Chapter 6 - The Bracelet in Belini's Clutch

“Your waitress stole from me.”

Belini made the accusation in front of the entire Moretti household.

She stood beneath the foyer chandelier wearing a deep-red fitted dress. In her open clutch lay a diamond bracelet Luca had given her the previous Christmas.

Beside it was a small gold bracelet with a blue stone.

Emma stopped halfway down the staircase.

The second bracelet was hers.

Or rather, it had belonged to Luca's mother before Aunt Leila entrusted it to Emma.

Belini picked it up with two fingers.

“I found this in the servants' quarters. She was hiding my jewelry with it.”

Emma stared at the bracelet. “That's not where I left it.”

“Then where?” Belini asked sweetly.

“With Matteo. He took it to be photographed as evidence.”

Matteo entered from the hall.

“I still have the original.”

He opened a small evidence pouch.

An identical blue-stone bracelet rested inside.

For one strange moment, nobody spoke.

Belini looked between the bracelets.

Luca descended the stairs slowly.

“Who gave you the duplicate?” he asked.

Belini closed her clutch.

“I don't know what you're implying.”

“Someone wanted Emma accused of theft while I was investigating the hospital record.”

“That is absurd.”

“Then tell us why you're holding a second bracelet with my mother's stone.”

Belini's eyes hardened.

“You've known this girl for less than a week.”

“And you've known my family for decades.”

The answer landed exactly where he intended.

Belini looked toward the assembled staff.

“Leave us.”

Nobody moved.

Luca had not spoken.

“Everyone may return to work,” he said.

The staff dispersed. Emma remained.

She had expected Luca to order her away too. Instead, he faced Belini.

“I'm postponing the engagement announcement.”

Belini's breath caught.

“On the strength of a waitress's fairy tale?”

“On the strength of documents your father concealed.”

She stepped closer.

“You think the families will accept that? Our partnership protects your holdings. Your mother understood what alliances cost.”

Luca's expression changed.

“Do not speak for her.”

Belini softened her voice.

“Luca, I love you.”

He looked at her for a long moment.

“Then tell me why you searched the hospital archive eleven years ago.”

Belini stopped breathing for half a second.

Emma recognized the same reaction she had seen at the dinner table when she mentioned the box.

“I was helping Father settle an estate claim,” Belini replied.

“Which claim?”

“A confidential one.”

“Then ask your lawyer to send me the file.”

Belini straightened her shoulders.

“You'll regret humiliating me.”

Luca did not follow when she walked away.

Later, Emma found him alone in his mother's old library.

The mechanical report lay open on the desk. Beside it was a childhood photograph: Luca and Leila, both smiling, beside a red family car.

“She looks like you,” Emma said.

“Everyone told me that.”

He turned the photograph toward her.

“My mother loved that car. She chose the color because Leila wanted something bright.”

Emma sat opposite him.

“I think Aunt Leila was frightened of the wrong person finding me. Maybe Belini knew she'd left proof.”

“That's possible.”

“Did you believe me when Belini accused me?”

“No.”

“Because Matteo had the bracelet?”

“Because you could have left tonight with everything you know. Instead, you keep asking the questions that put you at risk.”

Emma looked down.

“I'm not brave. I'm angry.”

Luca's expression softened.

“Sometimes that's how courage begins.”

His phone buzzed.

Matteo had checked the address receiving the Vescari foundation payments.

It belonged to a quiet apartment building outside Albany.

There was no Clara Wren on the tenant list.

Instead, the address was registered to a medical care agency funded by Vescari interests.

“They've been sending money to a name, not necessarily a person,” Matteo warned over the call.

“Then follow the money,” Luca said.

Matteo paused.

“There's something else. The duplicate bracelet in Belini's clutch wasn't a cheap copy. The stone and setting are genuine Moretti family work.”

Luca looked toward his mother's photograph.

There had once been two matching bracelets.

His mother had worn one and kept the other for Leila’s thirteenth birthday.

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Leila had disappeared before she could receive it.

So how had Belini obtained a second original?