Chapter 4 - THE PHOTOGRAPH MY MOTHER HID
“My mother was here?”
I hardly recognized my own voice.
I took the photograph from Luca's hand.
There was no mistaking her.
My mother, Anna Carter, was standing on the Moretti mansion's front steps, wearing a pale blue coat I remembered from childhood.
She looked frightened.
And the baby in her arms was me.
The photograph had been taken twenty-five years earlier.
“Why would Giovanni Moretti have a picture of us?” I whispered.
Antonio studied the image.
“Because your mother worked for the foundation.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“She helped Rose organize the music programs. Mostly paperwork and donations. She was very young.”
My mother had never mentioned the Moretti family.
Not once.
She had spent my childhood working at a neighborhood library and taking extra shifts at a community center.
When I asked about her earlier life, she always said she had made mistakes she preferred not to revisit.
I'd assumed she meant my father leaving before I was born.
Luca examined the ledger.
“Antonio, is this my father's handwriting?”
“Some of it.”
“And the rest?”
Antonio pointed toward the payment entries.
“Those belong to Samuel Price.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Sir, Detective Harris wants to secure the materials before anyone handles them further.”
Luca closed the ledger.
“Then have him come upstairs. We need everything documented.”
Vanessa remained near the doorway.
Her expression was almost desperate.
“Luca, can we please speak privately?”
“No.”
“Please.”
He looked at her.
“You listened to my mother's conversations. You threatened Emily's livelihood. You planned to use our wedding to get control of property that doesn't belong to you.”
Vanessa's mouth trembled.
“I know.”
The admission surprised us both.
Richard appeared behind her.
“Vanessa, enough.”
She turned toward him.
“No, Dad.”
His expression hardened.
“We discussed this.”
“You discussed it. I agreed because you told me the company would collapse otherwise.”
Luca shook his head.
“You knew about the recordings.”
“Yes.”
“And you still came here wearing that ring.”
Vanessa looked down at the enormous diamond.
For a moment, she seemed much younger than she had at dinner.
“I thought I could fix it before you found out.”
“You were going to marry me first.”
She didn't answer.
Luca turned away.
That silence hurt her more than anything he could have said.
Detective Marcus Harris entered with another officer.
He was a broad-shouldered man in his fifties who spoke carefully and listened more than he talked.
After examining the objects without disturbing them further, he asked Daniel to explain where each had been discovered.
Then he looked at the photograph.
“Ms. Carter, is that your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Is she available to speak with us?”
“She's at St. Catherine's Medical Center.”
I swallowed.
“She has kidney complications. She's been in and out of the hospital for months.”
Harris softened his voice.
“We can arrange an interview when her doctors permit.”
Margaret suddenly pulled at my sleeve.
She pointed to the photograph.
Then she moved her finger across her throat.
I froze.
“Mrs. Moretti?”
She shook her head.
Again, that desperate movement.
Antonio leaned forward.
“Margaret, are you saying Anna was threatened?”
She nodded once.
Richard laughed from the doorway.
“This is absurd. You're interpreting random gestures as accusations.”
Margaret's face tightened.
Then she did something none of us expected.
She reached toward Richard, opened her hand, and made a slow cutting motion through the air.
Antonio inhaled sharply.
“That's the old foundation dismissal gesture.”
Luca frowned.
“What does it mean?”
“It means someone was forced out.”
Richard's smile vanished.
Detective Harris turned toward him.
“Mr. Bellini, please wait downstairs. We'll speak with you separately.”
Richard looked ready to argue.
Then he saw the second officer standing behind him.
He left without another word.
I sat beside Margaret.
“Did my mother lose her job because of him?”
She squeezed my fingers.
“Yes,” she whispered.
It was barely audible.
But it was clear.
My eyes burned.
All those years, my mother had worked herself sick trying to give me a stable childhood.
And here was the man who might have helped take away her chance at something better.
Luca looked at me.
“Emily, I can arrange transportation to the hospital.”
I nodded.
“I need to ask her.”
“I'll go with you, if you want.”
Before I could answer, Antonio spoke.
“Luca, there's something else about that photograph.”
He pointed at the edge of my mother's coat.
A small gold pin was attached to her collar.
A circle surrounding a tiny piano key.
“The Giovanni Moretti Foundation's original emblem,” Antonio said.
Luca looked puzzled.
“We still use something similar.”
“Not that version.”
Antonio reached into the ledger and found an entry dated twenty-five years earlier.
He pointed to a name.
ANNA CARTER — CUSTODIAN.
“What does custodian mean?” I asked.
Antonio hesitated.
“The foundation had a collection of instruments purchased specifically for children's music programs. A custodian was responsible for making sure they weren't sold or transferred without authorization.”
Luca frowned.
“Mom?”
Margaret touched her ring.
Then pointed at the photograph.
The realization came slowly.
“My mother was responsible for protecting those instruments?”
Antonio nodded.
“And she reported that several had disappeared.”
I looked at the ledger.
The missing instruments were worth nearly four million dollars at the time.
Today, they could be worth considerably more.
Luca turned another page.
A handwritten notation appeared beside my mother's name.
REMOVED FOLLOWING SECURITY INCIDENT.
My stomach tightened.
“What security incident?”
Antonio lowered his eyes.
“I wasn't there when it happened.”
Margaret suddenly became agitated.
Her breathing quickened.
I touched her shoulder.
“It's all right.”
But she kept pointing toward the photograph.
Specifically, toward the baby.
Toward me.
Then she touched her lips three times with her wedding ring.
Antonio looked devastated.
“Mrs. Moretti,” he whispered, “did Giovanni believe someone was using the child to silence Anna?”
Margaret began to cry.
Luca stood.
“Emily, we need to get to the hospital.”
We left Margaret with her private nurse and two security officers.
Before leaving, Luca placed his father's watch in my hand.
“Keep this until we understand why your grandmother was involved.”
I shook my head.
“It belongs to you.”
“My father trusted Rose. Maybe he'd want her granddaughter to have it tonight.”
At St. Catherine's, my mother was awake.
She smiled when she saw me.
Then she noticed Luca.
Her smile disappeared.
“Emily,” she whispered. “Why is he here?”
I held up the photograph.
“Mom, why didn't you tell me you knew the Morettis?”
She stared at it.
Her face changed so completely that I took a step forward.
“Mom?”
She reached for the call button, then stopped.
“Where did you get that?”
“From Giovanni Moretti's piano.”
My mother covered her mouth.
For a long moment, she couldn't speak.
May you like
Then she looked straight at Luca.
“YOUR FATHER PROMISED ME RICHARD BELLINI WOULD NEVER FIND MY DAUGHTER.”
