Chapter 3 - The Photograph
“Emily?”
Nora grabbed the phone.
The image was grainy but unmistakable.
Her sister stood inside what looked like a storage facility.
Timestamp: 7:42 p.m.
Ten minutes ago.
Impossible.
Emily had been inside the Bennett house all evening.
Nora looked toward the kitchen doorway.
Emily was still there laughing beside Daniel.
“That isn’t possible.”
Gabriel took the phone back.
“The camera feed is live.”
“Then it isn’t Emily.”
“It looks exactly like her,” Gabriel said.
Nora turned on Matteo.
“What is going on?”
Matteo glanced toward the crowded rooms.
“Not here.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“You volunteered to walk into my family’s home knowing Christopher was connected to you somehow. Now someone who looks exactly like my sister is opening some secret locker while my actual sister is standing twenty feet away. You do not get to say ‘not here.’”
Matteo held her gaze.
Then he nodded.
“Upstairs?”
Nora led him into her father’s small office.
Gabriel followed.
The door closed.
Matteo spoke first.
“Locker seventeen contains records.”
“What kind?”
“Financial records.”
“Yours?”
“Some.”
“Illegal?”
His pause was tiny.
Nora saw it anyway.
“Matteo.”
“They document illegal transactions conducted through companies associated with people who worked for my father.”
“Your father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then why hide them?”
“Because some of those people are not.”
Nora folded her arms tightly.
“Christopher?”
“His company appears in the records.”
“So you knew.”
“I learned last night.”
“After you overheard me.”
“Yes.”
“And you still came here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
Nora laughed once in disbelief.
“From what?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“That sentence is incredibly reassuring.”
Gabriel spoke.
“Christopher searched for information about you yesterday.”
Nora looked at him.
“Me?”
“He wanted confirmation that you worked at Bellandi House.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
Nora’s anger shifted toward fear.
She thought of Christopher grabbing her wrist.
Ask him about locker seventeen.
“What is on those documents that matters so much?”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“They can prove someone stole millions of dollars and used my family businesses to move it.”
“Someone?”
“We don’t know who controlled the scheme.”
“And Christopher?”
“Middleman. Possibly.”
Nora walked toward the window.
Downstairs, muffled laughter continued.
Her family had no idea.
“Does Emily know anything?”
“No.”
“Then why is somebody using her face?”
Gabriel zoomed into the photograph.
“Look carefully.”
Nora leaned closer.
The woman resembled Emily almost perfectly.
But then Nora saw it.
The left hand.
Emily wore her engagement ring on her left hand.
The woman in the photograph wore a ring on her right.
“That’s not her.”
“No,” Matteo said.
“Who is it?”
Gabriel looked at Matteo.
“We’re running facial recognition.”
Nora shook her head.
“No. Absolutely not. I want Emily out of this house.”
Matteo nodded.
“I agree.”
“And my parents.”
“Yes.”
“We tell them there’s a gas leak.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
Nora looked at him.
“You have a better idea?”
“No.”
Within twenty minutes, the engagement dinner ended because Gabriel announced that a possible utility issue had been detected nearby.
Nora’s father complained.
Her mother packed leftovers.
Emily demanded answers.
Nora promised she would explain.
Christopher left without saying goodbye.
That frightened Nora more than anything.
Matteo accompanied Nora outside.
“I’m taking you back to Bellandi House.”
“No.”
“It is more secure.”
“My apartment—”
“Christopher knows where you work. Assume he knows where you live.”
Nora hated that he was right.
Emily approached before she could respond.
“What’s happening?”
Nora pulled her aside.
“Do you know anything about a storage locker?”
Emily blinked.
“What?”
“Locker seventeen.”
The color drained from Emily’s face.
Nora stared.
“You do.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“I don’t know a locker.”
“But you know the number.”
Emily glanced toward Daniel.
Then whispered:
“Christopher asked me about seventeen last week.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“What exactly did he say?”
“He asked if you’d ever mentioned seventeen.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought he was being weird. He said you left something at his apartment years ago and seventeen was possibly the storage code.”
“What did you say?”
“That I didn’t know.”
“Did you mention Bellandi?”
Emily hesitated.
“Emily.”
“I may have said you worked for Matteo.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
It was not okay.
But Emily had not known.
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
Then Emily remembered something.
“Wait.”
She opened her purse.
“I got this yesterday.”
She produced a plain white envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Nora standing outside Bellandi House.
Taken from across the street.
On the back was written:
ASK YOUR SISTER WHERE THE KEY IS.
Matteo appeared beside them.
Nora handed him the photograph.
His expression became lethal.
“Gabriel.”
Gabriel took it.
Emily looked between them.
“What key?”
Nora answered:
“I wish I knew.”
That was not entirely true.
She knew what key.
She just did not know why someone thought she had it.
Back at Bellandi House, security doubled.
Nora found herself in a guest suite larger than her entire apartment.
She changed into borrowed pajamas Mrs. Alvarez left outside her door.
At midnight she still could not sleep.
So she went downstairs.
She found Matteo in the library.
The actual library this time.
He stood near the windows, jacket removed, sleeves rolled to his forearms.
A glass of untouched whiskey sat on the table.
Nora entered.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I’m working.”
“You’re staring at rain.”
“It’s strategic rain.”
Nora almost smiled.
Then she noticed a folder on the desk.
Emily’s photograph lay beside it.
Matteo caught her looking.
“Gabriel found the woman.”
“Who is she?”
“Her name is Lena Ward.”
“Why does she look like Emily?”
“She doesn’t.”
Nora frowned.
Matteo turned his laptop around.
A photograph showed the same woman without makeup.
Similar build.
Similar hair.
Different face.
“Prosthetics,” Nora said.
“Professional ones.”
“Why imitate my sister?”
“To make us think she was involved.”
“Why?”
“That is the question.”
Nora sank into a chair.
“This morning my biggest problem was my ex-boyfriend seeing me single.”
Matteo sat across from her.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Bringing you further into this.”
“You didn’t create Christopher.”
“No.”
“But you knew tonight might be dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
Nora looked at him.
“That part matters.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because if I told you your ex-boyfriend might be connected to people targeting my family, you would have gone to dinner anyway.”
She stared.
He continued.
“You would have refused my protection because you didn’t want your sister’s night ruined.”
“That is annoyingly accurate.”
“So I chose the option that allowed me to stay near you.”
“You manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
The easy admission irritated her.
“At least pretend to feel guilty.”
“I do.”
“You don’t look guilty.”
“I have a limited face.”
Nora laughed despite herself.
He smiled faintly.
Then the quiet returned.
She looked at the untouched whiskey.
“Why did you really volunteer?”
“I told you.”
“Your grandmother?”
Matteo looked away.
Nora leaned forward.
“That wasn’t the whole reason.”
“No.”
“Christopher?”
“Not originally.”
“Then why?”
Matteo was silent long enough that Nora’s heartbeat changed.
“When you were speaking on the phone,” he finally said, “you sounded like you were asking for something impossible.”
“A boyfriend?”
“A man willing to stand beside you without asking you to become smaller first.”
Nora stared at him.
Matteo continued quietly.
“I thought that should not be impossible.”
She forgot about locker seventeen for three seconds.
Possibly four.
“You barely know me.”
“I know you refuse to let my grandmother climb ladders.”
“She is reckless.”
“I know you bring Mrs. Alvarez coffee when her arthritis hurts.”
Nora blinked.
“I know you repaired the loose button on Gabriel’s coat and never mentioned it.”
“He looked ridiculous.”
“I know you stay late when someone calls in sick even if nobody asks.”
“That is literally my job.”
“No. Your job has defined hours.”
Nora looked down.
Nobody noticed those things.
Or if they did, nobody said them aloud.
Matteo leaned back.
“So yes. When you said you needed someone, I wanted to be the person who showed up.”
Nora’s voice became softer.
“That sounds dangerously real for a fake boyfriend.”
His gaze met hers.
“Perhaps.”
Before she could answer, the library door opened.
Gabriel entered.
His expression immediately killed the moment.
“We found Christopher.”
Matteo stood.
“Where?”
“Warehouse on Mercer.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Nora’s pulse jumped.
“What happened?”
Gabriel placed a tablet on the desk.
Security footage showed Christopher entering a warehouse.
Two minutes later another car arrived.
A woman stepped out.
Vanessa.
Christopher’s girlfriend.
Nora frowned.
“What does she have to do with this?”
Gabriel advanced the video.
Vanessa opened the trunk.
Inside was a metal case.
She carried it into the warehouse.
Matteo’s face went cold.
“That’s not possible.”
Nora looked at him.
“What?”
“The case.”
“What about it?”
Matteo walked closer to the screen.
“That belonged to my father.”
Gabriel nodded.
“We checked the serial marking.”
Nora felt the room shift again.
“What was inside?”
Matteo answered.
“The second copy of the locker seventeen manifests.”
Nora stared.
“So Vanessa has the evidence?”
“Possibly.”
Gabriel’s phone vibrated.
He checked it.
Then looked at Nora.
“What?”
He did not answer.
“Gabriel.”
He turned the screen toward Matteo first.
Matteo read the message.
His expression changed instantly.
Nora stepped forward.
“What does it say?”
Matteo tried to block the screen.
Too late.
Nora saw the photograph.
Her apartment door.
Wide open.
A handwritten note had been taped across it.
Matteo enlarged the image.
Four words were written in black ink:
NORA HAS THE OTHER KEY.
Nora backed away.
“I don’t.”
Gabriel stared at the message again.
“There’s more.”
A second photograph loaded.
It showed Nora’s bedroom.
Her mattress had been cut open.
Her drawers overturned.
On the wall above her bed, someone had written a single name.
Emily.
Then Matteo’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Matteo put the call on speaker.
A woman breathed softly on the other end.
Then she whispered:
“Bring Nora to locker seventeen.”
Nora gripped the desk.
Matteo’s eyes darkened.
“Who is this?”
The woman laughed.
“You already buried the man who could answer that.”
The line went dead.
Gabriel looked toward Matteo.
Nora looked between them.
“What did she mean?”
Matteo did not answer.
Nora stepped closer.
“Who did you bury?”
Before Matteo could speak, someone pounded three times on the front door.
Every security monitor in the library went black.
Then the house lights died.
A voice came from the hallway.
“Mr. Bellandi?”
It was Mrs. Alvarez.
Her next words were barely audible.
“There’s a woman at the door.”
Matteo reached inside his jacket.
Nora’s breath stopped.
May you like
Mrs. Alvarez whispered one more sentence.
“She says she’s Matteo’s sister.”
