Chapter 10 – THE SISTER IN THE SHADOWS

“Clara,” Luca said, his voice laced with pure venom. “Put the ledger down.”

Clara Bellini didn’t flinch. She was older than Vanessa by five years, sharper, and endlessly more dangerous. While Vanessa played the socialite, Clara managed the Bellini family’s “logistics.”

“You ruined my sister, Luca,” Clara said, her voice perfectly calm as she stood amidst the shattered glass. “You let her take the fall for Dominic Rossi, and now she’s facing twenty years.”

“She poisoned my brother,” Luca countered, stepping closer, his weapon steady. “She made her own choices.”

“She made a mistake,” Clara corrected smoothly. “But I don’t make mistakes.”

She held up the heavy leather ledger.

“Elias the locksmith was very cooperative before he ran out the back door. He kept meticulous records. Including the name of the man who paid him to make a second copy of the Weeping Angel key twenty years ago.”

My breath hitched.

“A second copy?” I asked.

Clara smiled at me. “Your father was a smart man, Emily. Lorenzo knew Dominic Rossi would eventually come looking for the box. So Lorenzo didn’t just hide the necklace for you. He hid the real deed. He paid Elias to make a second key and lock the deed in a different box. A ghost box. Off the books.”

She tapped the ledger.

“The account number is in here. The south side territory belongs to whoever opens that box.”

“Give it to me,” Luca ordered.

“Or what? You’ll shoot me in broad daylight?” Clara laughed softly. “If I don’t check in with my men in ten minutes, they are going to pay a visit to the guest cottage at your estate. Where your sweet mother, Margaret, is currently baking bread.”

Luca froze.

“I want a trade,” Clara demanded. “I give you the ledger. You give me the diamond necklace Emily is wearing. And you transfer five million dollars to an offshore account to fund Vanessa’s legal defense.”

Luca didn’t lower his gun, but he looked at me.

The necklace felt heavy against my skin. It was the only thing my father had ever given me. A symbol of a love I never knew I had.

But it was just stones.

My mother was alive.

I reached behind my neck and unclasped the diamonds.

“Emily, no,” Luca warned softly.

“It’s just jewelry, Luca,” I said, walking slowly toward Clara. I held the glittering necklace out. “Take it. Give us the ledger and leave my mother alone.”

Clara’s eyes gleamed with greed. She reached out with one hand to take the diamonds, holding the ledger in the other.

But as her fingers brushed the stones, a low, vicious growl echoed from the doorway.

Clara spun around.

Standing in the doorway, blocking the only exit, was Bruno.

The old German shepherd’s teeth were bared, the fur on his spine standing straight up.

And standing right behind him was Michael.

“You didn’t really think I’d let you leave the house alone, did you, brother?” Michael said, holding a heavy steel cane.

Clara sneered. “A cripple and an old dog. I’m terrified.”

She reached into her suit jacket, pulling a small silver pistol.

Before she could aim it, Bruno launched himself forward.

He didn’t go for her arm. He slammed his heavy body directly into her legs.

Clara shrieked, losing her balance and crashing backward into a broken display case.

The gun skittered across the floor.

The ledger flew from her hands.

Luca moved in a blur. He kicked the gun away and pinned Clara to the floor, zip-tying her wrists with a set from his pocket before she could even process what happened.

I scrambled across the glass and grabbed the ledger.

Michael walked in, patting Bruno’s head. “Good boy.”

He looked at Clara on the floor. “The police are on their way, Clara. Extortion and armed robbery should keep you in the cell right next to your sister.”

Luca stood up, breathing heavily. He looked at me, then down at the floor.

The diamond necklace had fallen in the scuffle.

He walked over, picked it up, and gently wiped the dust from the stones.

He handed it back to me.

“Your father wanted you to wear this on your wedding day,” Luca said softly. “Don’t ever give it away to thieves.”

I clutched the diamonds to my chest, a watery smile breaking across my face.

But as I looked down at the open ledger in my hands, my smile faded.

“Luca,” I whispered.

He turned. “What is it?”

I stared at the name written next to the ghost box account number.

It wasn’t Lorenzo Moretti.

“The person who opened the second box… it wasn’t our father.”

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