Chapter 3 - The Broken Map Rack
Geno entered the room ten seconds later, flanked by three men in dark suits. Geno had been my chief of security for fifteen years. He didn't look at Bianca. He didn't look at Marcus. He looked at Emma, noticed the bruises on her exposed arms, and his jaw tightened until his facial muscles twitched.
"Boss," Geno said calmly.
"Take Marcus's coat," I ordered. "Check his right pocket."
Marcus moved to run toward the patio doors, but Geno’s men were faster. They tackled him into the breakfast table. The silver coffee pot overturned, spilling boiling black liquid across the crisp white tablecloth and dripping onto Bianca’s designer shoes. She shrieked, jumping back.
Geno reached into Marcus’s inner pocket and pulled out a heavy velvet pouch and a set of custom brass keys.
"He was packing your late wife’s jewelry, Mr. Vittorio," Geno reported, opening the pouch. Diamond necklaces, heirloom sapphires, and Clara’s vintage Cartier watch glittered under the chandelier light. "Looks like he was planning to clear out the vault before the eight o'clock courier arrived."
Bianca’s breath hitched. "He forced me! Vittorio, listen to me! Marcus threatened me! He said he would tell you lies about me if I didn't help him!"
"Lies?" I turned to her, holding Emma close against my chest. The little girl hid her face in the crook of my neck, feeling the warmth she had been denied for three weeks. "Like the lie that you were taking Emma to pediatric checkups while I was at the docks? I called Dr. Harrison this morning, Bianca. Emma hasn't been to his office in four months."
Bianca backed away until her hips hit the marble sideboard. "I... I forgot! I had charity events!"
"You had hotel reservations," I corrected her. "In Atlantic City. Paid for using my corporate card under Marcus’s alias."
The room went dead silent. The only sound was the steady drip of cold coffee falling off the edge of the mahogany table onto the floor.
"You thought because I came home with grease under my fingernails and tiredness in my eyes that I was blind," I said, walking slowly toward her. "You thought because I loved Clara so much that I was weak. You mistook my silence for ignorance."
"Vittorio, please," she sobbed, dropping to her knees on the hard marble. The same marble she had made Emma sit on when she was punished. "I love you. I loved this life. I made a mistake. Marcus manipulated me!"
"Marcus is an idiot," I said flatly. "And you are a parasite. Geno, open the map rack."
Geno stepped over to the broken antique map rack. He pushed aside the framed parchment of the 18th-century trade routes, revealing a heavy iron safe embedded in the brickwork. He inserted the brass keys retrieved from Marcus.
With a heavy, metallic clunk, the iron door swung open.
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Inside were three thick manila envelopes and a digital recording unit.
"Let's see what else you were managing in my house, Bianca," I said.
