Chapter 4 – THE BRACELET IN THE ASHES

The words hung in the air like poison.

We locked someone inside it tonight.

Eleanor screamed.

She collapsed onto the floor, clutching her chest.

“My husband,” she gasped, struggling to breathe. “Thomas is at the cottage.”

I dropped to my knees beside her, grabbing her shoulders.

“Eleanor, look at me. Breathe.”

Matteo didn’t hesitate.

He kicked his chair back, sprinting past Vanessa and Marco, straight out the front doors of the mansion.

I didn’t wait for permission.

I scooped little Leo into my arms, helped Eleanor to her feet, and dragged them both toward the servants’ entrance.

“Call the fire department!” I yelled to Miriam as we ran.

The night air was freezing.

Matteo was already in his black SUV, the engine roaring to life.

We piled into the backseat just as he slammed his foot on the gas.

The tires squealed against the gravel driveway, tearing through the estate gates.

The cottages were two miles away, located on the far edge of the DeLuca property.

Nobody spoke in the car.

Eleanor was sobbing quietly, clutching the silver rosary Miriam had given her.

Leo buried his face in my neck, trembling.

As we turned the final corner onto the dirt road leading to the cottages, the sky ahead glowed a sickly, unnatural orange.

Smoke billowed into the night.

“No,” Eleanor wailed.

The smallest cottage at the end of the lane was entirely engulfed in flames.

Matteo slammed the brakes.

The SUV hadn’t even fully stopped before he kicked the door open and sprinted toward the burning house.

“Matteo, wait!” I screamed.

The heat was suffocating. The roof of the porch was already collapsing.

Matteo grabbed a heavy metal garden shovel from the yard and smashed it through the front window.

Thick black smoke poured out like a chimney.

He tried to climb inside, but the flames pushed him back.

“Thomas!” Matteo roared into the inferno.

There was no answer.

I held Eleanor back as she tried to run toward the fire.

Sirens wailed in the distance.

Matteo ran to the side of the house, smashing another window.

Suddenly, a violent coughing sound came from the backyard.

We all froze.

Matteo dropped the shovel and ran toward the back.

I pulled Eleanor along, praying.

Lying in the wet grass near the garden shed was a man.

It was Thomas, Eleanor’s husband.

He was covered in soot, coughing violently, but he was alive.

Eleanor dropped to her knees, throwing her arms around him, weeping uncontrollably.

Matteo knelt beside them, checking the old man for burns.

“Thomas, how did you get out?” Matteo asked, his voice shaking. “The doors were padlocked from the outside.”

Thomas wheezed, sitting up slowly.

He pointed a shaking, soot-stained finger toward the burning house.

“I didn’t get out by myself, Mr. DeLuca.”

Thomas coughed again, wiping his face.

“Someone broke the back door down and pulled me out.”

Matteo frowned. “Who?”

Thomas shook his head.

“I couldn’t see their face. The smoke was too thick.”

Thomas reached into his charred jacket pocket.

“But whoever it was… they dropped this when they dragged me onto the grass.”

Thomas held out his hand.

Resting in his palm was a piece of jewelry.

It was a heavy, custom-made diamond bracelet.

The clasp was broken, half-melted from the intense heat.

I recognized it instantly.

It was the exact same diamond bracelet Vanessa had been wearing at the dinner table twenty minutes ago.

Matteo stared at it, completely bewildered.

“That’s impossible,” I whispered.

“She was in the dining room with us,” Eleanor said, her voice trembling. “She couldn’t have been here to start the fire, and she couldn’t have pulled you out.”

Matteo carefully took the damaged bracelet from Thomas.

He turned it over in his hand.

On the inside of the gold band, there was a tiny engraving.

Matteo’s eyes widened.

He looked up at me, his face completely pale.

“Answer One, Open Two,” he whispered to himself.

“What does it say?” I asked, stepping closer.

Matteo held the bracelet up to the light of the burning house.

The engraving didn’t say Vanessa.

It said: To Victoria. Forever.

“Who is Victoria?” I asked.

Matteo stared into the flames.

“Vanessa’s identical twin sister.”

He looked down at the bracelet.

“The sister who supposedly died in a car crash fifteen years ago.”

Share