Chapter 3 - The Mark Elena Tried to Hide
Luca did not confront Victor.
That was the first thing Elena expected him to do.
It was also the first thing he deliberately avoided.
Angry men made noise.
Dangerous men listened.
By noon, Victor was laughing with two executives in the courtyard as though nothing had happened. Celeste took a conference call beneath the west terrace. Neither appeared worried.
That bothered Luca more than fear would have.
They believed they were safe.
He intended to keep them believing it.
Luca called Daniel Mercer, an independent forensic accountant who had never worked directly for the Moretti companies.
“I need you in New York.”
Daniel laughed.
“You say hello differently than normal people.”
“Tonight.”
“What am I looking at?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“That usually means trouble.”
“It usually does.”
Daniel became serious.
“Who knows?”
“No one.”
“Keep it that way.”
Luca ended the call.
When he turned, Elena was standing in the doorway.
She had changed out of her work uniform.
Jeans.
A cream sweater.
Mia slept against her shoulder.
Elena looked younger without the uniform.
More vulnerable too.
“Your housekeeper told me to bring our things upstairs.”
“I told her.”
“You can’t rearrange my life every time you’re concerned.”
“I can rearrange bedrooms.”
“You know what I mean.”
Luca nodded toward the sofa.
“Sit.”
“I’d rather stand.”
“So would I.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Mia moved in her sleep.
Elena sat.
Luca remained near the window.
“Tell me everything.”
She looked away.
“I already did.”
“No.”
“You know Victor grabbed me.”
“I know one moment.”
“I don’t want Mia involved.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then stop asking her questions.”
“I will.”
That surprised Elena.
“You will?”
“I’m asking you now.”
She looked at her daughter.
Then spoke.
“Three weeks ago, I was finishing downstairs after a dinner. Celeste asked me to bring two bottles from the wine cellar.”
“Normal?”
“Yes.”
“I went down. Victor was already there.”
“And?”
“There was a folder on the tasting table.”
“What kind?”
“Shipping paperwork.”
“How do you know?”
“My husband used to work freight.”
Luca turned.
“You never mentioned that.”
“You never asked.”
“What company?”
Elena hesitated.
“Moretti Freight.”
Everything inside Luca went still.
“Your husband worked for me?”
“Not directly.”
“Name?”
“Thomas Bennett.”
Luca knew the name.
Not well.
But enough.
Thomas Bennett had worked in internal logistics four years earlier.
Then he died in a highway accident.
Luca remembered because a review had been conducted afterward.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone when you applied here?”
“I needed the job.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Yes, it is.”
She finally looked at him.
“People hear ‘widow of a former employee’ and start wondering whether I want something. Money. Sympathy. A lawsuit. I wanted work.”
Luca accepted that.
“What did Victor want?”
“A signature.”
“On what?”
“Receiving documents for kitchen equipment.”
“Why refuse?”
“The numbers were wrong.”
“How could you know?”
“Thomas taught me more about freight paperwork than I ever wanted to know.”
Her smile was sad.
“The weight listed on the manifest was nearly six tons.”
“For kitchen equipment?”
“Exactly.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“What destination?”
“Harbor Nine.”
There it was again.
Victor had called Harbor Nine a forty-million-dollar commercial redevelopment contract.
But apparently freight was moving through it.
“What happened?”
“I told Victor the paperwork looked wrong. Celeste said it was an administrative correction.”
“And you still refused.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena's expression darkened.
“Because Thomas used to say that whenever someone powerful calls a lie an administrative correction, you should read the page twice.”
Luca almost smiled.
“He sounds intelligent.”
“He was.”
A painful pause.
“Victor grabbed my wrist when I tried to leave.”
Luca’s hand tightened around the edge of the desk.
“What did Celeste do?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“She watched.”
Sometimes doing nothing told you everything.
Elena continued.
“Victor told me to stop pretending I understood things above my pay grade.”
“And then?”
“I said no again.”
“He let you go?”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
“Mia walked in.”
Luca stared.
“She was supposed to be asleep in the staff apartment. But she’d been having nightmares, so one of the older housekeepers brought her looking for me.”
That explained everything.
The drawing.
The wine cellar.
The ring.
Celeste.
“Victor threatened Mia?”
“Not directly.”
“Tell me his exact words.”
Elena’s eyes became wet.
“He looked at Mia and said, ‘Children need stability. It would be unfortunate if her mother made choices that took that away.’”
Luca stared out toward Long Island Sound.
Victor had known Luca for more than half his life.
Victor knew Luca’s rules.
Families were not tools.
Children were never leverage.
Not ever.
“What did you do?”
“I signed one page.”
Luca looked back.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For signing it.”
“You were protecting your daughter.”
“That doesn’t make it legal.”
“I didn’t ask whether it was legal.”
She seemed stunned by the answer.
Luca continued.
“What happened to the paperwork?”
“Victor took it.”
“Anything else?”
Elena hesitated.
That hesitation told him there was.
“What?”
“Thomas used to keep copies.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
Before Luca could respond, Mia woke.
She rubbed her eyes.
“Mommy?”
“I’m here.”
Mia saw Luca.
“You.”
“Me.”
“Chair?”
“Not today.”
Her face fell.
Luca added, “Tomorrow.”
She accepted this.
Then she whispered something into Elena’s ear.
Elena stiffened.
“What did she say?”
“She said she knows where the yellow lady put the black book.”
Luca looked at Mia.
“What black book?”
Mia pointed toward the floor.
“Bottle room.”
Elena went pale.
“Mia, when did you see that?”
“When shiny man made you sad.”
Luca crouched.
“You saw Celeste hide a book?”
Mia nodded.
“Where?”
She pointed toward the wall.
“Lion.”
Luca’s office contained lion sculptures.
So did several rooms in the mansion.
But only one lion stood in the wine cellar.
A bronze statue his father had bought in Florence.
Luca rose.
“Elena, stay here.”
“Where are you going?”
“To look behind a lion.”
He walked toward the door.
Elena grabbed his sleeve.
“Luca.”
It was the first time she had used his first name.
He looked down at her hand.
She released him quickly.
“If they realize Mia saw something—”
“They won’t.”
“How can you promise that?”
Luca met her eyes.
“Because from this moment forward, Victor and Celeste don’t get near either of you without going through me.”
Elena studied him.
For the first time since he had known her, the fear in her expression eased.
Only slightly.
But it was there.
Luca descended toward the cellar alone.
He did not know what he would find behind the bronze lion.
Perhaps nothing.
Perhaps a child had misunderstood.
But when he reached the wine cellar, he noticed something immediately.
The bronze statue had been moved.
Only an inch.
To anyone else it would have meant nothing.
Luca had grown up in this house.
That lion had stood in exactly the same spot for seventeen years.
He moved it aside.
Behind it, a narrow section of wood paneling was scratched near the bottom.
Luca pressed against the panel.
Click.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside lay an empty space.
Whatever had been there was gone.
Almost.
In the corner remained one torn piece of black leather.
And embossed into that leather in silver letters were two words.
HARBOR NINE.
Someone had returned for the book.
Someone knew it mattered.
May you like
And that meant Luca was no longer the only person investigating.
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