Chapter 3 - The Name Behind the Door
“Rena.”
Serena stopped breathing.
Nobody called her that.
Nobody except her mother.
Damiano moved in front of her.
“Stay back.”
The door opened.
A frightened teenage catering assistant stood there.
Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
“They took him,” he gasped.
“Who?”
“The man in the red-stitched jacket.”
Damiano caught him before he collapsed.
Security flooded the corridor.
Serena stared past them.
No one else was there.
“Who said Rena?”
The boy blinked.
“What?”
“My name. Someone said it.”
“I didn't.”
Damiano looked toward the dark kitchen passage.
“Lock down the building.”
The wedding was delayed.
Guests were told there had been a security issue.
Serena should have left.
Instead she sat in a private office with Damiano while the old photograph rested between them.
“My mother knew yours,” she said.
“Apparently.”
“You knew nothing?”
“No.”
“Convenient.”
His eyes lifted.
“I deserve that.”
She wasn't expecting the answer.
Damiano leaned back.
“My mother died when I was fifteen. Car accident.”
“My mother vanished when I was twenty.”
“Did police investigate?”
“For about five minutes.”
“Why?”
“Because adults are allowed to disappear.”
Her bitterness made him quiet.
Serena told him about Evelyn Sinclair.
Single mother.
Bookkeeper.
Always moving.
Always afraid of something she refused to name.
Then, fourteen years ago, Evelyn had left for work and never returned.
No body.
No note.
No explanation.
Except now there was a photograph.
Damiano picked it up.
“What bakery is this?”
Serena looked closer.
The faded sign behind the women read MERCY BAKESHOP.
Her throat tightened.
“Sweet Mercy.”
“What?”
“My bakery used to have another name. I bought the building eight years ago. The landlord said there'd been a bakery there decades earlier.”
Damiano stared.
“You unknowingly bought the place where our mothers knew each other.”
“Apparently.”
He almost smiled at her echo.
Almost.
Then a guard entered.
“We identified the catering man. Victor Hale.”
Serena stood so fast her chair scraped.
Damiano noticed.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“I know the name.”
“From where?”
“My mother's old address book.”
Victor Hale had appeared on one page.
No number.
Just a warning.
NEVER CALL.
Damiano's guard continued.
“Hale isn't catering staff. Credentials were forged.”
“Criminal history?”
“Fraud. Burglary. Extortion. He disappeared from records twelve years ago.”
“And the ruby?”
“Not found.”
Serena's phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
YOU STILL HAVE THE DINOSAUR.
Her blood chilled.
Damiano read her expression.
“What?”
She showed him.
Another message arrived.
YOUR MOTHER WANTED YOU TO HAVE WHAT WAS INSIDE.
Then another.
DAMIANO'S MOTHER DIED FOR IT.
Damiano took the phone.
“Trace it.”
His guard left.
Serena looked at him.
“You still think this is about jewelry?”
“No.”
“What is it about?”
“I don't know.”
“That answer doesn't suit you.”
“No.”
“Good.”
Damiano studied her.
“You aren't afraid of me.”
“I was searched by your employee in front of a bridal party. We're past introductions.”
That time he did smile.
Briefly.
Then his grandmother entered.
She looked at Serena as though seeing a ghost.
“Evelyn's daughter.”
Serena rose.
“You knew my mother.”
The elderly woman closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“Is she alive?”
“I don't know.”
“Why was she connected to your family?”
Damiano's grandmother looked toward him.
“Because Elena discovered something she was never supposed to discover.”
“The ruby?” Damiano asked.
“No.”
She touched the empty jewelry box.
“The ruby was the key.”
Serena frowned.
“To what?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“Manhattan.”
“What was inside?”
“Evidence.”
Damiano leaned forward.
“Against whom?”
His grandmother looked toward the closed door.
“Your father.”
Damiano's expression hardened.
“My father has been dead nine years.”
“I know.”
“What did he do?”
“He stole from his own family. Then he used the family businesses to move money for men far worse than he was. Elena discovered the accounts.”
Damiano said nothing.
“She wanted to expose him?”
“She wanted to protect you and Mia.”
“And Evelyn?”
“Helped her.”
Serena felt sick.
“My mother disappeared because of your family?”
The old woman looked at her.
“Yes.”
Damiano stood.
“Nonna.”
“She deserves the truth.”
Serena's voice cracked.
“Did your son kill my mother?”
“I don't know.”
That answer was worse.
Damiano walked away from the desk.
Serena saw his control beginning to fracture.
Everything he believed about his father was shifting beneath him.
His grandmother continued.
“The cameo contained a removable ruby. Behind it was a tiny key.”
“Was?” Serena asked.
“The stone was reset years ago. I thought the key had been destroyed.”
“Thought?”
“Elena hid it.”
“Where?”
The old woman's eyes moved toward Serena's purse.
The dinosaur.
Serena pulled it out.
Damiano examined the hidden compartment again.
This time he pressed harder along the plastic seam.
Click.
A second compartment opened.
Something tiny fell onto the desk.
A brass key.
Nobody spoke.
Damiano picked it up.
An engraved number ran along its side.
His grandmother whispered, “Dear God.”
Serena's phone rang.
This time the caller ID displayed a name.
Not Unknown.
Not Victor Hale.
MOM.
Serena stared at it.
Her hands began shaking.
She answered.
For three seconds there was only breathing.
Then a woman's voice said, “Rena, don't take that key to the bank.”
Serena's knees nearly gave out.
“Mom?”
A sob caught in her throat.
“Mom, where are you?”
“I don't have much time.”
“Are you alive?”
“Yes.”
Serena covered her mouth.
Damiano watched silently.
“Where are you?”
“Listen to me. Victor is not the one you should fear.”
“Who is?”
The line crackled.
Then Evelyn said one name.
May you like
Serena slowly turned toward the ballroom.
Because that person was already inside the wedding.
