Chapter 5 - What Elena Hid in a Recipe Book

Luca did not send Emma home alone.

He sent six men.

Emma hated that.

Then she saw the lock on her apartment door.

Broken.

Not forced dramatically.

Picked.

Cleanly.

Dante crouched beside it.

“Professional.”

Emma looked at Luca.

He had insisted on coming despite Isabella asking him to stay.

Now he stood in the hallway in a black overcoat, expression flat.

“Who knew where she lived?”

Dante answered.

“Human resources.”

“And Belini.”

“Yes.”

Emma unlocked the second deadbolt.

Inside, nothing looked disturbed.

That was worse.

Her kitchen drawers were closed.

Books aligned.

Bedroom untouched.

Someone had searched carefully.

Luca did not cross the threshold until Emma did.

It was a small detail.

She noticed anyway.

The blue recipe book had always been inside a box beneath her bed.

The box was there.

The book was not.

Emma stared at the empty space.

“No.”

Luca looked toward Dante.

“Search.”

Emma sat on the edge of the bed.

Eleven years.

She had protected something without knowing what it was.

And now it was gone.

Dante opened the closet.

One of the men checked the vents.

Emma closed her eyes.

Then remembered her mother laughing at her when she was nine.

Never hide something where a thief looks first.

“Wait.”

She went to the kitchen.

Luca followed.

Emma opened the freezer.

Removed a bag of frozen peas.

Behind it sat a dented metal bread tin.

Luca stared.

“You keep documents in a freezer?”

“My mother did.”

Inside was the blue book.

Emma almost cried.

She opened it.

The first twenty pages contained ordinary recipes in Elena’s handwriting.

Then came pages stitched together at the edges.

Dante handed Emma a knife.

She cut the thread.

Numbers appeared.

Companies.

Dates.

Transfers.

Initials.

V.V.

Vincent Vescari.

And beside several transactions, another set.

B.V.

Emma looked at Luca.

“Belini?”

Dante examined the dates.

“No.”

He pointed.

“These began when Belini was seventeen.”

Emma frowned.

“Then who?”

Luca answered.

“Bianca Vescari.”

Belini’s mother.

The room changed again.

The scheme had begun one generation earlier.

Emma turned another page.

A note had been written in the margin.

If anything happens to me, Isabella knows where the originals are.

Emma looked up.

“She did know.”

Luca’s face hardened.

“She said she didn’t.”

Dante looked toward the hallway.

“Boss.”

“What?”

“One more thing.”

He held up a small envelope that had been tucked inside the book’s cover.

It was addressed to Emma.

Her hands shook as she opened it.

My darling girl,

If you are reading this, then I failed to come home.

Do not blame Isabella.

She was frightened long before you were born.

Do not trust Vincent Vescari.

And if his daughter ever comes looking for you, understand this:

She may not know the whole truth.

Emma read the line twice.

Luca saw her expression.

“What?”

She handed him the letter.

He read it.

Then looked toward Dante.

“Belini’s father.”

Dante nodded.

“The source.”

Emma felt cold.

Belini had hurt Isabella.

Belini had searched for the ledger.

Belini had lied.

But Elena had written this before Belini had ever met Emma.

She may not know the whole truth.

Luca’s phone rang.

Isabella.

He answered.

“Mama?”

Her voice came through thin and frightened.

“Luca, Belini is gone.”

Dante straightened.

“What?”

“The guards outside the archive found her room empty.”

Luca’s expression changed.

“Where did she go?”

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Isabella whispered the answer.

“To her father.”