Chapter 4: The Price of My Silence
Every face turned toward me.
“I’ve never met him,” I said.
Daniel opened his briefcase again.
“Then you won’t mind explaining this.”
He placed a bank transfer receipt on the table.
It showed my name beside a payment of three thousand dollars.
Marco picked it up.
“Emma, is this your account?”
“The last four digits are mine.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“So the innocent housekeeper received money from Daniel and suddenly became our heroic witness.”
“I never received that money.”
“Check your phone,” Daniel said.
My fingers shook as I opened my banking app.
The balance was three thousand dollars higher than it had been that morning.
Luca’s voice remained calm.
“When was it deposited?”
“At six fourteen tonight.”
Vanessa looked around the table.
“An hour before she accused me.”
“I didn’t know it was there.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
Luca turned to Daniel.
“Why did your company pay my housekeeper?”
Daniel shrugged.
“She provided information about the event.”
“That’s a lie,” I said.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Then return it.”
“I will.”
“After you finish ruining my engagement?”
Luca lifted the receipt.
“This proves money was sent.
It does not prove Emma requested it.”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“You defend her very quickly.”
“She has answered every question.
You have answered none.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
He glanced at it and turned the screen down.
Rosa reached across the table.
“Who keeps calling you?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“It became my concern when you tried to buy my silence.”
Daniel moved toward the door, but two members of Luca’s security staff entered.
Luca pointed at the briefcase.
“That stays here.”
“You have no right to seize my property.”
“Then remain beside it while my attorney arrives.”
Vanessa leaned close to me.
“You should call your father.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“The company managing his therapy debt belongs to Daniel.”
My chair pushed backward.
“What did you say?”
“He misses one payment, they review everything.
His treatment plan.
Your mortgage.
Your mother’s restaurant lease.”
My throat closed.
Luca caught my arm before I stumbled.
“Emma, sit down.”
“I can’t.”
Vanessa’s voice softened.
“Withdraw your statement.
Say you misunderstood the Italian, and tomorrow the money disappears.
So do your father’s overdue bills.”
“You arranged this?”
“I’m offering to help you.”
Tears blurred the room.
“My father learned to walk again three months ago.
You don’t get to put a price on that.”
“Then don’t make him pay for your pride.”
I covered my mouth.
Luca pulled out the chair, but I could not sit.
A woman rose from the far end of the table.
She was silver-haired and had not spoken all evening.
“Vanessa, enough.”
Vanessa stiffened.
“Aunt Celia, stay out of this.”
Celia Bellini walked to me and took my shaking hand.
“My niece threatened my pension when I questioned her company,” she said.
“She never followed through because she never controlled it.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“You promised not to discuss that.”
“I promised while I still believed shame belonged to me.”
Celia pressed a key into my palm.
“This opens Vanessa’s desk in the upstairs study.
I saw her place a red ledger inside it before dinner.”
Vanessa lunged toward us.
Daniel caught her wrist.
“Don’t,” he whispered.
Luca heard him.
“What is in that ledger?”
May you like
Celia looked straight at Vanessa.
“The names of every person they paid, threatened or blamed before Emma.”
