Chapter 2 - THE HOUSE VANESSA HAD ALREADY SOLD
Luca read the brochure twice.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
“You’re selling my house?”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“Our house.”
His expression changed by less than an inch.
That was enough to frighten everyone in the room.
“We are not married.”
“We’re engaged.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Vanessa exhaled.
“You told me to begin planning our future.”
“I told you to redecorate the west wing.”
“This house is too old. Too large. Too full of memories that aren’t mine.”
Teresa looked away.
Luca noticed.
“So you removed my mother from her room.”
“I moved her temporarily.”
“To a sewing room with no bathroom.”
“She had everything she needed.”
I couldn’t stay silent.
“She didn’t have a mattress.”
Vanessa whipped around.
“What?”
Luca looked at me.
I swallowed.
“The folding bed broke three nights ago. She’s been sleeping in an armchair.”
Teresa touched my sleeve.
“Hannah.”
But Luca had already gone still.
“You knew?”
Vanessa laughed in disbelief.
“You’re taking the maid’s word over mine?”
“I’m asking whether you knew.”
“No.”
That answer came too fast.
Luca looked at me again.
“When did you find out?”
“This afternoon.”
“And why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Mrs. Moretti asked me not to.”
His eyes shifted to his mother.
Teresa whispered, “You had meetings. Vanessa said you were under pressure.”
Something dark moved across Luca’s face.
“You never have to protect me from knowing when you’re hurting.”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
“This is ridiculous.”
Luca picked up the realtor brochure.
“Who authorized this?”
“No one yet.”
“The listing says pending.”
“It was preliminary.”
He pulled out his phone.
Two calls later, the truth became uglier.
The mansion had been quietly listed through a private broker six weeks earlier.
The asking price was twenty-eight million dollars.
A buyer had already submitted a letter of intent.
Luca had signed nothing.
Yet attached to the file was an authorization bearing his electronic signature.
Forged.
Vanessa’s face lost color.
“I can explain.”
“You’ll do that downstairs.”
In Luca’s study, security chief Marco DeSantis arrived within twenty minutes.
He carried a laptop.
“Boss, there’s more.”
Luca stood behind his desk.
“Show me.”
Marco turned the screen.
Someone had accessed Luca’s private corporate server from inside the mansion repeatedly over the past two months.
The logins happened late at night.
Always when Luca was out.
And always from one device.
Vanessa’s tablet.
She immediately shook her head.
“That proves nothing. Anyone could have used it.”
Marco clicked another file.
“Then maybe this does.”
Security footage filled the screen.
Vanessa entered Luca’s study at 2:14 A.M.
She opened his safe using a code she should not have known.
Removed a folder.
Photographed every page.
Then replaced it.
Luca watched without blinking.
“What was in the folder?”
Marco hesitated.
“The Moretti Family Trust.”
Teresa made a soft sound.
Vanessa suddenly looked at her.
That was when I realized the sale of the mansion wasn’t the real secret.
May you like
The real secret was hidden in whatever Vanessa had learned about Teresa’s trust.
And Teresa already knew exactly what it was.
