Chapter 4 - The Scalding Iron
Dr. Harris had finished applying the silver sulfadiazine cream to my hand when the study door clicked open.
The private library smelled of old paper, pipe tobacco, and sterile medical alcohol.
My hand was wrapped in layers of clean white gauze, resting on a velvet pillow on the edge of Luca’s mahogany desk.
Dr. Harris packed his leather medical bag without asking a single question.
He had served the Moretti family for thirty years and knew when silence was the only medicine that kept a man breathing.
"Keep it dry, Miss Carter," the doctor said softly. "I will return at nine tomorrow morning to change the dressing."
"Thank you, Doctor," I murmured.
The doctor nodded to Luca and slipped quietly past the heavy oak doors, pulling them shut behind him.
Luca did not sit down behind his desk.
He walked to the corner bar, poured two fingers of bourbon into a tumbler, and placed the glass beside my uninjured hand.
"Drink it," he said.
"I'm on duty, Mr. Moretti."
"You are on medical leave," he countered. "Drink it."
I picked up the glass with my left hand and took a small sip.
The liquor burned down my throat, but it stopped the shaking in my diaphragm.
Luca reached into his pocket and placed two objects on the green leather blotter between us.
The first was the hollow porcelain bride with its brass plate removed.
The second was the black USB drive.
The air left my lungs in a ragged gasp.
"You recognized the figurine when you carried the cake into the dining room," Luca said.
It was not a question.
"Yes, sir," I answered.
"Tell me how it got here."
I gripped the crystal glass tightly, staring down at the amber whiskey.
"Her name is Elena Rossi," I said. "She owns the little specialty bakery on Grand Avenue."
Luca’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Elena retired three years ago. Her shop is closed."
"She didn't come as a baker, Mr. Moretti. She came through the service alley behind the greenhouse at four this afternoon."
I swallowed hard, the memory tightening like a noose around my throat.
"She was terrified. She was soaking wet from the rain and clutching a small padded cardboard box."
"She told me she needed to hand the box directly to you. She said nobody else in this house could be trusted."
"Especially not Miss Bellini."
Luca leaned forward, resting both palms flat on the mahogany desk.
"Go on."
"I told her you were in conference with the shipping union reps in the west wing," I continued, tears pricking my eyelids.
"I told her I would take her to your personal assistant."
"Before I could unlock the inner security door, the kitchen door swung open."
"Miss Bellini was standing there."
The room fell into an icy silence.
"Vanessa took the box from the old woman’s hands," I whispered. "She opened it, looked at the porcelain bride, and her face went completely white."
"Then she looked at me."
"Elena tried to grab the box back. She screamed that Michael had trusted her to keep it safe until the wedding."
Luca flinched as if he had been struck with a lead pipe.
"Michael?" he rasped.
"That was the name she used, sir. She said, 'Michael died to get this out of the bank vault.'"
My voice began to break.
"Miss Bellini slapped Elena across the face and shoved her backward into the service alley."
"The security guards at the back gate... they didn't help Elena. They grabbed her by the arms and dragged her into a black town car."
"I tried to run to the hallway phone to call you."
"Miss Bellini caught me by the collar."
I looked down at my heavily bandaged palm.
"There was a commercial sheet pan on the preparation island. One of the prep cooks had left it warming under the heat lamps for the caramelized tarts."
"She grabbed my wrist with both hands."
"She forced my palm down against the iron."
"She leaned down until her lips were against my ear and told me that if I ever said the name Michael to you, my sister Maya would never finish her first semester of life."
Luca’s breathing stopped completely.
His knuckles turned white against the dark leather of his desk blotter.
The silence that followed was louder than gunfire.
May you like
When he finally moved, it was with terrifying slowness.
He pulled his laptop across the desk and inserted the black USB drive into the encrypted port.
