Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE RED GOWN
Vanessa arrived at the estate on Friday morning carrying two garment bags and a folder of wedding arrangements. She behaved as though the engagement dinner had gone perfectly. She asked Mrs. Carter whether the flowers had been changed, complained about the photographer's assistant, and told the kitchen to prepare a lunch menu for six people who had not yet confirmed they were coming.
She did not mention the mirror.
She did not mention my injury.
And she did not ask why Luca's study had been locked since the previous evening.
Luca watched her from the breakfast room, answering her questions with the same calm attention he gave a business associate. He had told Daniel not to reveal what they had learned from Oliver Shaw. He wanted to know whether Vanessa would volunteer information, lie about the delivery, or attempt to move the signing to an earlier hour.
She did all three.
At ten fifteen, she asked whether Adrian had confirmed Saturday morning. Luca said the attorney needed additional time to review the documents. Vanessa smiled, but her fingers tightened around the handle of her coffee cup.
“How much time?”
“As much as he needs.”
“We've already delayed the wedding announcement twice.”
“This is a business agreement, Vanessa. It can wait.”
She leaned closer. “It isn't just business. It's our future.”
“Our future won't be improved by signing something we haven't read.”
Her eyes flickered toward the locked study door. “You used to trust me.”
“I used to think trust meant not needing to ask questions.”
For the first time, she seemed unable to decide which expression to wear. Then she laughed softly and said she was only worried about the wedding. She kissed his cheek, collected her folder, and left the room.
At 10:37, she called Martin Keene from the conservatory. Daniel did not record the conversation; he simply noted the time and the number she dialed from the estate phone records. The call lasted four minutes and twelve seconds. When she returned, she asked Mrs. Carter to send two housekeepers to the west wing to clean the guest rooms.
It was an ordinary instruction, except that the west wing had already been cleaned that morning.
Daniel checked the staff schedule. One of the housekeepers assigned to the task was a young woman named Bethany Cole, who had worked at the estate for only three weeks. She was new enough not to know which rooms were off-limits and inexperienced enough to believe Vanessa's requests carried the same authority as Luca's.
Bethany later told Mrs. Carter that Vanessa had asked her to look for a small envelope in Luca's dressing room. She had been told it contained a seating chart and that it was urgent. Bethany found no envelope. Instead, she saw Vanessa enter the room herself and open a locked drawer using a key from her bracelet.
When Bethany mentioned what she had seen, Vanessa accused her of stealing a pair of cuff links. She ordered security to search Bethany's locker and threatened to call the police. The cuff links were found later in a box of unused linens, where Bethany had never been. She was terrified and asked Mrs. Carter to help her.
Mrs. Carter called Daniel.
Luca did not immediately confront Vanessa. He asked Bethany to write down exactly what had happened, then had the security team preserve the footage from the west-wing corridor. The video showed Vanessa entering the dressing room alone and leaving six minutes later with a slim document envelope tucked under her arm.
The footage did not show what she took. It did show that Bethany's accusation of theft had come after Vanessa had already entered the room.
“She's creating a reason to search the staff,” Daniel said. “If she wants to know whether something is missing, she's looking for a specific document.”
Luca asked Adrian to list every original document stored in the locked drawer. Adrian reviewed the estate's legal inventory and identified a signed copy of Luca's existing trust agreement, a set of corporate authority schedules, and an unsigned draft of the amendment intended for Saturday. The signed trust agreement had not been removed. The amendment draft was missing.
Luca stood at the window while Adrian explained the consequences. The draft itself did not grant anyone authority, but it contained the proposed safeguards and the list of entities that would be affected. If Vanessa or Keene had a copy, they could tailor their own agreement to avoid triggering the protections.
“They already have the recording,” Luca said. “Now they have the exact language.”
Adrian warned him that the missing draft should be treated as a security breach and that the legal team needed to prepare a fresh version with different terms. Luca agreed. He also asked Adrian to check whether any of the Bellini companies had filed notices related to the Moretti businesses.
By early afternoon, the attorney found a preliminary filing submitted to a private registry. It listed a proposed management structure that would place three Moretti subsidiaries under a temporary holding company after Luca's marriage. The filing was not yet effective, but it had been prepared with remarkable detail. It referenced asset schedules that had never been made public.
“Someone is preparing to move the companies before the safeguards take effect,” Adrian said.
Luca looked at the filing. “And the person who prepared it believes I'll sign the document that allows them to do it.”
He ordered a new amendment drafted and told Adrian to make no mention of the missing copy. He also instructed Daniel to tell Vanessa that the signing might happen Saturday after all, provided the paperwork was ready. The decision was deliberate. If Vanessa believed the plan remained possible, she might reveal who was waiting for the signature.
Meanwhile, I was trying to follow my doctor's advice and stay off my feet. My mother had put a stack of clean towels beside the sofa and insisted I let her carry the laundry. I hated feeling useless, but my back hurt whenever I twisted. I spent the afternoon answering questions from Nina and reviewing my written statement for accuracy.
At five, a delivery driver arrived at our apartment with a bouquet of white lilies. There was no card. My mother refused to bring them inside until Daniel's security contact checked the package. Nothing dangerous was found, but a small folded note had been tucked among the stems.
You were warned once. Don't make us repeat ourselves.
My mother turned pale. I felt anger rise so quickly it seemed to push the fear aside.
“I'm not going to be bullied out of my own home,” I said.
“Being brave doesn't mean you have to stand in front of a moving car,” she replied. “It means knowing when to step out of its path.”
She was right, and I hated that too. I agreed to spend the night at my aunt's house while Daniel arranged additional security. Before I left, I called Luca to tell him about the flowers. He apologized, and I told him not to apologize for someone else's actions.
“I'm not apologizing for them,” he said. “I'm apologizing because this reached your family.”
There was a pause. Then he added, “You shouldn't have had to pay for being honest.”
I didn't know how to respond. So I asked him what the missing document meant for Saturday.
“It means they wanted to know the protections before they tried to get around them. It also means someone close enough to the family knows where the originals are kept.”
“Do you think Vanessa took it?”
“I think the footage suggests she entered the room and left with an envelope. I won't say more until we know what was inside.”
He sounded careful, not evasive. I appreciated that he didn't use certainty as a weapon.
Later that evening, Daniel reported that the envelope had been found in Vanessa's car, inside a leather portfolio. The draft was missing, but a photograph of its first two pages remained in a folder on her phone. The image had been sent to Martin Keene. The metadata showed it was taken at 10:52 a.m., less than fifteen minutes after Vanessa entered the dressing room.
Luca looked at the image for a long time. “She knew what she was looking for.”
Daniel asked whether he wanted Vanessa brought in for questioning.
“Not yet. Let her think we haven't noticed.”
That was the most difficult part for Luca. He had spent years building an organization in which disloyalty was dealt with quickly. Now he had to wait, not because he lacked the power to act, but because acting too soon might warn the people behind the plan.
At 8:06 p.m., Vanessa sent him a message: I know you're upset with me, but we should stop letting lawyers control our relationship. Let's sign the papers tomorrow and move forward.
Luca replied: If the documents are correct, there is nothing to fear from review.
She answered almost immediately: Some opportunities don't wait forever.
He showed the message to Adrian.
“That sounds less like a fiancée and more like someone racing a deadline,” the attorney said.
Luca nodded. “Then tomorrow we'll find out what happens if the deadline passes.”
The following morning, Vanessa arrived at the mansion before eight. She wore a cream suit, carried a new folder, and looked more composed than she had the previous night. She kissed Luca's cheek, greeted Daniel, and asked whether Adrian had arrived.
“He's on his way,” Luca said.
“Wonderful.” She placed the folder on the table. “I brought the final agreement. It's much simpler than the earlier version.”
Luca did not open it. “We'll review it together.”
“Of course.”
She smiled as she sat down.
But when Daniel stepped out to take a call, Vanessa leaned toward Luca and whispered, “Please don't make this difficult. There are people waiting on your decision.”
Luca held her gaze. “Who?”
Her smile faltered.
Then she straightened and said, loudly enough for the room to hear, “Our families, darling. Everyone is waiting for us to start our life together.”
Luca nodded once.
May you like
He had his answer. The papers were not simply about their marriage. Someone outside the relationship was waiting for the signature, and Vanessa knew exactly how much time they believed they had left.
The question was whether she was afraid of disappointing them—or afraid of what they would do if she failed.
