Chapter 3 - My Father’s Locked Drawer
We left Chicago before sunrise.
Luca drove.
I sat in the passenger seat, watching the city disappear behind us.
The entire time, I kept thinking about the photograph.
My father standing beside Daniel Moretti.
Seven years ago.
A year after Daniel disappeared.
It meant my father had known the Moretti heir was alive.
And if he knew Daniel was alive, why had he never told me?
The answer terrified me.
When we reached my parents' house outside Milwaukee, my mother opened the door and nearly dropped the mug in her hand.
“Emma?”
Then she saw Luca.
Her expression changed immediately.
“What happened?”
“Mom, where's Dad?”
“In the workshop.”
I ran.
My father's workshop smelled exactly as it always had.
Oil.
Wood.
Metal.
Old leather.
He sat at his bench with a magnifying loupe over one eye.
When he looked up and saw me, he smiled.
Then he saw Luca.
The smile disappeared.
“You brought him here.”
My heart stopped.
“You know him?”
My father removed the loupe.
“I know his family.”
Luca closed the workshop door.
“Mr. Reed, I need answers.”
My father sighed.
“I knew this day would come.”
My mother entered behind us.
“What is happening?”
Dad looked at her.
“It's time.”
My mother started crying.
I had never seen her cry like that.
Not even when Dad had his stroke.
“What did you two hide from me?”
Dad pointed toward an old cabinet.
“Third drawer.”
I opened it.
Inside were hundreds of watch parts.
Underneath them was a locked wooden box.
My father gave me the key.
My hands trembled.
Inside were documents.
A photograph.
And a silver pocket watch.
Luca stepped closer.
“That's my father's.”
Dad nodded.
“I repaired it.”
“When?”
“The night Daniel brought it to me.”
Luca's face tightened.
“You saw Daniel after he disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Almost three years.”
The room went silent.
I stared at my father.
“You knew he was alive for three years?”
“I had no choice.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because if I told you, they'd kill you.”
“Who?”
Dad looked at Luca.
“Your father's people weren't the only ones looking for Daniel.”
Luca frowned.
“Who else?”
“Your father’s business partner.”
“Victor Hale.”
Dad nodded.
“Victor wasn't trying to kill Daniel at first. He wanted to control him.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel had discovered the money.”
“What money?”
Dad opened the box.
Inside were ledgers.
Offshore accounts.
Property transfers.
Names.
Payments.
My stomach twisted.
“This is what Victor was hiding?”
“Not only Victor.”
My father looked at me.
“Giovanni Bellini was involved.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“And Vanessa?”
Dad closed his eyes.
“She knew.”
Luca took a step forward.
“What did she know?”
“That Daniel was alive.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
My whole body froze.
“Daniel lived here?”
Dad nodded.
“For a short time.”
“You're telling me the man in that photograph actually stood in this workshop?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't I meet him?”
“Because you were away at college.”
I looked at my father.
“Why protect him?”
“Because he saved my life.”
Luca stared at him.
“Explain.”
“Three weeks before Daniel disappeared, I accidentally repaired a watch belonging to Victor Hale. Inside the casing, I found a memory card.”
Luca went still.
“A memory card?”
“Tiny. Hidden.”
“What was on it?”
“Transactions.”
Dad looked at me.
“Enough to destroy powerful people.”
“Then why did Daniel get involved?”
“Because I gave the information to him.”
Luca's voice dropped.
“You helped him run.”
“No.”
Dad shook his head.
“I helped him hide.”
“And after that?”
“He built a new life.”
“Where?”
My father hesitated.
“Canada.”
I exhaled.
“Is he alive?”
Dad looked at Luca.
“Yes.”
Luca closed his eyes.
For eight years, he had searched for his brother.
And Daniel had been alive.
My father handed Luca a folded photograph.
Daniel stood in front of a small cabin.
Older.
Bearded.
But unmistakably him.
The date was six months earlier.
Luca stared at the image.
“Why hasn't he come home?”
“Because he believes someone inside your family betrayed him.”
“Who?”
Dad shook his head.
“That's why he disappeared.”
Luca looked at me.
“You said my mother might be involved.”
Dad's expression changed.
“Your mother was trying to protect him.”
Luca froze.
“What?”
“She knew Victor wanted Daniel dead.”
“Then why did Daniel think she betrayed him?”
“Because someone forged her letters.”
I stepped closer.
“Who?”
Dad looked at me.
“Vanessa.”
My stomach turned.
“Vanessa forged letters from Luca's mother telling Daniel he was no longer welcome.”
Luca's eyes went dark.
“She wanted him gone.”
“Why?”
Dad gave him the hardest truth yet.
“Because Daniel knew she had been meeting Victor.”
Silence.
I remembered Vanessa's frightened face.
The watch.
The blood.
The hidden room.
Everything connected.
But then my father said something that made the room colder.
“There's another problem.”
“What?”
“Vanessa wasn't acting alone.”
Luca's phone rang.
He answered.
“Moretti.”
A guard spoke quickly.
Luca's expression became grim.
“Repeat that.”
He listened.
Then he looked at me.
“Your mother has disappeared.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“She went outside twenty minutes ago.”
I ran toward the front door.
There was no sign of her.
A black car had been seen near the house.
My mother would never leave without telling me.
Luca immediately called his security team.
My father looked like he'd aged ten years in minutes.
“She's leverage.”
“For what?”
He stared at the photograph of Daniel.
“To force us to bring him back.”
I looked at Luca.
“Can you find her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He took my hand.
“We start with Vanessa.”
We returned to Chicago.
Vanessa was found twelve hours later in a motel room under an alias.
She had no makeup.
No designer dress.
No diamonds.
She looked exhausted.
When Luca walked in, she stared at him.
“I didn't take your mother.”
“You had her people take mine.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know where she is.”
“Who does?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because they will kill her.”
“Who?”
Vanessa looked at me.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
She lowered her head.
“For what happened to your father.”
I stopped.
“What happened to my father?”
Vanessa looked at Luca.
He moved closer.
“Speak.”
“Eight years ago, when Daniel disappeared, Victor needed someone to carry the evidence.”
My father's face flashed in my mind.
“What evidence?”
“The ledger.”
She looked at me.
“Your father kept it hidden.”
Luca turned.
“Where is it?”
Vanessa smiled sadly.
“That is the question.”
She paused.
“Because Daniel took the original.”
Luca stared.
“You're saying Daniel has proof.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you still helping Victor?”
Vanessa's voice broke.
“Because I was seventeen when my father started using me.”
I looked at her.
“Seventeen?”
“He made me pass messages. Open accounts. Deliver packages.”
She shook.
“By the time I understood what he was doing, I was trapped.”
Luca watched her.
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“You became my fiancée.”
“I thought marrying you would protect me.”
“And Daniel?”
“He was the only one who could expose my father.”
“Yet you helped drive him away.”
“I tried to stop him.”
“By lying.”
Vanessa covered her face.
“I thought if he disappeared, nobody would die.”
A bitter laugh escaped Luca.
“My brother vanished for eight years.”
“I know.”
Then Vanessa looked at me.
“Emma.”
I stiffened.
“Your father didn't just help Daniel.”
“What?”
“He made a copy of the ledger.”
My father's workshop flashed through my mind.
The locked drawer.
The pocket watch.
The hidden photographs.
Vanessa whispered:
“The copy is still in your house.”
I felt sick.
“My father said the ledger was gone.”
“He lied.”
“Where is it?”
Vanessa's eyes moved to Luca.
“Inside something no one would think to open.”
May you like
She looked at me.
“His oldest watch.”
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