Chapter 7: The Last Bargain
Celia played the rest.
Daniel’s recorded voice asked, “And after the wedding?”
Vanessa answered, “Luca signs the partnership transfer.
Six months later, I leave with my share.”
The recording ended.
Luca removed Vanessa’s ring from beside his plate and set it in front of her.
“There will be no wedding.”
Vanessa looked at the ring, then at the guests.
“You cannot humiliate me like this.”
“You accused Marco in front of these people.
You threatened Emma’s father in front of them too.”
Daniel struggled against the security guard.
“Vanessa, say nothing else.”
She turned on him.
“You planted the money.
You planted the drive.”
“Because you ordered me to.”
“You designed the company!”
“And you brought me Luca’s signatures!”
Their voices collided until Thomas raised his phone.
“Keep talking.
The authorities are listening.”
Daniel went silent.
Vanessa looked at me instead.
“Emma, we can still fix your father’s situation.”
“No.”
“I can erase every debt by morning.”
“You created those debts to control me.”
“I purchased them legally.”
“And you used them to threaten his treatment.”
Vanessa leaned closer.
“Help me now, and your parents keep their home.
Refuse, and Daniel’s company can begin collection before breakfast.”
My knees weakened.
Luca reached toward me, but I stepped away.
“Don’t promise me anything,” I said.
“Not unless you can keep it.”
His hand fell.
“You’re right.”
The words almost broke me more than Vanessa’s threat.
“I should have noticed what she was doing,” Luca continued.
“Marco warned me twice about unusual vendors.
I told him Vanessa was adjusting to the business.”
Marco looked down.
Luca faced him.
“I made loyalty difficult for the people who had already earned mine.”
My eyes filled.
“I stayed silent because I thought people like me were replaceable.”
Marco moved beside me.
“You spoke when I couldn’t.
You are not replaceable.”
Rosa took my other hand.
“And your family will not lose its restaurant.
If they lock the doors, my staff and I will serve meals on the pavement until every reporter in Chicago asks why.”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
Celia wiped it away with her handkerchief.
“You stood up for strangers,” she said.
“Let strangers stand up for you.”
Blue lights flashed through the front windows.
Two investigators entered with a uniformed officer and approached Thomas.
“We received the recordings and banking records.”
Daniel looked toward the kitchen exit.
The officer moved into his path.
Vanessa grabbed the red ledger pages from the carpet and tore one in half.
Thomas held up his phone.
“Those pages were copied.”
One investigator addressed her.
“Vanessa Bellini, place the papers on the table.”
She dropped them.
Daniel was escorted toward the door first.
“You ruined everything,” he told Vanessa.
She laughed bitterly.
“No, Daniel.
You were never clever enough to build anything I could ruin.”
Then the investigator turned to her.
Vanessa picked up her engagement ring.
“Luca, if I walk through that door, you will never see me again.”
He looked at the ring between her fingers.
“That is the first promise you’ve made tonight that I believe.”
Her face twisted.
She put the ring down and faced me.
“You’ll always be the maid who destroyed a life she could never afford.”
I held her gaze.
“No, Vanessa.
I’m the witness who stopped you from destroying another one.”
The officer escorted her out.
Thomas’s phone rang before the front door closed.
He listened for several seconds, then looked at me.
“Emma, the account holding your father’s debt was emptied twenty minutes ago.”
My breath caught.
“By whom?”
May you like
Thomas turned the laptop toward us.
“The transfer was authorized using Luca’s signature.”
