Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO WORE MY FATHER'S WATCH
“Don't let him near your mother.”
Daniel's warning came through Luca's phone.
I was already moving toward Isabella's hospital room.
Luca caught my arm gently.
“Emily, stay behind me.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“That man has been following Anna. We don't know why.”
“And your mother is the one person who might recognize him.”
Luca hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Together.”
We hurried into the corridor.
The waiting area was almost empty.
A television played silently above rows of blue chairs.
Near the vending machines stood a tall man in a dark wool coat.
Gray threaded through his black hair.
He held a paper coffee cup but hadn't taken a sip.
When he saw us, his face changed.
Not with fear.
With recognition.
He looked directly at me.
“Emily Carter.”
I stopped.
Luca stepped in front of me.
“Who are you?”
The man slowly set down his coffee.
“My name is Michael Reed.”
My heart seemed to stop.
Michael Reed.
The man Catherine said was my biological father.
The man Anna had loved twenty-five years earlier.
I stared at him.
“You're supposed to be gone.”
His expression tightened.
“I was.”
“Where?”
He looked toward Luca.
“Far enough away that your grandfather couldn't reach me.”
Luca's voice hardened.
“My father died four years ago.”
Michael nodded.
“I know.”
“Then why didn't you come back?”
Michael looked at me.
“Because by the time I learned where you were, someone else was already raising you.”
Anger rose in my throat.
“You could have called.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“On your eighteenth birthday.”
I remembered that day.
Catherine had baked a chocolate cake.
Thomas had been dead four years.
I'd spent most of the evening missing him.
“Nobody called me,” I whispered.
Michael's face fell.
“I know. Richard Bellini intercepted my letter.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Everything seems to lead back to Richard.”
Michael looked at him.
“Because your father let Richard become the keeper of every family secret.”
I wanted to believe Michael.
Part of me desperately did.
But seventeen years of missing letters had taught me something.
A story could sound convincing and still be carefully arranged.
“Why were you following Anna yesterday?” I asked.
Michael looked startled.
“Who told you that?”
“We saw the photograph.”
He closed his eyes.
“I wasn't following her. She asked me to watch the bakery.”
“Why?”
“Because she was afraid Richard would find her.”
Luca folded his arms.
“Where is Anna now?”
Michael hesitated.
Then reached into his coat.
Luca immediately moved closer.
“Slowly.”
Michael withdrew an old silver pocket watch.
Its glass was cracked.
The chain had been repaired with a small piece of copper wire.
He held it out to me.
“Your mother asked me to give you this if we couldn't reach her.”
I stared at the watch.
It looked ordinary.
Except for the initials engraved inside the lid.
T.C.
Thomas Carter.
My father.
The man who had raised me.
I took it with shaking hands.
“Where did you get this?”
Michael's eyes filled.
“Thomas gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Two months before he died.”
I opened the watch.
Inside was a tiny photograph of Catherine holding me as a toddler.
On the opposite side, Thomas had scratched a sentence into the silver.
Love her enough to let her choose.
My throat tightened.
Michael watched me carefully.
“Thomas knew I was your father. He didn't hate me for it.”
I looked up.
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he promised Anna that you would decide when you were ready to hear the truth.”
I shook my head.
“He died before I could decide.”
Michael lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
For the first time, he looked less like a stranger carrying answers and more like a man who had spent years regretting the same choice.
Inside Isabella's room, Michael stopped at the doorway.
She was sitting upright, her injured ankle supported by pillows.
When she saw him, her face changed.
“Michael?”
He approached slowly.
“Hello, Isabella.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“You... came.”
He nodded.
“Anna asked me to.”
Luca looked between them.
“You knew he was alive?”
Isabella lowered her eyes.
Michael answered.
“She knew I was trying to find Anna. We spoke after Vittorio died.”
“Why didn't you tell me?” Luca asked.
Isabella looked at her son.
“Afraid.”
Luca sat beside her.
“Of Richard?”
She nodded.
Michael placed his hands on the bedrail.
“Richard controlled the family trust, the property transfers, and the correspondence. Vittorio trusted him more than his own children.”
Luca looked bitter.
“I knew he was ruthless.”
Michael shook his head.
“You knew what he wanted you to see.”
Then he turned toward me.
“Emily, your mother didn't abandon you because she wanted a different life.”
I gripped the watch.
“Then why?”
“Because she discovered that Richard was using your grandfather's businesses to move money into private accounts.”
Luca stiffened.
“That's impossible. My father personally approved every major transfer.”
Michael looked at him.
“Exactly.”
The silence felt suddenly heavy.
“Vittorio knew?” Luca asked.
“He knew about the transfers,” Michael said. “But he didn't know Richard was also taking money from Anna's inheritance.”
“And the original ledger?” I asked.
Michael nodded.
“It recorded everything. Every account. Every false invoice. Every signature.”
“Where is it?”
“Anna found part of it. That's why she returned.”
Luca leaned forward.
“What does any of this have to do with our wedding?”
Michael looked toward Isabella.
“Tell him.”
The old woman began trembling.
“Promise.”
Luca frowned.
“What promise?”
Isabella looked at me.
“Emily... first.”
I sat beside her.
She reached for the bracelet on my wrist.
Then she whispered, “Not... money.”
“What isn't about money?”
“Marriage.”
Luca's expression changed.
Michael answered.
“Your father's estate included a family voting trust. After his death, you controlled most of it. But there was a provision tied to Anna's interest.”
“What provision?”
Michael took a breath.
“If Anna couldn't be located, Richard would continue administering her portion. Vanessa's marriage to you would give her access to certain family decisions through the agreements Richard prepared.”
Luca stared at him.
“I never signed any such agreement.”
“Not yet.”
Michael looked toward the door.
“Richard planned to put the paperwork in front of you before the wedding.”
Luca stood.
“Then the wedding is canceled.”
Isabella squeezed his hand.
“Good.”
But Michael didn't look relieved.
“Canceling the wedding won't stop Richard now.”
“Why?”
“Because he already knows Anna returned. And he knows Emily is her daughter.”
I swallowed.
“Was he planning to use me?”
Michael nodded.
“The false payment in your room is part of it. If Richard can make Anna look dishonest and Emily look like her accomplice, he can challenge anything Anna brings forward.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Then we'll give the police everything.”
Michael looked at him.
“You should. But first you need to find Anna.”
“Why?”
“Because she has the original will.”
I stared at him.
“Do you know where she went?”
Michael hesitated.
Then Isabella reached beneath her pillow.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Her fingers shook as she handed it to me.
It was a child's drawing.
A little yellow house.
A tree with red apples.
And three stick figures standing beside a blue car.
At the bottom, in uneven handwriting, were the words:
For Grandma Isabella. Love, Lucy.
I frowned.
“Who's Lucy?”
Michael looked away.
Isabella touched the drawing.
“Anna's... little girl.”
My heart began pounding.
“Anna has another daughter?”
Michael nodded slowly.
“Lucy is eight.”
I stared at the drawing.
An eight-year-old sister.
A child I'd never met.
“Where is she?”
Michael's face tightened.
“That's what Anna was trying to find out.”
Luca looked sharply at him.
“What do you mean?”
Michael took a shaky breath.
“Three days ago, Lucy was supposed to be picked up from school by someone Anna trusted. But Richard's office filed an emergency petition claiming Anna was unable to care for her.”
My stomach turned.
“Where did they take her?”
“A temporary placement arranged through a court proceeding. Anna has been trying to challenge it.”
I looked at the child's drawing.
“She must be terrified.”
Michael nodded.
“Anna was on her way to meet the court-appointed representative this morning.”
“Why didn't you tell us sooner?” Luca demanded.
“Because Anna made me promise not to involve you until she had proof.”
Luca stared at him.
“And now?”
Michael reached into his coat again.
This time, he removed a photocopy of a court notice.
He handed it to Luca.
The hearing was scheduled for the following morning.
At the bottom was the name of the attorney who had submitted the emergency petition.
RICHARD BELLINI.
But it wasn't the attorney's name that made my blood run cold.
It was the person listed as the proposed temporary caregiver.
VANESSA BELLINI.
I looked toward Luca.
“Your fiancée is trying to take my little sister.”
Michael shook his head.
“That's not all.”
He pointed to a paragraph near the bottom.
Luca read it aloud.
“Petitioner alleges that the child's mother has been receiving improper financial assistance from an employee of the Moretti household.”
His voice broke off.
Then he looked at me.
“Emily.”
I understood immediately.
The cash in my bedroom.
The forged transfer.
The accusations.
They weren't merely designed to ruin my reputation.
May you like
They were being used to separate Anna from her daughter.
And the hearing was less than twelve hours away.
