Chapter 6 - THE WEDDING CONTRACT WITH MY NAME ON IT
Z
The document appeared in Rebecca's office at three seventeen that afternoon.
It came from a courier who claimed he had been instructed to deliver it only if the wedding was canceled.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
The front bore my name.
ANNA MITCHELL.
Rebecca opened it in front of me.
The first page was titled Employee Confidentiality and Consent Agreement.
That was the form I'd signed.
But the next pages were different.
They contained statements I had never made.
One claimed I had witnessed Luca threatening Vanessa.
Another claimed I had seen him strike her.
A third described a pattern of violence inside the Moretti mansion.
At the bottom of each page was a signature resembling mine.
I stared.
“I didn't write any of this.”
Rebecca nodded.
“We'll preserve the originals and arrange forensic examination.”
Luca stood near the window.
His face had gone gray.
“Vanessa intended to use Anna as a witness.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“An unwilling witness. Potentially a fabricated one.”
I felt nauseated.
“She hurt me,” I whispered.
Everyone turned.
“She grabbed me because I overheard her conversation. Then she planned to make it look like I'd seen you hurt her.”
Rebecca nodded.
“That is one possibility consistent with these documents.”
Luca looked at me.
For the first time, he seemed unable to find words.
I thought of Vanessa in her red dress.
Her diamond earrings.
The way she smiled while telling me to use both hands.
She hadn't simply been cruel.
She had been preparing to use my fear against me.
Rebecca continued examining the papers.
Then she found another attachment.
A proposed employment termination notice.
It stated that I would be dismissed immediately after the wedding for dishonesty and misconduct.
I stared.
Vanessa had planned to destroy my job whether I obeyed her or not.
Luca read the notice.
Then placed it on the table.
“I want every document preserved.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And I want Anna to have independent legal advice before anyone asks her to give a statement.”
He looked at me.
“Do you agree?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
There was a time when I would have been surprised that a man like Luca Moretti asked permission.
Now I understood how important the question was.
That evening, I returned to Daniel's rehabilitation center.
He was sitting beside the window.
“How bad?” he asked.
I sat beside him.
“Pretty bad.”
He studied me.
“Are you safe?”
I thought about the threatening messages.
The forged statements.
The bruises beneath my sleeve.
“I don't know yet.”
Daniel reached for my hand.
“Then we figure it out.”
I smiled weakly.
“We?”
“Always.”
For the first time in days, I felt something other than fear.
Then my phone rang.
Rebecca.
“Anna, don't return to your apartment tonight.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Someone entered it while you were gone.”
I closed my eyes.
“Was anything stolen?”
A pause.
“Your laptop.”
I felt cold.
Rebecca continued.
May you like
“And the folder containing your brother's medical records.”
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