Chapter 3 - THE SIGNATURE THAT COULD DESTROY THEM
“You signed away Father's house?”
Nina's voice broke as she confronted her brother.
We were back inside Dante's study.
Evelyn sat near the fireplace with her injured wrist resting on a cushion.
Frank guarded the door.
Dante stood beside his desk, holding the financial statement as though it were something poisonous.
“I didn't sign away anything,” he said.
“Then why is your name on it?”
Dante closed his eyes briefly.
“Six months ago, Sabrina brought me paperwork for an emergency advance.”
Sabrina stood near the window.
Her expression remained carefully controlled.
“The Vale Freight employees hadn't been paid in three weeks,” she explained. “Aaron needed temporary assistance.”
Dante looked at her.
“You told me it was two hundred thousand dollars.”
“It was.”
“You told me the company would repay it within ninety days.”
“That was the agreement.”
Dante placed the document on his desk.
“Then explain six million four hundred thousand.”
Sabrina said nothing.
Nina stepped forward.
“Because the amount changed after you signed.”
She pointed toward the bottom of the paper.
“Look at the staple holes.”
There were two small punctures beside the signature.
But the upper pages had been fastened in a different position.
Someone had separated the original authorization and attached Dante's signature page to another agreement.
“That isn't the whole contract,” Nina said. “It's been assembled.”
Dante looked toward Frank.
“Preserve every document Rourke brought. I want the originals examined.”
Frank nodded.
But Evelyn suddenly spoke.
“I approved the first advance.”
Everyone turned.
She lowered her eyes.
“Aaron came to me before he approached Dante. He said his employees couldn't afford groceries. I told him our family should help.”
“You should have told me,” Dante said.
“I thought I was protecting people.”
Her voice trembled.
“I never imagined someone would use it to hurt them.”
For a moment, Dante looked less like a feared businessman and more like a son who had forgotten how to speak gently to his mother.
He knelt beside her chair.
“Mom, we'll find out what happened.”
Evelyn touched his cheek with her uninjured hand.
“Your father built St. Agnes House for people who had nowhere else to go. Don't let them lose it.”
Across the room, Sabrina looked away.
I noticed something else.
Gabriel Rourke had been wearing a gold wristwatch in the ballroom.
A rectangular watch with a scratched black leather strap.
I'd seen that watch before.
It had belonged to Dante's late father, Vittorio Marchetti.
It normally sat inside a glass cabinet in the upstairs sitting room.
“Mr. Marchetti,” I said quietly.
Dante turned toward me.
“The watch Mr. Rourke was wearing. I think it belonged to your father.”
Evelyn's head rose immediately.
“That's impossible.”
“I recognize the damaged corner of the glass.”
Dante looked toward Frank.
“Check the cabinet.”
Frank left.
Sabrina folded her arms.
“Lucy, you're making accusations about an expensive watch based on a scratch.”
“I'm telling him what I saw.”
“You've worked here eight months. You don't know everything about this family.”
“Neither do you,” Nina replied.
Sabrina's face reddened.
A moment later, Frank returned.
“The watch is missing.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Dante turned toward Sabrina.
“Who had access to that cabinet?”
She hesitated.
“Several people.”
“Who?”
“Aaron borrowed the watch last week. He said he knew someone who could repair it before the engagement party.”
Dante stared at her.
“You gave my father's watch to your brother?”
“He said he wanted it restored as a gift.”
Nina laughed bitterly.
“Aaron doesn't restore things. He puts prices on them.”
Sabrina looked wounded by the remark.
But she didn't deny it.
Dante approached his sister.
“Nina, how did you discover the missing money?”
“I found a freight receipt in the trust records. It didn't match the payment schedule.”
“Where is it?”
“I took it upstairs this afternoon. I wanted to show you.”
“Did Aaron find it?”
Nina shook her head.
“I hid it before he took my phone.”
“Where?”
She looked toward the door, then toward the staircase beyond it.
“In the lining of my blue dinner dress.”
I remembered that dress.
Dark blue silk.
Pearl buttons.
Nina had been wearing it when she entered the upstairs sitting room.
But when Rourke brought her into the ballroom, she wore white.
Dante immediately asked Frank to retrieve her original clothing.
Frank checked with the household staff.
Five minutes later, he returned without the dress.
“Boss, the wardrobe attendant says Miss Nina's blue gown was removed from the property.”
“By whom?”
Frank hesitated.
“Miss Vale's instructions.”
Sabrina's expression changed.
Dante looked directly at her.
May you like
“Where did you send my sister's dress?”
Sabrina whispered, “I thought Aaron had already destroyed it.”
