Chapter 2 - The Man Behind the Chair
"That's impossible."
Mara heard herself say it twice.
Nobody corrected her.
The security guard remained frozen at the doorway.
Luca's expression revealed almost nothing.
"Did you see her?"
"On the monitor, sir."
"Did she give identification?"
"No."
"What exactly did she say?"
"She said, 'Tell Mara her mother kept her promise.'"
Mara gripped the back of a chair.
The room tilted for half a second.
Luca noticed.
He rolled closer but did not touch her.
"Mara."
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"My dead mother is apparently downstairs. How should I look?"
Luca's jaw flexed.
"She's not your mother."
"How do you know?"
"Because your mother died."
Mara stared at him.
"You said you were there."
He said nothing.
That silence cut through everything else.
"You were there, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"When she died?"
"Yes."
"Then tell me what happened."
"Not yet."
Mara laughed sharply.
"Not yet?"
"There's a stranger inside my property using your mother's name. Until I know why, you're not going near her."
"You don't get to decide that."
"Tonight I do."
"Because I'm supposedly your future wife?"
"No."
His voice dropped.
"Because somebody just threatened to kill you."
Mara opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Luca turned toward Marco.
"Lock the east wing. Nobody leaves."
"Done."
"Rafael, camera feeds."
Rafael was already moving.
"Elias, bring the woman to the blue room. Search her. No phones, weapons, jewelry, nothing."
Mara stepped forward.
"I'm coming."
"No."
She glared at Luca.
"You cannot order me around."
"You can be angry later."
"I'm angry now."
"Good. Stay alive long enough to enjoy it."
The bluntness stunned her.
Luca pushed one wheel and turned toward the door.
Mara stepped into his path.
He stopped.
They were suddenly positioned like they had been in the image she had already begun forming of this strange night—him seated, her standing, neither willing to yield.
"Move," he said.
"No."
"Mara."
"Tell me something first."
His eyes narrowed.
"Did my mother trust you?"
A muscle moved near his jaw.
"Yes."
"Did you betray her?"
"No."
"Did you love her?"
That surprised him.
Mara saw it.
For perhaps the first time, Luca Moretti did not have an immediate response.
"No," he eventually said.
"Then what was she to you?"
He looked down at his tattooed hands.
"A woman who saved my life before I knew how badly I needed saving."
Mara's anger faltered.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're asking for nine years of history while a stranger waits downstairs."
He looked back up.
"And I'm asking you to trust me for ten minutes."
Mara crossed her arms.
"You're not exactly easy to trust."
"No."
"At least you admit it."
"I don't ask people to trust me because I'm nice."
"What do you ask them to trust?"
"My consistency."
Despite herself, Mara almost smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
"Ten minutes."
Luca nodded.
"Ten."
They went downstairs together.
Not because Luca permitted it.
Because Mara refused to stay behind.
The blue room was smaller than the office and intentionally sparse.
No objects that could easily become weapons.
One door.
Two cameras.
One large table.
The woman waiting there was in her early sixties.
Gray-blond hair.
Plain navy coat.
No jewelry.
She looked nothing like Caroline Ellison.
Mara's relief came so quickly it embarrassed her.
Then the woman stood.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Mara stopped.
Nobody had called her sweetheart exactly like that since her mother.
Luca noticed the reaction.
"Name," he said.
"Anne Whitaker."
"Why did you claim to be Caroline Ellison?"
"I didn't."
The guard frowned.
"You told me—"
"I said Caroline Ellison sent me."
The guard looked confused.
Mara stepped closer.
"Sent you when?"
Anne looked at her.
"Nine years ago."
Silence.
She opened her palms.
"I'm sorry. I knew that was the only sentence that would get me inside."
Mara's heart began hammering.
"What do you know about my mother?"
"More than your father wants you to know."
Luca spoke quietly.
"That doesn't narrow it down."
Anne looked at him.
Recognition crossed her face.
"Luca."
"You know me."
"Caroline described you."
"Recently?"
"No."
Anne's answer seemed to disappoint him in a way Mara didn't understand.
Anne sat.
"Before Caroline died, she discovered Daniel had been moving money from Mara's trust."
Mara's stomach tightened.
"She confronted him."
"When?"
"About six weeks before her death."
"Why didn't she call police?"
"Because Daniel threatened to accuse her of financial crimes using documents bearing her signatures."
"Forged?"
"Some. Others signed while she was heavily medicated."
Mara shut her eyes.
Daniel had insisted on handling every hospital form.
Every account.
Every conversation.
She had been eighteen and terrified.
She had trusted him.
Anne continued.
"Caroline began collecting evidence. She needed someone Daniel couldn't intimidate."
Mara looked at Luca.
"My mother chose a twenty-four-year-old mafia heir?"
Luca's face remained impassive.
Anne answered.
"No. She chose a young man she met at Saint Matthew's Rehabilitation Center."
Mara blinked.
"What?"
Luca looked away.
Anne studied him.
"You never told her?"
"There was no reason."
Mara turned to Luca.
"Why were you at a rehabilitation center three years before your accident?"
He exhaled.
"My mother volunteered there."
Anne continued.
"Caroline was undergoing physical therapy after surgery. Luca visited his mother. That's how they met."
Mara looked at him.
"So Mom just walked up to you and asked you to investigate Dad?"
"No."
Luca's voice became quieter.
"She found me fighting with my father."
Mara stared.
"You?"
"I wasn't always calm."
Anne almost smiled.
"Caroline told him something."
"What?"
Luca hesitated.
Then repeated it.
"'A man who needs everyone afraid of him is usually the most frightened man in the room.'"
Mara's throat tightened.
That sounded exactly like Caroline.
Luca continued.
"I hated her for saying it."
"For how long?"
"Twenty minutes."
Anne laughed softly.
For a moment Mara could hear her mother's laugh inside it.
Then Anne's face grew serious again.
"Caroline eventually learned who Luca's family was. She approached him privately. She asked whether he knew investigators who could trace shell companies without alerting Daniel."
"And did you?"
"Yes," Luca said.
"What happened?"
"We found enough to scare her."
"Scare her how?"
"Your father's theft wasn't the biggest problem."
Mara slowly sat.
"What was?"
Luca looked at Anne.
Anne nodded.
"Someone else was taking money too."
"Who?"
"We didn't know."
Mara frowned.
"But you had nine years."
Luca's expression hardened.
"Your mother died before she could identify them."
"And you stopped investigating?"
"No."
"Then why don't you know?"
"Because every trail led back to your father."
Anne shook her head.
"Not every trail."
Luca looked at her sharply.
"What do you mean?"
Anne reached into her coat.
Marco immediately stepped forward.
She froze.
"Inside lining. Left side."
Marco searched carefully.
He found a thin piece of folded paper stitched into the fabric.
Old.
Yellowed.
He opened it.
Numbers.
Dates.
Initials.
One sequence had been circled repeatedly.
M.E.
Mara stared.
"My initials."
Anne shook her head.
"That's what Caroline thought at first."
Luca took the paper.
His expression darkened.
"What are these?"
"Transfers."
"To whom?"
"I don't know."
"Where did you get this?"
"Caroline gave it to me."
"When?"
"The night before she died."
Luca went completely still.
Mara noticed.
"What?"
He looked at Anne.
"You saw Caroline the night before she died?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Her hospital room."
Luca's voice sharpened.
"I was there until eleven."
"I came at midnight."
"Security logs showed nobody entered."
Anne gave him a tired look.
"I was a nurse."
Mara leaned forward.
"What did my mother say?"
Anne looked directly at her.
"She said Daniel wasn't working alone."
"Who was?"
"She didn't know."
"Then what did she know?"
Anne pointed toward the paper.
"She told me if anything happened, I should hide this until Mara was old enough to fight back."
"Why wait nine years?"
"Because I was afraid."
Anne's eyes lowered.
"And because somebody reminded me every year that they knew where my grandchildren lived."
Mara felt sick.
"Who?"
"I never saw them."
"Then why now?"
Anne looked toward Luca.
"Because three days ago, I received a photograph."
"Of what?"
"You."
Mara froze.
Anne continued.
"You were walking into Ellison Holdings."
"That's hardly secret."
"There was a red circle around your head."
Nobody moved.
"On the back," Anne whispered, "someone had written, 'Caroline's mistake turns twenty-seven.'"
Luca's expression became lethal.
Mara barely heard him say, "Marco."
"I'm already on it."
Anne reached across the table.
"Mara, your mother made me promise something else."
"What?"
"If Daniel ever tried to marry you to Luca Moretti—"
Luca's eyes snapped toward her.
"What did you say?"
Anne swallowed.
"She told me to give you the paper immediately."
Mara stared between them.
"My mother mentioned Luca by name?"
Anne nodded.
"Nine years ago."
Luca looked genuinely stunned.
That frightened Mara.
"What exactly did she say?"
Anne closed her eyes, remembering.
"'If Daniel ever tries to put Mara beside Luca, it means the last part has begun.'"
"The last part of what?"
Anne shook her head.
"She never told me."
A knock came at the door.
Rafael entered.
His expression was grim.
"We traced the intrusion at Mara's apartment."
Luca turned.
"Who?"
"The person wore a cap. Face obscured."
"Anything useful?"
"Yes."
Rafael placed a tablet on the table.
Security footage showed a figure walking through Mara's building.
The person passed beneath a camera.
For half a second, a wrist became visible.
A bracelet.
Silver.
Distinctive.
Mara leaned closer.
Her blood chilled.
She knew that bracelet.
She had purchased it herself.
As a birthday gift.
Luca saw her reaction.
"Whose is it?"
Mara could barely speak.
"My father's."
But Anne shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
Anne's face had gone white.
"Daniel didn't wear that bracelet first."
Mara stared.
"What are you talking about?"
Anne pointed at the screen.
"Caroline gave it to someone else."
"Who?"
Anne whispered a name Mara had not heard in eighteen years.
"Your brother."
Mara's breath stopped.
"I don't have a brother."
Anne looked horrified.
"Oh, Mara."
From the corridor came a sudden crash.
Marco reached for his weapon.
The lights went out.
Then a man's voice spoke through the darkness.
May you like
"Yes, you do."
And Mara recognized the voice.
