Chapter 3 - THE WATCH THAT HELD A DEAD WOMAN'S WARNING
“Don't touch Anthony's watch,” Emma said immediately.
Luca looked up from his sister's note.
“Why?”
“Because whoever replaced Rosie's key might already know there's something hidden inside it.”
Daniel was standing nearby.
He read the message over Luca's shoulder.
“Sir, Anthony never takes that watch off.”
Luca knew the watch.
A heavy gold timepiece with a dark leather strap.
Their grandfather, Vittorio Moretti, had given it to Anthony on his twenty-first birthday.
Anthony wore it to weddings, funerals, business meetings, and family dinners.
Even when the strap cracked, he refused to replace it.
Luca had always assumed it was sentimental.
Now he wondered what else his younger brother had been carrying.
Rosie tugged Emma's sleeve.
“Is my real key gone forever?”
Emma knelt carefully, protecting her injured hand.
“I don't know, sweetheart. But we're going to try to find it.”
“Mommy said it was important.”
“I know.”
“She said it was for when I was bigger.”
Emma gently tucked the necklace beneath Rosie's pajamas.
“Then we'll make sure you get to keep what's yours.”
Luca watched the exchange.
He had bought Rosie expensive toys, taken her on vacations, and filled her bedroom with everything a child could want.
But Emma had given her something far more important.
She had listened.
At seven the following morning, Luca found Anthony waiting outside the courthouse.
His younger brother wore a charcoal suit.
The gold watch rested against his wrist.
Beside him stood Vanessa.
She had changed into a modest cream dress.
There was no engagement ring on her finger.
Anthony approached first.
“Luca, I wish we could have settled this privately.”
“You filed a petition accusing me of endangering two children.”
“Because those children are in danger.”
“From whom?”
Anthony hesitated.
“Look at the people you employ. Look at the business you've inherited. Sofia wanted a different life for Ben and Rosie.”
Luca couldn't deny the truth buried in those words.
But he wasn't willing to accept a lie wrapped around it.
“You filed your petition before Rosie was nearly burned.”
Anthony's expression barely changed.
“The petition was already being prepared.”
“And the incident report?”
“I didn't write it.”
Luca looked toward Vanessa.
She stared past him.
“Where's Rosie's key?” Luca asked.
Anthony blinked.
“What?”
“The brass key Sofia left her.”
“I don't know.”
“Rosie says you fixed her necklace.”
“The clasp was loose. I repaired it.”
“Did you replace the key?”
Anthony's eyes shifted toward Vanessa.
Only for a second.
But Luca saw it.
“Not here,” Anthony said.
Then he walked inside.
The hearing lasted nearly three hours.
Anthony's attorney presented photographs of armed security guards near the mansion.
There were reports of suspicious vehicles.
Records of threatening letters sent to Luca's office.
None of it was fabricated.
Luca sat quietly as the life he had built was laid before a judge.
Then Vanessa's written statement was introduced.
It described Emma as careless, unstable, and responsible for the accident.
Helen challenged the timing.
The judge examined the documents.
“Mrs. Ashford, why was your statement prepared before the incident occurred?”
Vanessa leaned toward the microphone.
“I was describing a pattern of negligence. The final report was attached afterward.”
“Who prepared that attachment?”
“The household supervisor.”
Helen produced the kitchen security footage.
At 3:15 p.m., Emma was collecting table linens.
She wasn't anywhere near the urn.
Vanessa's attorney objected, arguing that the footage did not show what happened outside the playroom.
The judge agreed that the recording was incomplete.
But the false location in the incident report remained unexplained.
Then Emma was called to speak.
She wore an inexpensive navy dress.
Her injured hand rested in her lap.
Vanessa watched her with unmistakable hostility.
“Miss Sullivan,” Helen asked, “did you move the urn into the hallway?”
“No.”
“Did you spill the water?”
“No.”
“Why were you burned?”
“Rosie was standing beside the urn when it started tipping. I reached across her to push her away.”
“Did anyone try to stop you?”
Emma looked at Vanessa.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Miss Ashford.”
Vanessa's lawyer rose.
“Miss Sullivan, isn't it true that you depend entirely on Mr. Moretti for your employment?”
“Yes.”
“And that losing your job would create serious financial problems?”
“Yes.”
“So you have a strong reason to say whatever he wants you to say.”
Emma took a breath.
“My mother had a stroke two years ago.”
The courtroom became quiet.
“She needs help every day. I work because I love her, and because she took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself.”
The attorney waited.
“But none of that changes what happened to Rosie.”
Emma raised her bandaged hand.
“I would have protected that little girl even if I'd known I was getting fired.”
Luca lowered his eyes.
He had spent the previous night worrying about the money in Sofia's trust.
Emma had been worrying about a child.
The judge ordered an independent child-welfare assessment.
Ben and Rosie would remain with Luca temporarily, provided his armed security operations were moved away from their living quarters and an independent child advocate could visit freely.
A follow-up hearing would occur in seventy-two hours.
It was not a complete victory.
But it prevented the immediate separation Anthony had requested.
Outside the courthouse, Anthony caught Luca by the arm.
“You think you've won?”
“I think the children are going home.”
“You still don't understand what Sofia was protecting them from.”
“Then tell me.”
Anthony glanced at his watch.
His face tightened.
“I can't.”
“Why not?”
“Because once you know, you can't make yourself forget.”
He walked away before Luca could respond.
That afternoon, Emma returned to the mansion after visiting a burn specialist.
The doctor had confirmed that several burns were deep enough to require careful follow-up, although the full extent of any nerve injury remained uncertain.
Luca met her in the kitchen.
“You're not working until your doctor clears you.”
Emma looked alarmed.
“Sir, I need my wages.”
“You'll receive your regular pay while you recover.”
“Vanessa said—”
“Vanessa doesn't make decisions about your employment anymore.”
Emma looked down.
“Thank you.”
Luca hesitated.
Then he asked something he'd never thought to ask before.
“How is your mother?”
The question surprised her.
“Some days are better than others.”
“Does she remember you?”
Emma smiled sadly.
“Always. Even when she forgets what day it is.”
Luca considered that.
Then he said, “I think I've forgotten how to be someone's family.”
Emma met his eyes.
“You haven't forgotten. You've just been listening to the wrong people.”
That evening, Daniel arrived with the security records from the previous Sunday.
He had traced Anthony's visit to Rosie's bedroom.
At 8:42 p.m., Anthony entered carrying a small black jewelry pouch.
Vanessa followed with a plate of cookies.
At 9:06, Vanessa left.
At 9:11, Anthony emerged alone.
The pouch was no longer visible.
Daniel enlarged the image.
Anthony's left wrist was uncovered.
The watch was missing.
Luca leaned closer.
“Where is it?”
“That's the strange part,” Daniel said. “He was wearing it when he arrived. But he wasn't when he left.”
Emma stepped forward.
“Maybe he took it off to open something.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Watch what happens next.”
He played another recording.
At 9:17, Vanessa returned to the hallway carrying a folded white cloth.
She entered the nursery and came out two minutes later.
As she passed the camera, something gold flashed beneath the cloth.
Luca stood.
“She took Anthony's watch.”
Daniel nodded.
“And according to the household vehicle records, she drove to an address in Brookline forty minutes later.”
“Whose address?”
Daniel placed a property photograph on the desk.
It showed a small brick building beside an old watch-repair shop.
Luca recognized the name painted above the entrance.
MERCER CLOCK & JEWELRY.
His grandfather had used that shop for decades.
But what disturbed Luca wasn't the business name.
It was the photograph attached to the property file.
The building belonged to a man named Thomas Mercer.
And beneath Thomas Mercer's name was an old employment record identifying him as Vittorio Moretti's former private driver.
Luca remembered the man's funeral.
Thirty years earlier.
He remembered his grandfather saying that Thomas had died without any surviving family.
Then Daniel opened another photograph.
It showed Thomas Mercer holding a small dark-haired boy.
The boy wore a gold watch far too large for his wrist.
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On the back of the photograph, someone had written:
“Thomas and his son, Anthony. Summer 1994.”
