Chapter 2 - The Maid Who Wasn’t a Maid
The servant passage opened behind an old wine rack beneath the mansion.
Emma locked it behind them.
“Sit.”
“I don’t take orders from employees.”
“Then bleed standing up.”
Luca stared at her.
Emma stared back.
He sat.
She opened an emergency cabinet.
Bandages.
Antiseptic.
Medical scissors.
Luca watched her.
“You knew that was there.”
“I know where everything is.”
“You know my tunnels.”
“Yes.”
“You carry a gun.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Victor was betraying me.”
“I suspected.”
Luca grabbed her wrist.
“Start talking.”
Emma didn’t struggle.
“My name really is Emma Reed.”
“That’s comforting.”
“I was an investigator.”
“Police?”
“Federal financial crimes.”
Luca released her.
A humorless laugh escaped him.
“I hired a federal agent to polish my silver.”
“Former agent.”
“That distinction isn’t improving my evening.”
Emma cut his shirt around the wound.
“The bullet passed beneath the ribs. I don’t think it hit anything major.”
“You a doctor too?”
“My father was a paramedic.”
She cleaned the wound.
Luca barely reacted.
“Why are you here?”
Emma became quiet.
“Victor Hale.”
That got his attention.
“What about him?”
“Six years ago, I was investigating shell companies connected to waterfront construction contracts. Money disappeared. Witnesses changed their statements. Evidence vanished.”
“And?”
“Victor’s name kept appearing near the edges.”
“Victor was working for me.”
“I know.”
Luca’s face hardened.
“So you came here to investigate me.”
“At first.”
“And what did you find?”
Emma tied the dressing tightly.
“That Victor had been using your organization as camouflage.”
Luca said nothing.
“He moved money without your approval,” she continued. “Made private deals. Paid people to create conflicts between you and rival crews.”
“The Calder truce.”
“Victor sabotaged it.”
Luca looked away.
Emma watched him carefully.
“There’s more.”
“There always is.”
“Your wife.”
Silence.
Luca turned slowly.
“Be very careful.”
Emma’s voice softened, but she didn’t retreat.
“Three years ago, Victor told you the car crash that killed Sofia was an accident.”
Luca stood despite the pain.
“It was.”
“I don’t think it was.”
His hand closed around her throat—
Then stopped before touching her.
Luca lowered it.
“Evidence.”
“I need the red ledger.”
“You think I keep evidence against my own underboss?”
“No.”
Emma met his eyes.
“I think Victor does.”
Luca frowned.
“He believes the red ledger is yours because somebody told him it was.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Luca stared at her.
“My father has been dead twelve years.”
“Exactly.”
Emma crossed to an old cabinet and pulled out a photograph.
Luca took it.
His father stood outside the Marino docks.
Beside him was a much younger Victor.
And behind them stood another man.
Emma pointed.
“My father.”
Luca looked at her.
“What was your father doing with mine?”
Emma answered quietly.
“Trying to warn him about Victor.”
A noise came from above.
Footsteps.
Then Victor’s voice echoed through the mansion’s old ventilation system.
“Emma?”
Luca looked sharply at her.
Victor called again.
“I know you’re still here.”
Emma’s face changed.
Victor laughed.
“You should tell Luca why you really took the job.”
Luca slowly raised his eyes to her.
Emma whispered:
May you like
“He knows.”
---
