Chapter 5 – THE WATCH THAT REVEALED MURDER

“Gianna?”

Luca’s voice cracked. For the first time all night, the formidable mafia boss looked completely defenseless. He stared at his younger sister, the woman whose burned, scarred hands were now steadily gripping a 9mm pistol.

“Put the necklace back in the box, Luca,” Gianna said. Her voice was terrifyingly calm, completely devoid of the hysterical mother I had witnessed thirty minutes ago.

I backed away, my heart pounding against my ribs.

Answer one: The heirloom box didn’t contain a ledger; it contained Gianna’s necklace and an old pocket watch.

Open two: Why was Gianna holding us at gunpoint? What was her connection to the box?

“Gianna, what are you doing?” Luca asked, taking a slow step toward her. “Where is Leo? Where is Marco?”

Gianna let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Marco is exactly where I told him to be. Waiting at the docks. He thinks he’s getting the ledger.”

“He kidnapped your son!” I yelled, unable to contain myself. “He has Leo!”

Gianna didn’t even look at me. “Leo is fine, Emma. He’s with his nanny at a hotel. Marco didn’t kidnap him.”

My mind spun so violently I felt dizzy. A massive reversal hit me with the force of a freight train.

Daniel hadn’t lied about losing Leo to Marco. Gianna had orchestrated the entire thing. She had faked her own child’s kidnapping to force this exact confrontation.

“You set this up,” Luca whispered, his eyes widening with horrific realization. “You manipulated Vanessa. You forced Daniel to take the fall. You made Marco think Vanessa had betrayed him.”

“It was the only way to get everyone in one room,” Gianna said coldly. “Vanessa was getting too close to the truth. Marco was getting too greedy. I had to let them destroy each other tonight.”

“Why?” Luca pleaded. “I sent you money! I tried to protect you!”

Gianna’s scarred hands tightened on the gun. “You sent me pity, Luca! While you sat on the throne of our father’s empire, I was banished to a miserable life with a cowardly husband. You thought you were the righteous son. But you don’t even know the truth about our family.”

She pointed the gun at the wooden box on the bench. “Open the watch, Luca.”

Luca slowly picked up the heavy, tarnished silver pocket watch. He pressed the latch, and the casing popped open.

There was no clock face inside.

It was a hollow compartment. Folded tightly inside was a small, aged piece of paper. A confession letter.

Luca unfolded it. His eyes rapidly scanned the faded ink.

As he read, the blood drained entirely from his face. He staggered backward, dropping the paper onto the bench as if it had burned him.

“No,” Luca breathed. “No, that’s impossible.”

“Read it out loud, brother,” Gianna mocked, tears of bitter rage filling her eyes. “Let the maid hear the great legacy of the Moretti family.”

Luca couldn’t speak. He was paralyzed by the words on the page.

I slowly stepped forward and looked down at the letter. The handwriting belonged to their late father, Don Moretti.

If you are reading this, I am dead. Marco did not cut the brakes on my wife’s car. Vanessa’s father did not commit the crime. I cut the brakes. My wife was going to the police to expose the syndicate. I killed the mother of my children to protect the empire. And my sweet Gianna helped me do it.

I gasped, covering my mouth in sheer horror.

Escalation: Gianna wasn’t a victim. When she was twelve years old, she had helped her father murder her own mother to protect the mafia fortune. She had kept the secret for twenty years, allowing Vanessa’s innocent father to take the blame and be executed.

“You killed Mom,” Luca whispered, his voice shattering. “You were twelve years old, Gianna. How could you?”

“She was going to take everything away from us!” Gianna screamed, tears finally spilling. “Dad told me she was going to send him to prison and put us in foster care! I just unlocked the garage door for him! That’s all I did!”

“And you let Vanessa’s father die for it,” Luca said, disgust replacing his shock. “You let Vanessa live as a slave in our house while you wore diamonds.”

“And I would do it again!” Gianna yelled. “But dad punished me! He gave the empire to you, the son who knew nothing! He banished me because looking at me reminded him of his own sin!”

Gianna wiped her face with the back of her hand, regaining her terrifying composure.

“Hand over the watch and the letter, Luca. It’s the only proof. Once I destroy it, I take over the syndicate. The Commission will back me when I tell them Marco killed you tonight.”

Luca didn’t move. He stood tall, looking at the sister he had loved and pitied for years.

“I won’t give it to you,” Luca said firmly.

Gianna raised the gun, aiming it directly at Luca’s head.

“I loved you, Luca,” Gianna whispered. “But you are in my way.”

She pulled the trigger.

Click.

The gun didn’t fire.

Gianna froze, looking down at the weapon in confusion. She pulled the trigger again. Click.

“It’s empty, Gianna,” a voice echoed from the shadows behind her.

Out of the darkness of the train terminal stepped Daniel. Gianna’s coward of a husband. He was bruised, bleeding, and holding the ammunition magazine he had secretly slipped out of her gun during the chaos at the mansion.

Gianna stared at him in disbelief.

But before anyone could react, the screeching of tires echoed from the street outside. Headlights flooded the glass doors of the terminal.

Four heavily armed men burst through the entrance. Uncle Marco’s men.

And standing behind them, holding a terrified, crying Leo by the arm, was Uncle Marco himself.

“Well,” Marco grinned, pulling a revolver. “It looks like a family reunion.”

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