Chapter 5 – THE LOCK ON THE STUDY DOOR

“Hurry, Noah!” I gasped, pulling the little boy down the long, carpeted hallway of the mansion.

Behind us, I could hear Vanessa screaming at Luca, the sound of breaking glass, and the heavy footsteps of guests fleeing toward the front doors.

“Emily, I’m scared!” Noah cried, his little legs struggling to keep up with me.

“I know, sweetie, I know. But I’ve got you,” I promised.

We reached the end of the hallway and burst into Luca’s private study. I slammed the heavy oak doors shut and locked the deadbolt just as someone slammed against the wood from the outside.

“Open this door!” Vanessa shrieked from the hallway, banging her fists against the wood. “You little peasant, I’ll ruin your life!”

I backed away from the doors, my heart hammering in my throat.

Noah ran to the corner of the room and hid beneath his father’s massive mahogany desk.

I knelt beside him, still clutching the silver canister.

“She’s going to take me,” Noah sobbed, covering his ears.

“No, she isn’t,” I whispered fiercely. “Your dad is out there. He’s going to stop her.”

But even as I said it, I knew the legal papers Vanessa had were dangerous. If the police arrived, they would see her name on the adoption documents.

I looked down at the silver canister in my hands.

Matteo had said Claire recorded this message for Luca. Vanessa had tried to destroy it.

What was on it?

I looked up at Luca’s desk. His laptop was sitting open on the leather blotter. Matteo’s company transferred all old films onto digital USB drives as backups. Luca had connected a small USB reader to his laptop earlier today to check the birthday playlist.

I twisted the silver canister open.

Inside wasn’t a reel of vintage film.

It was a small black USB drive.

My hands shook as I pulled it out.

“Noah,” I whispered. “Come here.”

The little boy crawled out from under the desk, his tear-stained face looking up at me.

“What is that?” he asked.

“It’s a message from your mom,” I said. “I think we need to hear it right now.”

I plugged the USB drive into Luca’s laptop.

A folder popped up on the screen. There was only one audio file inside.

I clicked play.

For a few seconds, there was only static.

Then, Claire’s voice filled the quiet study.

“Luca… my beautiful husband,” her voice was weak, raspy, fighting for breath. “I don’t have much time. I bribed a nurse to bring me this recorder while Vanessa was out of the room.”

Noah gasped, staring at the computer speakers.

“You need to look in the lining of my old winter coat,” Claire’s recorded voice continued, coughing weakly. “The blue one in the cedar closet. I hid the original bank statements there. Vanessa has been transferring money from the pediatric charity into an offshore account in the Cayman Islands.”

My eyes widened.

“She thinks she’s going to get away with it,” Claire whispered. “She told me tonight that she’s going to take my place. But she doesn’t know about the coat.”

Suddenly, the audio crackled.

A door opened in the background of the recording.

“Who are you talking to?” Vanessa’s voice snapped on the recording.

“Nobody,” Claire replied weakly.

“Give me that recorder,” Vanessa demanded. There was the sound of a struggle, a machine beeping frantically, and then Vanessa’s voice, cold and terrifying. “You’re pathetic, Claire. In a year, he won’t even remember your name. And your son will call me Mother.”

The recording abruptly cut off.

I stared at the laptop.

Vanessa hadn’t just confessed to embezzling money. She had confessed on tape, while simultaneously assaulting a dying woman.

There was a massive crash outside the study doors.

“Get away from that door, Vanessa!” Luca’s voice roared through the wood.

“I’m his mother!” Vanessa screamed back. “You signed the papers! Call the police! Call them!”

I grabbed the laptop.

I marched to the heavy oak doors, unlocked the deadbolt, and threw them open.