers brushed against something soft.

I pulled it out.

It was a small, black velvet pouch.

It was stained with coffee, but it was heavy. Too heavy to be empty.

I walked slowly back into the dining room.

“Mr. Moretti?” I whispered.

Everyone turned to look at me. I held out the dirty pouch.

“I saw Vanessa throw this in the trash this morning.”

Vanessa let out a horrific scream. “DON’T TOUCH THAT! PUT IT BACK!”

Luca walked over to me. He gently took the pouch from my trembling hands. He pulled the strings apart and turned it upside down.

A piece of torn, crumpled paper fell into his hand.

It was the photograph of Nora. Ripped perfectly in half, right down her beautiful face.

But that wasn’t the only thing that fell out.

A heavy, tarnished brass key hit the floor with a loud clang.

Emma gasped. “Daddy! That’s the key to Mommy’s cedar chest! But Vanessa told me she had it burned in the incinerator!”