Chapter 3 - The Money Jake Never Stole
Ava turned.
The corridor was empty.
"Jake?"
Nothing.
Dante moved first.
Luca pulled Ava behind him.
"Stay here."
"Don't tell me—"
A door slammed somewhere beyond the corner.
Dante disappeared after the sound.
Ava's heart hammered.
"That was him."
"Probably."
"Probably?"
Luca looked at her.
"You haven't heard his voice in eighteen months."
"I know Jake's voice."
Thirty seconds later Dante returned.
"Service exit. Whoever it was is gone."
Ava looked back at the scratched warning.
LUCA IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.
"Convenient."
Luca didn't react.
"You think I wrote it?"
"I think I don't know anything about you."
"That's fair."
"Stop saying things like that."
"Like what?"
"Things that make you sound reasonable."
For the first time, Luca almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
Ava returned to the box.
The sealed letter had her name on it.
She opened it.
Her mother's handwriting covered four pages.
Ava read silently.
Then she sat on the concrete floor.
Her mother had known.
Not everything.
But enough.
Elaine had discovered irregular attempts to access the Carter family trust shortly before her death.
She suspected someone was preparing to manipulate Ava after she was gone.
One paragraph mentioned Jake.
Not as an enemy.
As a concern.
Jake has begun asking questions about your grandfather's property that I never discussed with him. I don't know who told him.
Ava's eyes filled.
Luca crouched nearby.
"What else?"
She continued.
The trust couldn't transfer fully to Ava until she turned thirty unless certain conditions were met.
Ava was twenty-eight.
The account in Emma's name had been created as a protective reserve.
Jake couldn't legally access it.
Unless he could produce guardianship documents.
Ava's blood went cold.
"He wants Emma."
Luca's expression sharpened.
"Not necessarily."
"Her account is worth over a million dollars."
"Which means he may want control on paper, not physically."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
Ava kept reading.
The last page contained a name.
Margaret Vale.
"Who is that?"
Luca's expression changed.
"You know her?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"My father's former attorney."
Ava stared at him.
"Former?"
"She disappeared from professional life fifteen years ago."
"Dead?"
"No."
"Then where is she?"
"That's an excellent question."
The box contained property records, trust documents and photographs.
One photograph showed Elaine standing beside Luca's father.
Another showed a much younger Luca.
Ava looked from the picture to him.
"You really knew my mother."
"Yes."
"You were a kid."
"Thirteen."
"Why didn't she ever mention you?"
"Our families weren't friends."
"Then what were they?"
Luca picked up the photograph.
"Complicated."
Ava almost screamed.
She was tired of complicated.
Tired of secrets.
Tired of rich people speaking as if ordinary sentences cost money.
"Try uncomplicated."
Luca looked at her.
"My father trusted the wrong people. Your mother discovered it. She helped him keep hundreds of employees from losing their jobs."
"And you think that means you owe me?"
"I know it does."
"No."
Ava stood carefully.
"My mother did something good for your family. That doesn't make me your responsibility."
"I didn't say you were."
"Then stop acting like it."
Luca stood too.
"I came to Marino's because Jake was there three days ago. I came tonight because we believed he might return."
"You didn't come for dinner."
"No."
"You came for me."
"Yes."
The honesty unsettled her more than another lie might have.
Ava looked at the box.
"What do we do now?"
"We find Margaret Vale."
"And Jake?"
"We let him come to us."
"No."
"Ava."
"He went near Emma."
"Which is why chasing him blindly is dangerous."
She hated that too.
Every sensible thing Luca said made it harder to keep him in the category where she wanted him.
Dangerous stranger.
Instead, he kept becoming something more confusing.
An ally she hadn't chosen.
They took the box.
The next morning, Ava woke in the hotel suite with Emma curled against her.
For a few seconds she forgot everything.
Then she saw the box on the desk.
Luca had left before dawn.
Dante remained outside.
A doctor had examined Ava's ankle at the hotel.
Severe sprain.
Brace.
No work for at least a week.
Ava had laughed when he said that.
No work meant no rent.
Then she remembered the bank statement.
One million dollars in Emma's name.
Millions more somewhere in a trust.
And somehow Ava still had sixty-three dollars.
At nine, someone knocked.
Dante checked first.
A hotel employee stood outside with breakfast.
Emma celebrated pancakes as though she'd won the lottery.
Ava was pouring syrup when another knock came.
Dante opened the door.
Luca entered.
He looked as though he'd never slept.
"Margaret Vale is alive."
Ava set down the syrup.
"Where?"
"Tacoma."
"Let's go."
"No."
She stared.
"Excuse me?"
"She called me."
"How?"
"I left messages through an old contact."
"And?"
"She'll meet us."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"Why tonight?"
"She insisted."
"Where?"
Luca hesitated.
Ava pointed a fork at him.
"We talked about this."
"Your mother's old house."
The fork lowered.
"Why there?"
"She wouldn't say."
That evening Ava left Emma with Mrs. Chen and went with Luca.
The house had been empty for more than a year.
Ava couldn't afford the repairs or taxes, so foreclosure proceedings had begun.
Seeing it hurt.
The porch where Emma had learned to walk.
The kitchen where Elaine taught Ava to bake.
The upstairs window where Ava waited for Jake on their first date.
Luca unlocked the door.
Ava looked at him.
"Why do you have a key?"
He froze.
Another secret.
"Your mother gave it to my father."
"Why?"
"In case something happened."
"Something did happen."
"I know."
They entered.
Dust covered everything.
Ava moved toward the living room.
A lamp switched on.
She jumped.
An elderly woman sat in her mother's chair.
Silver hair.
Straight posture.
Sharp eyes.
"Margaret Vale?"
The woman nodded.
"You look like Elaine."
Ava swallowed.
"You knew my mother?"
"Better than you were allowed to know."
Luca closed the door.
Margaret looked at him.
"You shouldn't have brought her."
"She deserves the truth."
"The truth could get her killed."
Ava's stomach tightened.
"No."
Both turned toward her.
"No more dramatic warnings. No more half-truths. Tell me what happened."
Margaret studied her.
Then nodded.
"Your inheritance was never stolen."
"I know."
"Do you?"
Margaret opened a leather case.
"The Carter trust remains intact."
"Then why can't I access it?"
"Because eighteen months ago, someone filed documents declaring you legally incompetent to control it."
Ava stared.
"What?"
"Forged medical reports. Forged evaluations."
"Who?"
"Jake signed as petitioner."
Ava felt sick.
"But he wasn't alone."
Margaret removed another document.
A second signature appeared beneath Jake's.
Ava recognized it immediately.
She had seen it on paychecks for four years.
Marco Bellini.
Her manager.
The man who had scheduled her double shifts.
The man who knew exactly how desperate she was.
"Marco?"
Margaret nodded.
"He was keeping you where they could watch you."
Ava's phone vibrated.
A text from Marino's.
From Marco.
We need to talk about your job. Come alone.
Then another message.
A photograph appeared.
It showed the inside of Ava's apartment.
Taken minutes ago.
On Emma's bed sat the stuffed rabbit Ava had left behind.
Beside it was a new black envelope.
May you like
And written across the front were three words:
ASK LUCA WHY.
