Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
The accusation hung in the room like smoke.
“Don't trust Daniel.”
Luca slowly lowered his phone.
Daniel didn't move.
Mara watched both men.
She had known Daniel only six months, but the mansion had taught her something important:
People revealed themselves most clearly when they were accused of something they didn't expect.
Daniel's face showed anger.
Not fear.
“Boss,” he said, “I didn't make that call.”
“I know.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You believe me?”
“I believe that whoever called wants me to doubt you.”
Mara exhaled.
“That means they know exactly how you think.”
Luca nodded.
Daniel locked the bedroom door.
“Then we need to stop assuming this is about money.”
Luca looked at him.
“What else would it be?”
“Your family.”
Nobody spoke.
The Varellis had controlled Chicago businesses for generations.
Construction.
Nightclubs.
Shipping.
Private security.
Real estate.
And, according to rumors, things that didn't appear on any legitimate document.
Luca had inherited the empire after his father died.
But he'd spent the last decade trying to clean it up.
He had closed operations.
Removed corrupt executives.
Refused to continue several old partnerships.
And six months after that?
He became mysteriously ill.
Mara looked at the photograph again.
Her mother.
Luca's father.
Dr. Mercer.
“What was my mother doing here?”
Luca looked at the photograph.
“I don't know.”
“Your father knew her.”
“My father knew hundreds of people.”
“This wasn't a business meeting.”
“How do you know?”
“Look at their faces.”
Luca took the photograph.
Mara pointed.
“They aren't posing like business partners.”
Daniel leaned over.
“She looks terrified.”
“And your father,” Mara said, “looks angry.”
Luca studied the picture.
Then he noticed something else.
A child stood in the background.
A little boy.
Maybe six years old.
Dark hair.
Round cheeks.
Mara frowned.
“Is that you?”
Luca looked closer.
“No.”
Daniel zoomed in using his phone.
The child was standing beside an older woman.
A woman Mara recognized.
“Mrs. Vale.”
Luca's housekeeper.
Mara stared.
“She's been here since before I started.”
Daniel nodded.
“Thirty years.”
Luca looked toward the door.
“Bring her here.”
Daniel left.
Mara sat beside Luca.
He looked exhausted.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I don't think I can.”
Mara hesitated.
“Would you like me to stay?”
Luca looked at her.
“Yes.”
She pulled the chair closer.
He closed his eyes.
After several minutes, he whispered:
“Why do you keep helping me?”
Mara considered the question.
“Because someone is trying to kill you.”
“That isn't the answer.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
She touched the photograph.
“I think someone killed my mother too.”
Luca opened his eyes.
Their gazes met.
For the first time, there was no employer and employee between them.
Only two people standing at the edge of the same dark secret.
Mrs. Vale entered ten minutes later.
She was seventy-one.
Small.
Elegant.
And usually impossible to rattle.
But when she saw the photograph, the color drained from her face.
“Where did you get that?”
Mara handed it to her.
“It was behind Luca's wall.”
Mrs. Vale stared.
Then whispered:
“Oh, God.”
Luca leaned forward.
“You know them.”
Mrs. Vale shook her head.
“I know nothing.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I am not lying.”
“You are terrified.”
Mrs. Vale's eyes filled with tears.
She looked at Mara.
“Your mother begged me to help her.”
Mara stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“What did she need?”
“She said she had discovered something.”
“What?”
Mrs. Vale looked at Luca.
“Your father was poisoning people.”
Luca went completely still.
Mrs. Vale continued.
“Not killing them immediately. Making them sick.”
Mara's hands went cold.
“Why?”
“To control them.”
Luca stared at her.
“My father?”
“He believed illness made people easier to manipulate.”
Daniel closed the door.
Mrs. Vale continued.
“Your father had a private physician. Mercer.”
Mara looked at the photograph.
“My mother found out.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Mrs. Vale's lips trembled.
“She tried to expose him.”
“And?”
“She disappeared.”
Mara's heart slammed against her ribs.
“You told me she died.”
“I believed she did.”
Mara stood.
“Who told you?”
Mrs. Vale looked down.
“Your mother.”
“What?”
“She came to me three days before her funeral.”
Mara's mouth fell open.
“That isn't possible.”
“She told me to protect you.”
Mara shook her head.
“You're saying my mother came here after she supposedly died?”
Mrs. Vale nodded.
“She was alive.”
“Then what happened?”
Mrs. Vale looked toward Luca.
“She left this mansion alive.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don't know.”
“Who killed her?”
“I don't know.”
Mara stepped closer.
“You know something.”
Mrs. Vale began crying.
“She told me that if anything happened to her, I should never let the Varelli family seal the windows.”
Luca looked at Mara.
The words from the photograph suddenly made sense.
Mara whispered:
“Because the house itself was part of it.”
Daniel's phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We have a problem.”
He turned the screen toward Luca.
The mansion security system showed an alert.
Someone had entered the underground level.
Luca's face hardened.
“Who?”
Daniel shook his head.
“The cameras were disabled.”
Mara looked at Mrs. Vale.
“Who has access to the underground?”
Mrs. Vale whispered:
“Only three people.”
“Who?”
“Luca.”
“Daniel?”
Mrs. Vale shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
She looked toward the door.
May you like
“Dr. Mercer.”
And then the mansion lights went out.
