Chapter 4 - The Secret Inside the Watchmaker’s Watch
We returned to Milwaukee under heavy security.
My father's workshop looked different now.
Not because the furniture had changed.
Because I knew what might be hidden inside it.
The oldest watch sat on the bench.
It had belonged to my grandfather.
A battered gold pocket watch that had stopped twenty years ago.
Dad had always told me it wasn't worth repairing.
Now I knew better.
Luca stood beside me.
“Open it.”
I used the tiny screwdriver.
The back plate came loose.
Inside, beneath the movement, was a small sealed compartment.
I stared.
Dad had hidden something there.
Luca opened it.
A microfilm strip.
A tiny data chip.
And one handwritten note.
“If Emma ever finds this, she is ready to know the truth.”
My chest tightened.
Luca looked at me.
“You should read it.”
I unfolded the paper.
Emma,
I lied to protect you.
Daniel Moretti came to me the night he disappeared because he knew someone intended to frame him for murder.
He gave me proof.
He also told me something I could never forget.
He said Luca would eventually become the man his family needed.
But only if he survived the people around him.
Dad.
I read the rest with trembling hands.
Daniel believed Victor had infiltrated the Moretti organization through Giovanni Bellini.
But there was another person.
Someone closer.
Someone everyone trusted.
Luca took the letter.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then he froze.
“There.”
I looked.
A name.
Sofia Moretti.
Luca's mother.
Except Daniel hadn't written that she was a traitor.
He had written that she was being blackmailed.
Victor had threatened her.
If she warned Luca, he would kill Daniel.
She had stayed silent to protect her son.
But Daniel didn't know.
Someone had forged the letters that convinced him she had betrayed him.
The forger was Vanessa.
Luca leaned against the table.
For the first time, he looked broken.
“My mother carried this alone.”
I put a hand on his shoulder.
He looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
He nodded.
Then we heard a noise outside.
A car.
Luca immediately reached for his gun.
“Stay behind me.”
The lights of a black SUV swept across the workshop windows.
Then another.
Then a third.
My heart raced.
Men stepped out.
“Who's that?” I whispered.
“Victor's people.”
The workshop doors exploded inward.
Everything happened at once.
Luca pushed me behind the workbench.
Gunfire shattered glass.
My father fell to the floor.
“Dad!”
I ran toward him.
Luca grabbed me.
“He's hit?”
“No!”
Dad groaned.
A bullet had struck the wooden panel beside him, missing him by inches.
Security returned fire.
Within minutes, the attackers fled.
But one thing had been stolen.
The microfilm.
The chip.
Gone.
I turned toward the door.
“They took it.”
Luca nodded.
“No.”
He looked at my father.
Dad was holding the gold pocket watch.
He smiled weakly.
“They took the copies.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“What about the original?”
Dad pulled out another object.
A memory card.
“I hid it somewhere they couldn't find.”
“Where?”
Dad looked at me.
“Your mother.”
My blood went cold.
We had forgotten she was still missing.
Luca called every contact.
Nothing.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Emma.”
My mother's voice.
“Mom!”
“I need you to listen.”
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Who has you?”
A man's voice came from the background.
“Enough.”
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
Luca took the phone.
“Trace it.”
His security team tried.
The number was routed through three countries.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
My mother tied to a chair.
And beside her stood Victor Hale.
Under the image were six words:
BRING DANIEL OR SHE DIES TONIGHT.
My father whispered:
“He knows.”
Luca stared at the photograph.
“Knows what?”
“Daniel came back.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
Dad pointed toward the door.
“The man who brought the watch wasn't a stranger.”
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Dad swallowed.
“Daniel.”
The room became silent.
I stared.
“The man at the service entrance…”
“Was my son,” Dad said.
Luca looked like he had been struck.
“You knew?”
“I recognized him.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Daniel asked me not to.”
“Where is he now?”
Dad shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Luca turned away.
His shoulders stiffened.
“He was at my house.”
“Yes.”
“And he left without speaking to me.”
“He couldn't.”
“Why?”
Dad's answer was quiet.
“Because he saw Vanessa.”
I remembered the way the delivery man had looked toward the mansion.
The scar.
The gray coat.
The careful voice.
“He knew she was there.”
“Yes.”
“And he left the watch.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dad looked at me.
“Because he wanted you to uncover the truth.”
I felt something shift inside me.
The entire thing had been designed.
The watch.
The box.
The hidden room.
My name.
Daniel had chosen me.
But why?
Dad answered before I could ask.
“Because Daniel knew Luca would trust you.”
Luca looked at him.
“Why would he trust Emma?”
Dad smiled faintly.
“Because you were the only person in that mansion who never cared what his name was.”
I looked away.
I hadn't realized how much Luca had been watching me.
Neither had I realized how much I had started watching him.
But there was no time for feelings.
My mother was still missing.
And Daniel was somewhere in Chicago.
That night, Luca gathered his entire team.
“We're going to Victor,” he said.
“How?”
“We make him think we have Daniel.”
I looked at him.
“Do we?”
Luca met my eyes.
“No.”
Then he handed me the pocket watch.
“Emma, I need you to do something.”
“What?”
“Lie.”
I stared at him.
“I've never been good at it.”
“That is why you'll be convincing.”
He explained the plan.
We would leak a message that I had the original ledger.
Victor would come for me.
He wouldn't know where I had it.
And Luca would follow.
It was dangerous.
But it was our only chance.
Before we left, Luca stopped me.
“If anything happens, you run.”
I nodded.
“You too.”
He almost smiled.
“I don't run.”
“I know.”
Then he looked at the pocket watch.
“I owe you more than I can repay.”
“You don't owe me anything.”
“I do.”
He stepped closer.
“For eight years, everyone around me lied.”
His eyes stayed on mine.
“You didn't.”
May you like
For the first time, I realized how dangerous trust could be.
And how much I wanted his.
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