Chapter 4 - THE SECRET INSIDE MY MOTHER'S NECKLACE
I had spent seven years wearing the same silver necklace.
A small oval locket.
A faded photograph of my mother inside.
Nothing valuable.
Nothing extraordinary.
Until Caleb Moretti looked directly at my throat.
Dominic noticed his gaze.
“Emily,” he said carefully, “take off your necklace.”
I stepped backward.
“No.”
Caleb smiled.
“See? She knows.”
“I don't know anything!”
Dominic turned toward his cousin.
“You've said enough.”
Then he looked at me.
“I'm not taking it from you. I just need to see it.”
My fingers trembled as I unclasped the chain.
I placed the locket in his palm.
He examined it beneath the desk lamp.
“There's a seam along the back.”
I frowned.
“It's an old locket.”
“Maybe.”
He pressed a tiny indentation beside the hinge.
Something clicked.
The back opened.
Inside was a thin metal compartment.
And tucked inside that compartment was a miniature memory card.
I stared.
My mother had given me the necklace three days before she died.
Never take this off, sweetheart.
I'd thought she was being sentimental.
Now I understood she had been afraid.
Dominic removed the card.
Caleb lunged.
Everything happened at once.
Dominic shoved me behind the desk.
Caleb grabbed the memory card.
A gun appeared in his other hand.
“Don't move!”
My scream caught in my throat.
Dominic stood perfectly still.
“Put it down, Caleb.”
“You should've left this alone.”
“You attacked her.”
“I told those idiots to scare her. Not hurt her.”
My stomach dropped.
Dominic's face became terrifyingly calm.
“You ordered it.”
Caleb looked at me.
“She was getting too close.”
“To what?” I demanded.
He laughed.
“To the truth your mother died protecting.”
Dominic shifted slightly.
Caleb pointed the gun at him.
“Don't.”
For the first time, I saw something in Dominic's eyes that wasn't anger.
Disappointment.
“You're my cousin,” he said.
Caleb's expression flickered.
“Blood doesn't mean anything in this family.”
“It meant something to me.”
“That's why you're weak.”
A loud crash came from the hallway.
Caleb turned.
Dominic moved.
He struck Caleb's wrist, sending the gun sliding across the floor.
I ducked.
The two men slammed into the bookshelf.
A lamp shattered.
Then Victor and two guards burst through the door.
Within seconds, Caleb was pinned against the wall.
Dominic retrieved the memory card.
Caleb laughed breathlessly.
“You think you've won?”
Dominic approached him.
“Who else is involved?”
Caleb's smile disappeared.
For the first time, he looked genuinely frightened.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Caleb glanced toward the window.
“I'm not the one giving orders.”
Dominic went still.
“Who is?”
Caleb swallowed.
May you like
Then he whispered a name.
“Your father.”
