Chapter 3 – THE TRUTH BEHIND THE STOLEN HEIRLOOM

My breath hitched in my throat.

I stepped out from behind the heavy oak door.

“My… my mother?” I stammered.

Luca walked toward me, holding the open gold locket out.

I looked down at the tiny oval frame.

It was an old photograph. Faded at the edges.

It showed two young women in nursing uniforms laughing together in a hospital corridor.

One was Caroline.

The other was my mother, Margaret.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “My mother used to be a pediatric nurse, years ago, but… I didn’t know she knew Miss Caroline.”

Vanessa lunged forward, her red silk dress twisting around her legs.

“Give that back! It’s mine!”

Marco, the security chief, caught her arm effortlessly, twisting her back.

Luca ignored her.

He looked closely at me.

“Your mother was Caroline’s mentor at Chicago General,” Luca said quietly. “Twenty years ago. They were best friends.”

I stared at him, my mind racing.

My mother had never mentioned knowing the billionaire ex-wife of my employer.

She had specifically told me to apply for this housekeeping job because the pay was exceptionally good.

Luca turned back to Vanessa.

His voice was dangerously calm.

“I’ll ask you one last time, Vanessa. How did you get Caroline’s locket?”

Vanessa lifted her chin, trying to salvage her pride.

“I told you. She gave it to me.”

“She’s lying,” I blurted out.

The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Vanessa whipped her head toward me, her eyes burning with pure hatred.

“Shut your mouth, you little rat!”

I stood my ground, my hands trembling against my black uniform.

“I saw her take it,” I told Luca. “Yesterday afternoon. Miss Caroline came to the estate to drop off Sophie’s medication. When she went to the restroom, Miss Vanessa opened her coat pocket and took the locket out.”

Luca’s jaw tightened.

“You stole from the mother of my child in my own home?”

Vanessa sneered.

“She didn’t even notice it was gone! She’s pathetic, Luca! She’s weak!”

“Why take it?” Luca demanded.

Vanessa smiled, a cruel, ugly twisting of her lips.

“Because I needed leverage. Caroline wouldn’t stop interfering with my wedding plans. So I visited her last night and showed her the locket.”

Luca stepped closer to her.

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her I had access to everything she loved,” Vanessa spat. “I told her that if she didn’t sign the full custody surrender, I would make sure the hospital where she works suddenly lost its funding. And that I would personally see to it that her precious mentor—Rachel’s crippled mother—was evicted from her apartment building.”

My blood ran cold.

Vanessa had bought the building my mother lived in three weeks ago.

She had held that eviction over my head to force me to keep Sophie quiet tonight.

She was using my mother to destroy Caroline.

Luca’s face hardened into a mask of pure rage.

He looked at Marco.

“Lock her in the study. Do not let her make a single phone call.”

“You can’t do this!” Vanessa screamed as Marco dragged her away. “My family will destroy you!”

Luca ignored her screams.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

“Rachel, take Sophie upstairs. Lock the bedroom door. Do not open it for anyone but me.”

“Yes, Mr. Moretti. What are you going to do?”

He dialed a number.

“I’m going to bring my wife home.”

He pressed the phone to his ear.

I grabbed Sophie’s hand and hurried toward the grand staircase.

But just as my foot hit the first marble step, the heavy mahogany front doors of the mansion burst open.

The wind howled into the foyer, blowing rain across the expensive rugs.

Luca dropped his phone.

Standing in the doorway, soaked to the bone, shivering violently, and bleeding from a cut above her eyebrow, was Caroline.

But she wasn’t alone.

She was being held at gunpoint by three men wearing black tactical gear.

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