Chapter 3 - VANESSA FINALLY STOPPED LYING
Vanessa asked to speak with Luca the next morning.
He agreed.
Her attorney came.
So did Matteo.
I did not.
At least not initially.
I had work.
Or thought I did.
Then Vanessa requested me.
Why?
No idea.
I entered Luca’s conference room.
She looked terrible.
Yesterday’s red gown replaced by black trousers and a cream sweater.
No engagement ring.
Good.
She looked at me.
“Did you tell anyone about the hundred dollars?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes closed.
Luca’s face became colder.
“What hundred dollars?”
I explained.
Garage.
Bruno.
Vanessa offering me money.
Keep quiet.
Remove dog.
Luca said nothing.
That was worse.
Vanessa whispered:
“I panicked.”
“You bribed an employee.”
Luca’s attorney corrected:
“Allegedly.”
I looked at him.
“He can call it allegedly. I was there.”
Luca almost smiled.
Vanessa did not.
Then she began.
Marco learned about the tag three months earlier.
How?
Their father.
Salvatore Bellini.
Twenty years earlier Salvatore and Luca’s father had operated joint shipping interests.
Then partnership collapsed.
According to Vanessa, her father always believed Carlo Moretti kept a private ledger documenting those years.
A ledger dangerous enough to ruin the Bellini family.
“Why didn't your father take it?”
“He never knew where it was.”
“Until?”
“Marco found an old letter.”
The letter mentioned Bruno’s collar.
Luca stared.
“My father wrote that?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Yours.”
A draft never sent.
If anything happens to me before Luca understands what Bellini did, the dog still carries the key.
There it was.
Vanessa had known for three months.
“And you said nothing.”
“I thought Marco only wanted old business documents.”
Luca stared.
“Then why remove Bruno?”
Her eyes dropped.
“Because Marco tried taking the tag.”
“When?”
“Tuesday.”
The day before I found Bruno.
“What happened?”
“Diesel saw him.”
Of course.
Marco entered the old study.
Bruno followed because Bruno followed anyone entering that room.
Marco attempted to remove the tag.
Diesel confronted him.
Not a full attack.
One bite to the sleeve.
Enough.
Marco panicked.
Vanessa helped conceal it.
Security was told Diesel became aggressive without cause.
Then both dogs were moved to the maintenance garage.
“Who drugged them?”
Vanessa cried.
“Marco had someone do it.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“And you told me Bruno died.”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because you were coming home early.”
Silence.
“I needed time.”
“For Marco to find the key.”
“Yes.”
Luca looked toward me.
Then back.
“What did you get?”
Vanessa froze.
Good question.
Victims sometimes cooperate from fear.
Others profit.
“What did Marco promise you?”
Her tears fell.
“Shares.”
“How many?”
“Five percent of Bellini Infrastructure after the merger.”
Worth millions.
So there it was.
Family pressure.
Yes.
Greed too.
Both could be true.
Vanessa whispered:
“I loved you.”
Luca answered:
“I believe you.”
Hope flickered.
Then:
“That makes what you chose worse.”
She cried harder.
Luca removed the ring from his pocket.
Placed it on the table.
“Engagement over.”
No drama.
No throwing.
Just consequence.
Then he asked:
“Where is Bruno’s tag?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Vanessa.”
“Marco had it.”
Past tense.
“Had?”
“He said he lost it.”
Nobody believed that.
Then I remembered something.
The laundry.
Tuesday afternoon.
Marco’s jacket.
I had carried it from the upstairs sitting room to dry cleaning because one sleeve was torn.
Diesel’s bite.
Something had fallen from the pocket.
A small brass disk.
I thought it was a coin.
I placed it in the lost-item tray in the laundry room.
My stomach dropped.
“Sir.”
Everyone looked at me.
May you like
“I think I know where the tag is.”
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