Chapter 5 - The Watch in Adrian’s Drawer

I drove too fast.

Not like Adrian.

Like someone who had spent eleven months being told to move quietly and had suddenly been given permission not to.

Dominic came with me.

Adrian stayed with Graham and Carlo until his security team arrived.

“Back entrance,” Dominic said.

“I know.”

Of course I knew.

I had carried groceries through it.

Flowers.

Wine.

Forty-pound bags of flour when the kitchen delivery truck broke down.

Tonight I entered carrying nothing.

The mansion looked normal from outside.

That was the frightening part.

Lights on.

Music gone.

Cars still in the drive.

Inside, the ballroom was almost empty.

Security had moved the guests to the east salon.

One guard stood near the main hall.

He looked at me.

“Mara?”

I kept walking.

“Mr. Vescari sent me.”

“Where is he?”

“Warehouse.”

His hand moved toward his radio.

Dominic stepped inside behind me.

The guard’s face changed.

Then someone spoke from the staircase.

“She’s telling the truth.”

Serafina.

Still in the red gown.

Barefoot now.

She had removed her heels.

Her makeup was streaked.

But her voice was steady.

“Luca’s upstairs.”

The guard turned.

“You said he left.”

“I lied.”

Dominic stared at her.

“Why?”

“Because he told me he would hurt anyone who tried to stop him.”

She looked at me.

“He has one of Adrian’s men with him.”

“Which one?”

“Evan.”

I knew Evan.

Night security.

Quiet.

Always brought doughnuts to the kitchen after midnight.

My stomach dropped.

“He’s helping Luca?”

Serafina shook her head.

“Being forced.”

Dominic looked toward the stairs.

“Study?”

She nodded.

I started up.

Serafina caught my arm.

“Mara.”

I turned.

“If he sees you, don’t argue.”

I almost laughed.

“That advice would’ve been more useful before the engagement toast.”

Her mouth trembled.

Then she let go.

The hallway upstairs was dark.

Adrian’s study door stood open.

I heard drawers being pulled out.

Wood hitting wood.

A man cursed.

Dominic stayed near the corner.

I walked past the study.

Not toward it.

Past it.

To the linen closet.

There was an old service panel inside.

Most people thought it was decorative.

It wasn’t.

The mansion had been renovated three times.

House staff knew what architects forgot.

Behind the panel was a narrow maintenance passage that opened beside Adrian’s dressing room.

I crawled through dust in a black uniform that had cost the agency three hundred dollars.

Then eased the second panel open.

The study was ten feet away.

Luca Bellandi stood with his back to me.

Thirty-seven.

Dark hair.

Gray suit.

Nothing about him looked dangerous.

That made him worse.

Evan stood near the desk.

Blood at his lip.

Hands raised.

Luca held a pistol low beside his leg.

“Where is the watch?”

“I told you,” Evan said. “I don’t know.”

Luca pulled another drawer out.

Empty.

“Everyone knows he keeps it here.”

Not everyone.

I did.

Top drawer.

Except the drawer was open.

And empty.

My chest tightened.

Had Luca already found it?

Then I remembered.

Three days earlier, Adrian had asked me for a polishing cloth.

He had taken the watch downstairs.

After that, I had seen it somewhere else.

Not the study.

The library.

On the small table beside the leather chair.

He had been looking at it while reading.

I backed into the passage.

Slowly.

Then crawled to the other opening.

Library.

Empty.

The watch was still there.

Black leather strap.

Silver case.

Simple.

I picked it up.

For one second I felt ridiculous.

All of this for a watch.

Then I turned it over.

There was a seam I had never noticed beneath the case.

I pressed it.

Nothing.

Twisted the crown.

The back clicked open.

Inside was a tiny memory card.

I stared.

Victor made four copies.

Adrian’s father kept one.

Footsteps entered the library.

I closed my hand.

Luca stood in the doorway.

“Give it to me.”

I froze.

He still had the gun.

Not pointed at me.

Yet.

“You’re Mara.”

I said nothing.

“My sister mentioned you.”

“That’s nice.”

“She said you don’t listen.”

“That sounds more accurate.”

His eyes dropped to my hand.

“Give me the watch.”

I thought about throwing it.

Running.

Screaming.

All bad ideas.

So I did the one thing housemaids are very good at.

I dropped it.

On purpose.

It hit the rug.

Luca looked down.

Just for a second.

Dominic came through the side door.

He hit Luca’s wrist with the folded chauffeur’s coat wrapped around a brass fireplace poker.

The gun fell.

Evan appeared behind him.

Kicked it away.

Luca turned.

Too late.

Serafina entered last.

She looked at her brother on the floor.

He looked back at her.

“You chose them.”

She shook her head.

“No.”

Then she looked at me.

“At some point I finally stopped choosing you.”

That was different.

Dominic picked up the watch.

I handed him the memory card.

His face changed.

“Enzo really did it.”

Sirens sounded outside.

Adrian had called the police.

Luca laughed.

“You think one card matters?”

Serafina stared at him.

“It mattered enough for you to bring a gun into his house.”

His smile vanished.

Adrian arrived eleven minutes later.

He walked into the library.

Saw Luca.

Saw Serafina.

Saw me.

Then the watch in Dominic’s hand.

Nobody spoke.

Dominic gave it to him.

Adrian opened the back.

Removed the memory card.

Held it between two fingers.

“My father trusted a watch more than people.”

Dominic looked at him.

“After twelve years, can you blame him?”

Adrian closed his hand.

Then looked at Luca.

“Where is Enzo?”

Luca smiled again.

“Ask your fiancée.”

Serafina went still.

Adrian turned toward her.

She looked exhausted.

Then she said the last thing any of us expected.

“I know.”

Adrian’s face changed.

“You know where he is?”

She nodded.

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

“Since this afternoon.”

Dominic stared.

“You said you didn’t.”

“I was trying to get him moved before Luca found him.”

“Moved where?”

She looked at Adrian.

“To the only place my father never knew existed.”

Adrian waited.

Serafina swallowed.

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“Your mother’s old house.”

And for the first time that night, Adrian looked truly afraid.