Chapter 3 - THE HOUSEKEEPER WHO DISAPPEARED
"She threatened Helen's son?"
Luca Moretti looked at Vanessa as though he were seeing a stranger.
Vanessa gripped the back of her chair.
"Sophie doesn't understand what she heard."
"Then explain it," Luca replied.
"She was frightened. Helen had been stealing from the household, and I was trying to protect your family."
Sophie shook her head.
"She was asking you to let me out."
Emily knelt beside the girl.
"You don't have to remember everything tonight."
"But I want Daddy to know."
"He will," Emily promised. "And you don't have to carry it alone."
Luca watched them quietly.
He had spent four years believing Vanessa had pulled his daughter from a burning house.
Now the woman he intended to marry was accused of locking Sophie inside before the fire began.
And the stranger who had actually saved her had spent years hiding the injuries she suffered.
"Marco," Luca said, "find Helen Price."
Marco hesitated.
"I already have an address."
Vanessa looked at him sharply.
"How long have you been investigating me?"
"I've been reviewing old household records," Marco answered.
"Without my permission?"
Marco met her eyes.
"I work for Mr. Moretti."
Luca held out his hand.
"Give me the address."
Marco passed him a folded paper.
Helen Price lived in a modest duplex outside Kenosha, Wisconsin.
But another detail caught Luca's attention.
Her son was named Daniel Price.
Age twenty-two.
Four years earlier, Daniel had received a scholarship from the Bellini Family Foundation.
"Vanessa," Luca said slowly, "your family's charity paid for Helen's son's education?"
Vanessa didn't answer.
Emily saw the fear in her eyes.
It was not the expression of someone surprised by a coincidence.
It was the expression of someone watching an old arrangement unravel.
Luca dismissed the remaining staff and asked Marco to arrange a private meeting with Helen the following morning.
Then he turned toward Vanessa.
"You'll stay in the west guest suite tonight. Marco will make sure you have everything you need."
"You're treating me like a criminal."
"I'm treating you like someone who has given me three different explanations."
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"Luca, I loved Sophie."
"Then help me understand why she was locked in a bedroom."
Vanessa looked at Sophie.
For a moment, something almost resembling regret crossed her face.
"I was trying to keep her from seeing something."
The room went silent.
"Seeing what?" Luca asked.
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
"Ask your brother."
Luca's expression changed.
"My brother?"
"Anthony was at the lake house that afternoon."
"Anthony was in Chicago."
Vanessa gave a bitter smile.
"That's what he told you."
Luca stood motionless.
Anthony Moretti, his younger brother, had managed several family properties for nearly a decade.
He had also been the person who introduced Luca to Vanessa.
Emily remembered something else.
The night of the fire, as paramedics bandaged her arm, a black sedan had been parked near the end of the driveway.
A man had stood beside it, speaking into his phone.
She had never seen his face clearly.
But she remembered his expensive camel-colored coat.
"Mr. Moretti," Emily said, "did your brother own a tan wool coat four years ago?"
Luca stared at her.
"Yes."
"Was it long? With dark buttons?"
"Why?"
"I saw someone wearing one near the house."
Vanessa slowly sat down.
Sophie looked between them.
"I saw Uncle Anthony too."
Luca turned toward his daughter.
"When?"
"Before Vanessa took me upstairs. He was arguing with a man in the study."
"What man?"
Sophie frowned.
"I didn't know him."
"What were they arguing about?"
Sophie hesitated.
"He said something about selling the house."
Luca's face hardened.
The lake house had belonged to his late wife, Isabella.
It was one of the few properties entirely outside the Moretti family business.
After Isabella died, Luca had promised Sophie he would never sell it.
Anthony knew that.
"Marco," Luca said, "bring me the property's old financial records."
Marco nodded.
But Sophie reached for Emily's hand again.
"There's something I didn't tell you."
Emily looked at her.
"What is it, sweetheart?"
Sophie glanced toward Vanessa.
"The day of the fire, Uncle Anthony gave me a camera."
Luca frowned.
"A camera?"
"A little blue one. He said I could take pictures of the lake."
"And where is it?"
Sophie looked frightened.
"Vanessa took it away after the fire."
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Luca turned toward her.
"Where is my daughter's camera?"
Vanessa whispered, "I destroyed it."
Sophie shook her head.
"No, you didn't."
Everyone looked at her.
"Grandma found it in my suitcase after the hospital."
Luca leaned forward.
"Where is it now?"
Sophie swallowed.
"Inside Mommy's old wooden sewing box."
May you like
Then she added something that made her father's face go white.
"And Daddy, the last picture I took was of Uncle Anthony carrying two red gasoline cans."
