Chapter 4 – THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS

The silence in the room was suffocating.

“What did you just say?” Luca’s voice was dangerously calm.

Vanessa wiped the rain from her eyes, her mascara running down her cheeks like black tears.

“I told her to meet me here,” Vanessa whispered. “In the old greenhouse. I told her I would give her the money she wanted if she just left Lily and walked away.”

Teresa let out a sob, clutching my arm for support.

“You tried to buy my daughter?” she choked out.

“I was protecting our assets!” Vanessa shouted, pointing a shaking finger at Luca. “Her mother is a drug addict! A criminal! She only came back to extort us! If the board finds out there’s an illegitimate heir, your stock plummets!”

Luca stepped forward, grabbing Vanessa by the shoulders.

“Where is she?”

“I locked her in.”

Luca shoved Vanessa aside and sprinted for the door.

“Hannah, stay with Lily and my mother!” he yelled over his shoulder.

But Frank was already moving. Despite his age, the old man moved with a surprising quickness, following Luca out into the storm.

I locked the sitting room doors, my heart hammering in my chest.

“Hannah,” Teresa whispered. “My medicine. It’s upstairs in my room.”

She was pale, her breathing shallow. The stress was too much.

“I’ll be right back, Mrs. Moretti. I promise.”

I sprinted out the side door and up the grand staircase, leaving Lily safely tucked next to Teresa on the sofa.

I rushed down the dark hallway toward Teresa’s bedroom. The storm raged outside, throwing wild shadows against the walls.

I grabbed the pill bottle from her nightstand.

As I turned to leave, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

A light was on in Luca’s private study.

The door was slightly ajar.

I shouldn’t have stopped. I knew that. But I heard the distinct sound of paper tearing.

I crept toward the door and peered through the crack.

Standing at Luca’s mahogany desk, illuminated by a small brass lamp, was a man.

He was wearing a dark suit. He was frantically shoving files into a leather briefcase.

It was the lawyer. The one Frank had seen.

He wasn’t supposed to be here.

I held my breath, gripping the medicine bottle tight.

Suddenly, the man knocked over a framed picture on the desk. The glass shattered loudly.

He cursed under his breath and reached down to pick it up.

As he did, a heavy gold ring caught the light. It was a signet ring, stamped with an eagle.

I froze.

I recognized that ring.

It belonged to Vanessa’s father, the head of the rival Bellini family.

This wasn’t just a lawyer. This was an inside job.

I took a step back, my shoe squeaking against the hardwood floor.

The man’s head snapped up.

He looked directly at the crack in the door.

I turned and ran.

I didn’t look back. I flew down the stairs, my heart pounding in my ears. I reached the sitting room and slammed the door shut, locking the deadbolt.

Teresa looked at me, terrified.

“Hannah, what is it?”

Before I could answer, the handle jiggled.

Someone was trying to get in.

Then, a heavy knock echoed through the wood.

“Hannah,” a deep, unfamiliar voice said from the other side.

“Open the door. You’re making a mistake.”