Chapter 2 - Five Minutes Tomorrow
At exactly nine the next morning, Luca heard three knocks.
Not the firm rhythm of a lawyer.
Not Victor’s single impatient knock.
Three tiny taps.
Luca looked up from his desk.
“Come in.”
Nothing happened.
He waited.
Another three taps.
Luca walked over and opened the door.
Mia stood outside wearing pink sneakers and holding a stuffed rabbit beneath one arm.
Elena stood behind her.
“I tried to explain,” Elena said immediately.
“She says she has an appointment.”
“I do,” Mia announced.
Luca checked his watch.
“Thirty seconds late.”
Mia gasped.
“No.”
“Very serious offense.”
“I walked fast.”
“Then I’ll overlook it.”
Elena gave him an exhausted look.
“You really intend to encourage this?”
“For five minutes.”
Mia held up all ten fingers.
“Ten.”
“Five.”
“Seven.”
Luca raised an eyebrow.
Mia considered.
“Six.”
“Five.”
She sighed dramatically.
“Okay.”
Luca stepped aside.
“Come in, Boss.”
Mia marched toward the desk.
Elena remained near the doorway.
Luca noticed she wore long sleeves beneath her uniform despite the warm September morning.
“Close the door,” he told her.
She obeyed.
Mia climbed halfway onto the chair before Luca quietly lifted her the rest of the way.
She arranged her rabbit beside her.
Luca sat across from her in the chair normally reserved for visitors.
“Your five minutes start now.”
Mia picked up the fountain pen.
“No drawing on contracts.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t know yesterday.”
“I know today.”
Luca almost smiled.
Then Mia looked toward her mother.
The smile left his face.
“Yesterday,” he said gently, “you said someone made your mother cry.”
Elena immediately stepped forward.
“Mr. Moretti—”
“I’m talking to Mia.”
“She’s three.”
“I’m aware.”
“You could frighten her.”
Luca turned toward Mia.
“Are you frightened?”
Mia shook her head.
“Mommy is.”
The words landed quietly.
Elena closed her eyes.
Luca leaned back.
“Why is Mommy frightened?”
Mia whispered something to the rabbit.
“What was that?”
“She doesn’t want me to say.”
“Your rabbit?”
“Mommy.”
Luca looked at Elena.
She shook her head.
“Mia, we are leaving.”
“No.”
“Mia.”
Luca raised his hand again.
“Elena, please.”
Something in his tone made her stop.
He returned his attention to Mia.
“Do you know their names?”
Mia nodded.
“The people who make Mommy cry?”
Another nod.
“Can you tell me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“They said Mommy goes away if I tell.”
Luca became perfectly still.
Elena’s breath caught.
He turned toward her.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Elena.”
“They were trying to scare her.”
“Who?”
She did not answer.
Luca stood.
“Who threatened your child?”
“It isn’t what you think.”
“That sentence has never once been followed by good news.”
Elena’s voice cracked.
“I need this job.”
“You have it.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
She looked toward the door as though measuring the distance.
Luca saw it.
He lowered his voice.
“No one outside this room knows what Mia told me this morning.”
Elena’s eyes flashed.
“That isn’t true.”
“What?”
“They know everything that happens in this house.”
Luca studied her.
“Who is ‘they’?”
Elena swallowed.
Before she could answer, Mia tugged at the stack of blank stationery on the desk.
“Can I draw?”
Luca slid the paper toward her.
“Yes.”
He handed her a box of colored pencils from a drawer—left there after a Christmas visit from his cousin’s children.
Mia immediately started drawing.
Elena whispered, “Please let this go.”
“I don’t do that.”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
Luca frowned.
“Are you afraid of me?”
Elena finally met his eyes.
“No.”
The answer surprised him.
“I’m afraid of what happens when powerful people start fighting.”
Luca had no response.
Because she was right.
Mia hummed softly.
She drew a large rectangle.
Then two figures.
One with gray hair.
One with yellow hair.
Luca watched.
“Who are they?”
Mia looked toward Elena.
Her mother shook her head almost imperceptibly.
Mia returned to the paper.
Instead of answering, she added something to the gray-haired figure.
A circle on one hand.
Luca’s gaze sharpened.
Victor wore a large silver signet ring.
He had worn it since Luca’s father gave it to him twenty-two years ago.
Mia colored the second figure’s hair yellow.
Then drew a long black line beneath both people.
“What’s that?”
“The downstairs.”
“Basement?”
“No.”
She frowned.
“The place with bottles.”
Wine cellar.
Luca felt the first true chill of the morning.
“What were they doing there?”
“They were talking to Mommy.”
Elena moved quickly.
“That’s enough.”
Mia dropped the pencil.
Her lower lip trembled.
Luca immediately softened his voice.
“She doesn’t have to say anything else.”
Elena scooped Mia from the chair.
“She should never have been involved.”
“You’re right.”
That surprised her.
Luca walked around the desk.
“She shouldn’t have been.”
He looked directly at Elena.
“But someone involved her when they threatened her.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“I can handle it.”
“No.”
“I have been handling it.”
“That mark on your wrist says otherwise.”
She looked down.
Luca continued.
“I want you and Mia moved to the east guest wing.”
“What?”
“There are cameras in the hall and only two access points.”
“I’m not hiding in your house.”
“You already live in the staff residence.”
“That’s different.”
“Then consider it a temporary reassignment.”
“I’m a maid.”
“Today you’re a guest.”
“I don’t want special treatment.”
“This isn’t special treatment.”
His voice became colder.
“It’s security.”
Elena stared at him.
“From Victor and Celeste?”
Luca did not answer.
He did not need to.
A knock sounded.
Elena jumped.
Mia hugged her rabbit.
Luca walked to the door.
Victor stood outside.
Behind him was Celeste.
“Morning,” Victor said.
Luca leaned against the frame.
“What do you need?”
“The Harbor Nine file.”
“Why?”
Celeste looked past him.
Her eyes landed on Elena.
Then on Mia.
Only for a moment.
But Mia immediately buried her face against her mother’s shoulder.
Luca saw it.
So did Elena.
Victor smiled.
“Something wrong?”
“No,” Luca said.
He closed the door in their faces.
Elena stared at him.
“That was Victor.”
“I know.”
“He’s been with your family forever.”
“I know that too.”
Mia whispered into Elena’s shoulder.
Luca approached.
“What did she say?”
Elena hesitated.
Mia lifted her face.
“The shiny man.”
Luca crouched.
“The shiny man?”
Mia pointed toward the door.
“His hand.”
The ring.
Luca’s stomach hardened.
“What about his hand?”
Mia squeezed her own wrist.
“Mommy said stop.”
The room went silent.
Elena began crying without sound.
And Luca finally understood.
The mark had not come from a pantry shelf.
Victor Rinaldi had put it there.
The man Luca had trusted for twenty-six years had grabbed a frightened woman inside Luca’s own home.
But why?
Luca rose slowly.
There were moments when anger felt hot.
This was not one of them.
This anger was ice.
“Elena.”
She wiped her eyes.
“What happened in the wine cellar?”
Her face collapsed.
“He wanted me to sign something.”
“What?”
“Delivery records.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why you?”
“Because housekeeping signs for dozens of shipments every week.”
Celeste’s role suddenly became obvious.
Legal paperwork.
Victor’s logistics.
Elena’s innocent signature.
“What did Celeste say?”
Elena whispered, “She said if I signed it, nothing would happen to me.”
“And if you refused?”
Elena hugged Mia tighter.
“She said there are a lot of good schools very far from Long Island.”
Luca stopped breathing for one second.
It was not an explicit threat.
People like Celeste knew better than to make explicit threats.
But Elena understood.
So did Luca.
Mia looked between them.
“Am I still the boss?”
Luca turned toward her.
“Yes.”
“For five minutes?”
He checked his watch.
“Your five minutes are over.”
Her face fell.
Then Luca added, “But I think you earned another meeting.”
Mia smiled.
Elena did not.
Because beyond the office door stood two people who had been trusted with everything.
And Luca Moretti had just discovered that someone had been using his empire behind his back.
The question was no longer whether Victor and Celeste were hiding something.
The question was how deep the betrayal went.
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And Luca intended to find out without letting them realize he was looking.
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