Chapter 3 - The Photograph Under the Floor
The mansion became a fortress before sunrise.
No one entered.
No one left.
The Chicago police never came because Luca had no intention of explaining gunfire inside his own house.
Instead, his security team searched every corridor.
They found a bullet lodged in the wall outside the old office.
No body.
No intruder.
No explanation.
Vanessa disappeared into the guest room under guard.
And I remained beside Luca because, somehow, I had become part of the secret.
At six in the morning, Luca found me in the kitchen.
I was drinking coffee.
"You should be sleeping."
"So should you."
He leaned against the counter.
"You aren't afraid of me."
"I am."
He looked surprised.
"I just don't think you're the person I should be afraid of."
Something softened in his eyes.
"My mother trusted people too easily."
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"She may have trusted carefully and simply had too many people lying to her."
He gave a small smile.
"You're difficult."
"I've been told."
He sat across from me.
"Arthur Vale was my mother's first husband."
"You didn't know?"
"No."
"Then why did Vanessa say he built your father's empire?"
"Because that part might be true."
He rubbed his forehead.
"My father started with nothing."
"Most empires do."
"My mother came from money."
"How much?"
"A lot."
He looked toward the window.
"Arthur handled her accounts."
I remembered the file.
"What happened?"
"My father and Arthur became partners."
"And then enemies?"
"Apparently."
He stared at me.
"My mother died two weeks after she changed her will."
"What did the will say?"
"It left everything to me."
"That's motive."
"For whom?"
"Anyone who wanted the money."
He nodded.
"Vanessa's family."
"Maybe."
"Arthur."
"Maybe."
Luca looked at me.
"What about you?"
I blinked.
"What about me?"
"Why were you chosen for this job?"
"I applied."
"Do you know how many people apply to work here?"
"No."
"Two hundred and twelve."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"Last year."
"Then why hire me?"
"You were recommended."
"By whom?"
He went silent.
"Who recommended me?"
"An anonymous reference."
I laughed nervously.
"That's not normal."
"No."
He pulled out a folder.
My employment file.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Good with children. Keeps secrets. Trustworthy under pressure.
"I don't have children," I said.
"Exactly."
Then I understood.
Someone had written the recommendation before meeting me.
I stood.
"I need to know who."
"We'll find out."
"No."
Luca looked up.
"I'm tired of being the person everyone protects."
"You're not."
"I am."
I placed my hand on the file.
"Someone brought me into this house intentionally."
He didn't deny it.
"And I think they wanted me close to your family."
The kitchen door opened.
Daniel entered.
"We found something."
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed the rear entrance of the mansion.
Date: eleven months ago.
One week before I was hired.
A man stood outside.
Arthur Vale.
Beside him was another person.
Luca picked up the photograph.
"That's Vanessa's father."
Daniel nodded.
"They met twice before Vanessa became your fiancée."
Luca stared.
"My mother warned me."
"About Vanessa?"
He turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
The girl is bait. Find the Parker connection.
My stomach dropped.
"Why does it say Parker?"
Luca looked at me.
"I don't know."
I shook my head.
"My family isn't connected to yours."
"What's your father's name?"
"John Parker."
Daniel looked up.
"Was he in law enforcement?"
"No."
"Finance?"
"No."
"What did he do?"
"He drove delivery trucks."
"Did he ever work for the Morettis?"
I thought about it.
"No."
Then an old memory surfaced.
"Wait."
"What?"
"When I was a kid, my father used to mention a man named Moretti."
Luca stood.
"What did he say?"
"He said the man had saved his life."
"When?"
"Before I was born."
"What else?"
"He wouldn't talk about it."
I felt suddenly cold.
"I think my father knew your father."
Daniel pulled out his phone.
"We can run the name."
"Don't."
Both men looked at me.
"My father is dead."
"When?"
"Eight years ago."
"What happened?"
"Car accident."
Luca's expression changed.
"Accident?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"My mother was with him."
"And she survived?"
"No."
Silence filled the kitchen.
"Both died?"
I nodded.
Luca stared at me.
"Same accident?"
"Yes."
Daniel slowly lowered his phone.
"Boss..."
"What?"
"There was an unsolved crash eight years ago involving a Moretti-owned vehicle."
I froze.
"My parents weren't in a Moretti car."
Daniel looked at me.
"Then why was their accident report sealed?"
That was the moment the floor seemed to shift.
We spent the next three hours digging.
The report had missing pages.
The tow record was altered.
The insurance payout was routed through a company owned by Bellini Holdings.
And the only witness disappeared.
I could barely breathe.
"My parents didn't die by accident."
Luca didn't answer.
We returned to the old office.
The clue from Elena said the truth was in the room where Luca first learned to lie.
"What room was that?" I asked.
"An old storage room."
"Why did you lie there?"
"I was sixteen."
"About what?"
"I hid from my father."
"From him?"
"He was angry."
"Why?"
Luca walked toward the floorboards.
"My mother had disappeared for three days."
He knelt.
"She was looking for something."
"What?"
"I never knew."
He ran his fingers along the boards.
"Then I found her here."
He pressed against a loose plank.
It lifted.
Underneath was a photograph.
Three people.
Elena.
Arthur.
And John Parker.
My father.
I stopped breathing.
Luca stared at me.
"He knew your father."
I picked up the photograph.
On the back was one sentence.
John knows where the original ledger is.
My hands shook.
"My father."
"We need to find it."
"He died."
"Then someone knows where he hid it."
A sound came from the hallway.
Vanessa.
She stood behind us.
"I know."
Luca turned.
"You know where the ledger is?"
"No."
"Then what do you know?"
She wiped away a tear.
"Arthur doesn't want the ledger."
Luca stepped closer.
"What does he want?"
"You."
Silence.
"He has been watching you for twenty years."
"Why?"
Vanessa looked at me.
"Because he believes your father took something from him."
"What?"
She whispered,
"The proof that Arthur ordered Elena's death."
Luca went still.
Vanessa looked at me again.
"And the only person who can prove where the evidence is hidden..."
She pointed at me.
"...is you."
I laughed in disbelief.
"I was a child."
Vanessa shook her head.
"That's why your father trusted you."
"I don't remember anything."
"You don't remember because your father made you forget."
Luca frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Vanessa looked at him.
"He hid a message inside the one thing your mother gave Hannah before she died."
I stared at her.
"My mother never met Hannah."
"She did."
"What?"
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"Your mother saved you when you were six."
Luca looked confused.
Then Vanessa said the words that changed everything.
"Your family called it a charity hospital visit."
"It wasn't," Luca whispered.
"No."
"What happened?"
"Elena met Hannah's mother there."
My head spun.
My mother.
Elena.
The hospital.
A memory surfaced.
A silver-haired woman.
A red scarf.
A hand touching my forehead.
A voice whispering,
"One day, sweetheart, you'll understand why your father asked me to watch over you."
I stumbled backward.
Luca caught me.
"You're remembering."
I looked at him.
"I think I am."
Then the lights flickered.
Daniel shouted from downstairs.
"We found a car outside!"
Luca grabbed his gun.
"Whose?"
Daniel's voice came back over the radio.
"Arthur Vale's."
And on the windshield of the black sedan was a white envelope.
May you like
Hannah Parker.
Written in my father's handwriting.
