Chapter 3 - THE PROMISE INSIDE THE BLUE WATCH
“Daniel Moretti was not my son's father.”
Hannah said the words firmly, but her hands trembled around the photograph.
Luca stood across from her in the apartment's narrow kitchen.
Eli had fallen asleep on the couch, his blue watch resting beside his pillow.
Luca looked at the handwriting again.
“I'm not saying Daniel was his father.”
“Then what exactly are you saying?”
“That my brother knew your son's name before he died.”
Hannah shook her head.
“Michael was Eli's father. He was there when Eli was born. He held him before I did. He taught him to walk.”
“I believe you.”
“Then why does that photograph say 'my son'?”
Luca had no answer.
And he hated that.
For years, Luca had believed his younger brother Daniel was the one person in the Moretti family who never kept secrets from him.
Daniel was impulsive, stubborn, and far too trusting.
But he wasn't dishonest.
Or so Luca had thought.
Hannah placed the photograph on the table.
“Michael died fourteen months ago. A truck crossed the center line on a rainy road. The police said it was an accident.”
“Where?”
“Route 138, near Jamestown.”
Luca went still.
That was the same stretch of road where Daniel had died.
Five years earlier.
The coincidence was too precise.
“Did Michael ever mention Daniel's accident?”
“No.”
“Did he have anything unusual in his possession when he died?”
Hannah gave a bitter laugh.
“Unusual? Luca, when Michael died, I was trying to figure out how to pay for his funeral. I wasn't searching for family secrets.”
Luca lowered his eyes.
He had spent years moving millions of dollars without noticing the people who struggled to bury someone they loved.
And Hannah had worked in his home for nearly two years.
He had never asked about her husband.
He had barely asked about her child.
Now he was standing in her kitchen, demanding answers.
“I'm sorry,” he said.
Hannah looked surprised.
“For what?”
“For making this your problem before understanding what happened.”
She studied him.
Then she nodded toward the window.
“Your security men are outside. Caroline knows where we live. Is my son safe here?”
Luca didn't pretend.
“Not until we know why she came.”
Hannah looked toward Eli.
“Then I want to leave.”
“You can stay at the mansion.”
She immediately shook her head.
“The place where your fiancée publicly accused me of theft?”
Luca accepted the criticism.
“There's a separate guest cottage. You'd have your own entrance. Marco can arrange protection without putting anyone inside your rooms.”
“And Vanessa?”
“She won't come near you.”
Hannah considered the sleeping boy.
Then she said something Luca didn't expect.
“I'll make my own decision after I hear what Caroline has to say.”
Outside, Caroline was waiting beside her car.
When Luca approached, she looked exhausted.
Her expensive cream coat was damp from the evening mist.
“You shouldn't have brought him here,” Luca said.
Caroline crossed her arms.
“I know.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because Vanessa told me the ring sale had been discovered.”
“That's not an answer.”
Caroline looked toward Hannah's apartment window.
“Michael Collins was supposed to disappear from our lives after Daniel's funeral.”
Luca felt his jaw tighten.
“Explain.”
“Daniel hired Michael to investigate missing money from Harbor Point Technologies.”
“How much?”
“Forty-two million.”
Luca stared.
The amount was enormous even by Moretti standards.
“Daniel never told me.”
“Because he believed someone inside your family was stealing it.”
“Who?”
Caroline hesitated.
“Your father.”
Luca stepped closer.
“My father had been dead six years when Daniel died.”
“I know.”
“Then how could he have been stealing from Daniel?”
“He wasn't. Someone was using his old business authorizations.”
Luca thought of the attorney who had disconnected the phone earlier.
Arthur Bellamy.
The man who had handled his father's estate.
The man who had witnessed Vanessa's diamond sale.
Caroline reached into her handbag and removed a folded invoice.
“Three weeks ago, Vanessa sold Mother's ring because I begged her to. I owed money to someone who threatened to expose what happened five years ago.”
“What happened?”
Caroline's eyes filled.
“I was driving the night Daniel died.”
Luca froze.
The official accident report said Daniel had been alone.
Caroline continued.
“We argued at a marina restaurant. Daniel accused me of passing information to Bellamy. I left furious. Daniel followed in his car.”
“Why would he follow you?”
“He thought I had something belonging to him.”
“What?”
“A recording. Michael gave it to me because Daniel was afraid to keep it at the house.”
Luca looked toward the apartment.
“Did you have it?”
“No. I gave it back to Michael after the accident.”
“Why?”
Caroline's voice dropped.
“Because Daniel's car wasn't supposed to crash.”
Luca didn't move.
She looked away.
“The police ruled it an accident. But someone had tampered with his vehicle's navigation system. Michael discovered it afterward.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Michael said whoever changed the system could do it again.”
“And you believed him?”
Caroline looked directly at Luca.
“Daniel died after confronting your family attorney. Michael died after trying to reopen the investigation.”
Luca's anger shifted into something colder.
“Then why did you come for Eli?”
Caroline pulled out a tissue.
“Because Bellamy knows Michael left something with that child. He told me if I didn't retrieve it, he'd make sure Eli disappeared.”
Luca studied her.
“You threatened Hannah's babysitter.”
“I told her I was taking him somewhere safe. I didn't realize how frightening that sounded until she refused.”
“You don't get to decide where somebody else's child goes.”
“I know.”
For the first time, Caroline didn't argue.
“I was terrified, Luca. I thought if I got the watch before Bellamy did, I could end this.”
“The watch?”
She nodded.
“The blue one.”
Luca turned toward Marco.
“Bring Caroline inside. She tells Hannah everything.”
Upstairs, Hannah was examining Eli's watch beneath the kitchen light.
She noticed something strange along the back casing.
A thin line.
Not a scratch.
A seam.
Michael had once taught her how to open stubborn battery compartments using the edge of a coin.
She fetched one from the drawer.
The casing loosened.
Inside was no ordinary battery.
There was a tiny memory card wrapped in transparent film.
Hannah stared.
Michael had hidden something inside their son's toy.
She carefully placed the card on the table.
Luca entered with Caroline seconds later.
Hannah pointed at it.
“Is this what everyone's looking for?”
Caroline stopped breathing.
Luca took out his phone, then stopped.
“No. We don't put it into anything connected to a network.”
Marco brought a spare laptop from his security vehicle, one kept disconnected from the internet for reviewing evidence.
Luca inserted the card.
A single video file appeared.
The date was June 13, five years earlier.
The day before Daniel died.
He pressed play.
Daniel appeared on-screen, standing in his private workshop.
His face was tired.
“Michael, if you're watching this, something has gone wrong.”
Hannah gripped the table.
Daniel continued.
“I found out why the payments were being made under my name. Bellamy isn't stealing money for himself.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Then who?”
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“Someone ordered him to keep paying a woman nobody in our family is supposed to know exists.”
The picture shifted.
Daniel held up a photograph.
A young woman stood outside a hospital holding a newborn baby.
Her face was partly obscured.
But the blanket wrapped around the baby was pale blue.
And pinned to it was a small silver anchor.
May you like
Daniel said one final sentence before the recording ended.
“Luca, our father had another family, and the person keeping that secret is the woman you're planning to marry.”
