Chapter 3 - The Bribe
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I found Vanessa in the main hallway, directing florists who were arranging massive displays of white roses.
“Mrs. Bellini?” I asked softly.
She turned, annoyed. “Is it gone?”
“Where did your hair comb come from?” I asked, keeping my voice perfectly level.
Her expression changed. It was barely a twitch at the corner of her mouth, a microscopic tightening of her eyes. But I saw it.
“Paris,” she lied smoothly.
“Is it antique ivory?”
“Yes, it is.” She crossed her arms. “Are you moonlighting as a jeweler now, Emma?”
I swallowed hard. “The pieces look exactly like the missing piano keys.”
For two agonizing seconds, she said absolutely nothing. She just stared at me. Then, she let out a short, incredulous laugh.
“You cannot possibly be serious.”
“The blue mark on the edge—”
She stepped closer, invading my personal space. The scent of her expensive perfume was suffocating.
“Listen to me very carefully,” Vanessa’s voice dropped to a lethal whisper. “That piano has been collecting dust for seventeen years. It is useless junk.”
I stared at her, horrified by her absolute lack of empathy. “So you did take them.”
She smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a predator holding all the cards.
“I wanted something from Elena at my wedding,” Vanessa admitted, showing no remorse whatsoever. “It’s symbolic.”
“Then why not ask Mr. Moretti?”
“Because Luca is ridiculously sentimental,” she rolled her eyes. “He would have said no.”
That answer told me everything. She knew. She knew exactly what that piano meant to the man she was marrying, and she destroyed it anyway because she wanted a pretty hair accessory.
Vanessa opened her designer purse. She pulled out a thick wad of cash, peeled off five hundred-dollar bills, and held them toward me.
“Forget what you saw,” Vanessa ordered.
I looked at the money. I didn't take it.
Her expression hardened into something incredibly ugly.
“You support your mother, don’t you?” Vanessa asked quietly.
I felt my stomach drop into my shoes. She knew. Of course she knew. The family lawyers vetted every staff member’s background. They knew about my mother’s failing health and the mountain of medical debt I was drowning in.
“My payroll information is none of your business,” I said, my voice shaking slightly.
“Everything happening in this house is my business,” she countered, placing the money on a nearby hall table. “Have the piano taken away.”
Then she leaned closer, her eyes flashing with pure malice. “And if Luca asks about it later, you will tell him the movers accidentally damaged the keys while loading it.”
I looked at her perfectly painted face.
“No.”
Vanessa blinked, genuinely stunned. “What?”
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“I won’t tell him that.”
Her face changed completely, twisting into absolute rage. “You’re fired. Get your things and get out of my house before I have security throw you out.”
