Chapter 4 - The Blue Book in My Room

We returned to the estate through the service entrance.

The gala was ending badly.

Guests were leaving in silence.

Staff avoided eye contact.

The engagement ring was still sitting on top of the red ledger in the ballroom.

Lucian did not even look at it.

He went straight toward the garage apartments.

I followed.

Serena stayed beside Marianne.

Walter carried the ledger under his coat.

My door was open.

Nothing looked broken.

That was worse.

My drawers had been emptied carefully.

My mattress had been lifted.

The small box containing my mother’s pendant was gone.

The blue notebook was gone too.

I stood in the middle of the room.

“I should have opened it.”

Lucian looked at me.

“You had no reason to.”

“My mother died ten years ago.”

My voice shook.

“I had ten years.”

Marianne entered behind us.

“No.”

I turned.

“She hid the truth because she wanted you to have a normal life.”

“Did you know her after 2007?”

“For two years.”

That surprised me.

“Where?”

“Switzerland first.”

“Then?”

“A small house outside Lyon.”

I stared at her.

“My mother told me she was working temporary jobs in Boston.”

“She was helping Walter move money between safe accounts.”

Walter nodded.

“Sarah was better with records than most professionals.”

Then I remembered something.

My mother never wrote recipes in order.

She wrote them on loose pages.

The blue notebook was mostly blank when I was little.

I walked to the kitchen shelf.

A faded cookbook sat between two newer ones.

Italian Country Meals.

My mother had hated Italian food.

I pulled it out.

Inside the back cover was a folded sheet of blue paper.

Not the notebook.

A duplicate.

My mother had copied the plate number.

Walter read it.

“VC-4179.”

Marianne whispered:

“That was Vincent’s old sedan.”

Lucian looked at Serena.

She nodded slowly.

“I remember it.”

There was also a name.

RONALD PIKE.

Walter knew it.

“The mechanic from the recording.”

Lucian took out his phone.

Walter stopped him.

“Don’t call anyone connected to the family.”

“Why?”

“Because your grandfather had a reason for recording private conversations instead of going to the police.”

Lucian understood.

“Someone was protecting Vincent.”

“Yes.”

Serena stepped into the doorway.

“My father has friends in places he shouldn’t.”

Lucian looked at her.

“And you were going to marry me without mentioning any of this.”

Her eyes filled again.

“I was going to tell you after the wedding.”

He actually looked stunned.

“After?”

“My father said if I spoke before the contracts were signed, he would find Marianne.”

Lucian stepped closer.

“What contracts?”

Serena closed her eyes.

There it was.

Another secret.

“The port agreement.”

Lucian said nothing.

Serena continued.

“The marriage wasn’t only a marriage to him.”

Walter’s expression hardened.

“Of course.”

“What?” I asked.

He looked at Lucian.

“Your grandfather separated the family’s shipping shares after Matteo died.”

Lucian nodded.

“Thirty-one percent is still in trust.”

Serena whispered:

“Your marriage releases part of it.”

“To me.”

“No.”

Lucian stared at her.

“To whom?”

“If your spouse is connected to Bellini Holdings, six percent transfers into the new joint corporation.”

Walter swore under his breath.

Lucian looked almost amused.

Not because it was funny.

Because the betrayal had become too large to process normally.

“So your father needed the wedding.”

“Yes.”

“And you knew.”

“I learned last year.”

“Before or after you accepted my proposal?”

Serena did not answer.

That was the answer.

Lucian walked away from her.

Then the lights went out.

The entire garage wing went black.

Marianne grabbed my hand.

A car engine started outside.

Walter rushed to the window.

A black sedan pulled away from the service road.

Serena looked toward the empty shelf.

“The blue notebook.”

Lucian’s phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered.

Vincent spoke.

“I have the original book.”

Lucian’s face hardened.

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Vincent continued.

“And tomorrow morning, I’ll have Marianne too unless you listen carefully.”