Chapter 7 - The Meeting Emma Never Mentioned

Emma did not deny the photograph.

That made Luca angrier.

“You told me tonight was the first time you met my mother.”

“I never said that.”

“You let me believe it.”

“Yes.”

Marco quietly closed the office door.

Emma looked at Isabella’s photograph.

“Three months ago, I was leaving St. Matthew’s after visiting my father.”

“Your father?”

“He had a cardiology appointment nearby.”

She swallowed.

“Mrs. Valenti was sitting outside the church.”

Luca’s eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“You talked to her.”

“She asked me for directions.”

“That’s all?”

“At first.”

Emma took a breath.

“Then she saw my mansion ID badge.”

Luca stared.

“She asked if I worked for you.”

“What did you say?”

“The truth.”

“And?”

“She asked what kind of man you had become.”

The question hit harder than Luca expected.

“What did you tell her?”

Emma’s voice softened.

“That you scared everyone, never forgot a name, tipped kitchen staff when you thought nobody noticed, and pretended you didn’t like cinnamon.”

Isabella smiled despite herself.

Luca did not.

“You should have told me.”

“She asked me not to.”

“Why?”

Isabella answered.

“Because I was afraid.”

Luca turned toward his mother.

“Of me?”

“Of Domenico.”

The room fell quiet.

Isabella stepped forward.

“After I found your father’s envelope, I called Domenico.”

Luca’s eyes hardened.

“You what?”

“I wanted to see his reaction.”

“And?”

“He told me to burn it.”

Emma continued.

“After that, Mrs. Valenti thought her phone was being watched. She asked me one question.”

“What?”

“If I would tell her whether you were ever alone.”

Luca stared at her.

“Why?”

“So she could visit without Domenico knowing.”

Isabella looked at the surveillance wall.

“He knew anyway.”

Marco pulled one photograph free.

Date stamp.

Three months ago.

The day Emma met Isabella.

“Domenico has been tracking both of you since then.”

Luca looked at Emma.

“So you knew there was danger.”

“I knew your mother was frightened.”

“You still said nothing.”

“I had no proof.”

“You had me.”

Emma laughed once.

“You were my employer. A Mafia boss. And your mother specifically told me the man she feared had eaten Sunday dinner with your family for thirty years.”

That stopped him.

Because she was right.

Trust looked different from the outside.

Emma turned toward the filing cabinet.

“Can we argue after we find out what he kept here?”

Marco opened it.

Inside were financial records.

Photographs.

Police reports.

A second cassette.

And a red folder.

Belini.

Luca opened it.

Her father’s debt.

Her brother’s false theft charge.

Payments from Domenico.

Dates.

Five years of leverage.

Then the payments stopped.

Two years ago.

Emma pointed.

“That’s when she said she stopped helping him.”

Luca read farther.

After the payments ended, surveillance on Belini increased.

Domenico had begun watching her too.

“She did stop,” Emma said.

Luca’s face remained cold.

“She still lied tonight.”

“Yes.”

“But maybe she wasn’t lying for the same reason anymore.”

Marco inserted the second cassette into the recorder.

Domenico’s voice filled the office.

“If Isabella reaches Luca, the engagement collapses.”

A man answered.

Detective Mercer.

“And if Belini refuses?”

“Remind her what happened to her brother.”

Mercer laughed.

“She still thinks you saved him.”

“I did.”

“You framed him.”

“Same result.”

Luca’s gaze moved to the red folder.

Emma felt sick.

The tape continued.

Mercer asked, “What about the maid?”

Domenico answered:

“She has become too close to Isabella. If she sees anything, discredit her. Poor employees are easy. Debt makes them believable.”

Emma stopped breathing.

Her father’s mortgage.

His prescriptions.

Domenico knew.

Luca looked at her.

Something in his expression changed.

Not pity.

Responsibility.

The recording ended.

Marco’s phone rang.

He answered.

Listened.

Then looked at Luca.

“Belini is gone.”

Luca stood.

“What?”

“She left the hotel apartment ten minutes ago.”

“Guards?”

“One unconscious. No serious injury.”

“Where is she going?”

Marco checked the tracker on the car assigned to her.

Then froze.

“Grand Harbor.”

Everyone looked toward the corridor.

A car door slammed somewhere below.

Emma’s heart accelerated.

Luca drew his weapon.

Marco moved beside him.

Footsteps approached.

Not running.

Slow.

High heels.

Belini appeared at the end of the corridor wearing the same deep red coat she had worn over her engagement gown.

Her hands were empty.

Her face was pale.

“Luca.”

He lowered the weapon slightly.

“What are you doing here?”

She looked past him at the surveillance wall.

Then at the red folder.

“He called me.”

“Domenico?”

“Yes.”

“What did he want?”

Belini’s eyes filled.

“He said if I wanted my brother to stay alive, I had to bring him the cassette.”

Luca stared.

“Where?”

She held out a folded note.

“Pier 17.”

Emma felt every piece of the story snap into place.

The same place Antonio had gone eleven years earlier.

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The same place Domenico had made his first threat.

Belini whispered, “He wants to finish this where it started.”