Chapter 1 – The Diamonds In The Champagne

Luca didn’t let go of his mother.

He held her there in the quiet of the upstairs hallway, his massive frame shielding her small, trembling shoulders. For thirty-eight years, Teresa Moretti had been his anchor. Now, he realized she had been drowning in his house, suffocated by the woman he had asked to marry him.

“You aren’t going anywhere, Mom,” Luca whispered, his voice thick with a dangerous kind of calm. “Not on Monday. Not ever.”

Teresa pulled back, her eyes searching his face. “But the wedding—”

“There isn’t going to be a wedding.”

He turned to me. “Emily. Lock this door. Do not let anyone in except me.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, my voice shaking.

Luca walked down the grand staircase. He didn’t rush. He moved with the slow, terrifying precision of a man who had just realized his home had been invaded.

I stood at the top of the stairs, watching him through the banister.

In the dining room, Vanessa was holding court. She was laughing, her head thrown back, the diamonds at her throat catching the chandelier’s light. She looked perfect. Untouchable.

Luca walked up behind her chair.

The guests noticed his face first. The laughter died abruptly. Forks were set down. The silence rippled outward until the only sound was the string quartet playing softly in the corner.

Vanessa turned around, her smile faltering for a fraction of a second before returning. “Darling, is your mother alright? I told the caterer to keep her plate warm.”

Luca reached into his pocket.

He didn’t yell. He didn’t make a scene. He simply opened his hand and dropped the two waterlogged hearing aids directly into Vanessa’s half-full glass of champagne.

They sank to the bottom with a quiet clink.

Vanessa stared at the glass, the color draining from her face.

“You told her I didn’t want her,” Luca said. His voice was low, carrying effortlessly through the dead-silent room. “You told her I was sending her away.”

“Luca,” Vanessa whispered, glancing frantically at the guests. “Not here. People are watching.”

“Let them watch,” he replied. “Tell them why you packed my mother’s bags. Tell them why you told a seventy-eight-year-old woman her son was ashamed of her.”

Vanessa stood up. Her silk dress rustled. The sweet, accommodating fiancé vanished, replaced by something much colder. “Because she is a liability, Luca. She’s weak. In our world, weakness gets people killed. I was fixing a problem you were too sentimental to handle.”

“She is my mother.”

“She is a target!” Vanessa snapped, slamming her hands on the table. “And if you weren’t so blind, you’d know she’s not just a helpless old woman. She’s been hiding things from you.”

Luca’s jaw tightened. “Get out of my house.”

Vanessa didn’t flinch. She reached into her red clutch and pulled out a small, tarnished silver key. She dropped it on his dinner plate.

“I was going to wait until after we were married to tell you,” Vanessa said, her voice dripping with ice. “But since you’re choosing her over me, you might as well know the truth. Go to the basement, Luca. Open your father’s old wine cellar. The one she told you was sealed off years ago.”

Luca looked at the key.

“Ask your sweet, innocent mother what she’s been keeping down there,” Vanessa said, slipping her diamond engagement ring off her finger and dropping it next to the key. “And when you find out, don’t come crawling back to me.”

She turned and walked out of the room, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floors.

Luca stared at the rusted key. Then, he looked up at the balcony where I was standing.

“Emily,” he called out.

“Yes, Mr. Moretti?”

“Bring my mother downstairs.”