Chapter 3 - The Voice on Vanessa’s Phone
Luca put the call on speaker.
“Who is this?”
The man laughed softly.
“You sound exactly like Salvatore.”
“Give me your name.”
“You already have it.”
The call ended.
Marco immediately took the phone.
“I’ll have it traced.”
Vanessa looked terrified.
Not embarrassed.
Not cornered.
Terrified.
Luca noticed.
“You know that voice.”
She shook her head.
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
Bruno growled.
The old shepherd had positioned himself between Luca and Vanessa.
Dante stared toward the garage entrance.
Every hair along his back rose.
Marco’s phone buzzed.
He checked the estate cameras.
“We’ve got movement outside the east gate.”
“How many?”
“Two vehicles.”
“Bellini?”
“No plates.”
Luca’s attention sharpened.
“Get everyone inside.”
The engagement dinner ended in chaos.
Guests were moved to the ballroom while security closed the steel shutters around the estate.
I took Bruno and Dante into Luca’s study.
A veterinarian was already on his way.
Vanessa was kept in the library.
Luca joined me twenty minutes later.
For the first time since I had worked for him, he looked tired.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
He sat beside Bruno.
The dog rested his head on Luca’s knee.
“I buried him.”
I looked at Luca.
“Dante?”
He nodded.
“Seven years ago.”
My skin prickled.
“What do you mean?”
“My father died at our lake property.”
He stared at the fire.
“They told me Dante was found beside him.”
“But he wasn’t.”
“No.”
“Then what did you bury?”
Luca looked at me.
“A sealed box.”
He gave a bitter smile.
“I was told the dog had been badly burned in the accident.”
Accident.
The word seemed important.
“What happened to your father?”
“His car went off a service road near the lake house.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He was alive when they found him.”
I waited.
“He died six hours later.”
“Dr. Caldwell?”
Luca nodded.
“He told me my father had internal injuries.”
“And now you think—”
“I don’t know what I think.”
The veterinarian arrived.
Dr. Rachel Monroe examined both dogs.
Bruno was dehydrated but stable.
Dante was underweight and had old scarring around one hind leg.
“Neither animal is dying,” she said sharply.
Luca’s face darkened.
“Could someone reasonably mistake Bruno’s condition for terminal illness?”
“No.”
“What about euthanasia?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“With hydration, medication, and rest, he has time.”
“How much?”
“Months. Maybe longer.”
Luca looked down at Bruno.
That answer mattered.
Then Dr. Monroe examined Dante’s microchip.
The scanner beeped.
She frowned.
“That’s strange.”
“What?”
“This chip was registered twice.”
“To whom?”
She checked.
“The original owner was Salvatore Moretti.”
Luca nodded.
“And the second?”
Her expression changed.
“Carlo Bellini.”
The room went silent.
Luca stood.
“When?”
“Six years and nine months ago.”
Three months after his father died.
Vanessa had claimed she discovered Dante three weeks earlier.
The records said her father had owned him for nearly seven years.
Luca left the study without a word.
I remained with the dogs.
Five minutes later, shouting echoed from the library.
Vanessa.
“You don’t understand what he’ll do!”
Luca’s voice was lower.
“Your father kept Dante alive.”
“I didn’t know until recently.”
“He registered the dog under his name.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“Yes!”
A chair scraped.
Then silence.
I should not have listened.
But something made me walk closer.
Vanessa’s voice dropped.
“My father kept him because Salvatore taught Dante to find hidden compartments.”
My breath caught.
Luca said nothing.
“He used Dante to locate the room at the Bellini estate.”
“What room?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know.”
“No, Luca. I swear.”
She sounded different now.
Less like the arrogant woman from dinner.
More like someone who had spent years being afraid.
“My father became obsessed with your father’s records.”
“Why?”
“Because Salvatore kept evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
Vanessa whispered.
“Everything.”
A sudden crash came from the courtyard.
Then the lights went out.
The mansion plunged into darkness.
Security alarms screamed.
Bruno stood.
Dante barked violently.
I ran back toward the study.
Outside the tall windows, headlights swept across the lawn.
The two vehicles from the east gate had reached the house.
Gunfire cracked outside.
I dropped behind the desk.
Bruno barked.
Dante ran toward the hidden servants’ door.
Then someone entered the study.
A dark figure.
I froze.
He raised one hand.
“Emma Sullivan?”
I couldn’t see his face.
“How do you know my name?”
He stepped into the moonlight.
I recognized him.
The driver from the service gate.
He was bleeding from the forehead.
But he wasn’t carrying a weapon.
He carried a brass tag.
Another one.
He held it toward me.
“Your father told me to give you this if Salvatore’s dogs were ever found together.”
My heart stopped.
“My father?”
He nodded.
I stared at the number engraved on the tag.
315.
May you like
Then he said something that changed everything.
“Emma, your father didn’t die in a construction accident.”
