Chapter 2: The Secret Inside the Cup
My left hand shook as I loosened the gauze.
“Please,” Isabella said sharply.
“Matteo is eating.”
Luca never took his eyes off me.
“Then perhaps you should stop speaking.”
I pulled away the final layer.
Several deep c*ts crossed my palm, but Luca stared at the dark bruises circling my wrist.
“An opening can did that?” he asked.
Isabella’s smile vanished.
“Emma panicked.
I tried to help her.”
“You weren’t helping me,” I whispered.
Her eyes flashed.
“Be careful.”
Luca stepped between us.
“Is that a warning?”
Before Isabella could answer, something small fell from the gauze and struck the table.
It was a curved piece of blue glass painted with a silver star.
Luca picked it up.
His face changed.
“Where did this come from?”
“The cup shattered,” I said.
“The one Matteo always asks for.”
Isabella gripped the back of a chair.
“It was worthless.”
“No,” Luca said quietly.
“It belonged to Matteo’s mother.”
Matteo climbed down and tugged at his father’s sleeve.
“Daddy, Isabella broke it on purpose.”
Isabella froze.
Luca crouched beside him.
“Why would she do that, champ?”
Matteo pointed toward Isabella’s closed fist.
“Because she wanted the little key hidden inside.”
Luca stood slowly.
“Open your hand, Isabella.”
But when she did, it wasn’t a key resting in her palm.
It was a tiny memory card.
May you like
What was Isabella hiding on that memory card—and why was it inside Matteo’s late mother’s cup?
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