The Photograph Outside Olivia’s Apartment
Chapter 05 - The Photograph Outside Olivia’s Apartment
Luca wanted Olivia moved into the mansion’s guest wing.
She said no.
He expected fear.
What he got was irritation.
“I work here.”
“Yes.”
“I do not live here.”
“You are being watched.”
“I noticed.”
“A man connected to my fiancée disappeared with blood in his hotel room.”
“Also noticed.”
“And someone photographed you outside your apartment.”
Olivia folded her arms.
“So your solution is to move me into the house where Vanessa lives?”
Luca stared at her.
Then looked toward Daniel.
Daniel looked at the floor.
Olivia almost smiled.
“Exactly.”
Luca exhaled.
“Hotel.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I vanish from my building the day after your engagement dinner, every gossip page in Chicago will decide I’m your mistress by lunch.”
That stopped him.
Not because he had not thought of reputation.
Because he had not thought of hers.
“Fine.”
He adjusted.
“What do you want?”
The question still sounded unnatural in his mouth.
Olivia appreciated the effort.
“Daniel outside my building at night.”
Daniel looked up.
“Not inside.”
“Agreed.”
“No camera in my apartment.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Agreed.”
“No tracking my phone.”
He looked offended.
“I wasn’t going to—”
Olivia raised an eyebrow.
He stopped.
“Agreed.”
“And I keep working.”
“That part I object to.”
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa may hurt you.”
“She already did.”
Luca’s expression darkened.
Olivia continued.
“And if I disappear from staff now, she knows I told you.”
That was true.
He hated it.
“Then you work only when Vanessa is not in the house.”
“No.”
“Olivia.”
“She sees me avoiding her, same problem.”
Daniel cleared his throat.
“She’s right.”
Luca looked at him.
Daniel stopped speaking.
Olivia almost laughed.
They compromised badly.
Which meant perhaps they compromised honestly.
Olivia would continue normal duties.
Mrs. Carter would keep her away from private rooms.
Daniel would shadow high-risk areas invisibly.
Luca would not confront Vanessa.
Yet.
At four that afternoon, Vanessa returned from the Drake carrying three garment bags and acting perfectly normal.
She found Olivia polishing glassware in the breakfast room.
Their eyes met.
Vanessa smiled.
“Feeling better?”
Olivia’s cheek hurt.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.”
Vanessa moved closer.
Her perfume was soft and expensive.
“I was worried Luca might misunderstand yesterday.”
Olivia kept polishing.
“What would he misunderstand?”
“That accidents happen.”
The words were gentle.
The threat was not.
Olivia looked up.
“He saw the hallway video.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Only for a fraction.
Then returned.
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
That had not been part of Luca’s plan.
Olivia knew it.
She said it anyway.
Vanessa stared.
“You should be careful, Olivia.”
“About what?”
“Working in a house like this.”
There.
Not You’ll be fired.
Not I’ll hurt you.
The house itself.
A warning that could belong to either woman.
Olivia lowered the glass.
“Did you send the photograph to my apartment?”
Vanessa’s eyes widened.
“What photograph?”
Olivia watched carefully.
Either Vanessa was excellent—
or she truly did not know.
“A picture of me leaving home.”
Vanessa’s face lost color.
“Today?”
“Yes.”
She put down the garment bags.
“That wasn’t me.”
Olivia said nothing.
Vanessa looked toward the hall.
“Does Luca know?”
“Yes.”
“Of course he does.”
Her hand trembled once.
The first real fear Olivia had seen in her.
“Who else knew about Mercer?”
“Daniel.”
“And Adrian.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“God.”
Olivia’s pulse changed.
“You’re afraid.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Do not confuse me with harmless.”
“I didn’t.”
“Good.”
She picked up the garment bags.
Then paused.
“Mercer was supposed to photograph Claire. That was all.”
“You told him to locate the safe-deposit box.”
Vanessa turned slowly.
Olivia held her gaze.
“Luca found out.”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“You told him.”
“Yes.”
For one second, Olivia thought Vanessa might slap her.
Instead she laughed softly.
“Do you know what Luca is?”
Olivia looked toward the doorway.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Vanessa’s voice became quiet.
“You know the expensive version.”
“What does that mean?”
“He tells himself he is better than his father.”
“Is he?”
“Sometimes.”
That answer sounded more honest than Olivia wanted.
Vanessa leaned closer.
“Ask him how many years he knew Bellini Foundation money was dirty.”
Olivia’s chest tightened.
“He said he didn’t.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Vanessa smiled sadly.
“Exactly.”
Then she walked away.
That evening Olivia found Luca in the study reviewing security footage.
“You knew.”
He looked up.
“About?”
“The foundation money.”
Silence.
Vanessa had told the truth.
Olivia felt something in her sink.
“How much?”
Luca leaned back.
“I knew Carlo moved money between accounts.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“Why didn’t you investigate?”
“I asked Adrian.”
“And?”
“He said Bellini used temporary transfers to cover construction shortfalls.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At the time.”
“Because you trusted him.”
“Yes.”
“Or because the answer was convenient?”
Luca’s eyes sharpened.
Olivia held them.
He looked away first.
“Both.”
There.
Not innocence.
Not yet guilt either.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Same crime Adrian had confessed.
Olivia laughed quietly.
“Your family is very talented at nothing.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Did you benefit?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Bellini money covered two Moretti developments.”
She stared.
“So money stolen from a children’s hospital helped your company.”
“Yes.”
“And you never asked where it came from.”
“No.”
“You could have.”
“Yes.”
Olivia looked at the old photo of Sofia on his shelf.
“You were not twenty-five.”
“No.”
“You were thirty-three.”
“Yes.”
The room became very still.
Luca’s voice lowered.
“You should know that before you decide what kind of man you think I am.”
Olivia hated that the sentence made her respect him.
“Do not ask me to decide tonight.”
“I’m not.”
“Good.”
Daniel knocked.
His face was grim.
“We found Mercer.”
“Alive?” Luca asked.
“Yes.”
Olivia exhaled.
“Where?”
“St. Catherine’s.”
Hospital.
Daniel continued.
“Concussion. Two cracked ribs.”
“Who attacked him?”
“He won’t say on the phone.”
Luca stood.
“Then we go.”
Olivia looked at him.
“We?”
He stopped.
Corrected.
“Do you want to come?”
She thought.
Mercer had watched her mother’s name.
Had been part of the upstairs confrontation.
Had perhaps known who attacked her.
“Yes.”
At St. Catherine’s, Mercer looked less invisible.
Purple bruise at one eye.
Lip split.
He saw Olivia first.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not stopping Vanessa when she grabbed you.”
Olivia frowned.
“She hit me.”
“No.”
Mercer shook his head.
“She pulled you back. You twisted away. I stepped between you. You hit the frame.”
Olivia remembered fragments.
Vanessa’s fingers on her shoulder.
Mercer shouting.
The wood.
“So Vanessa didn’t strike me.”
“No.”
“Then why did she lie?”
“Because the truth was worse.”
“What truth?”
“That you heard her talking about Claire.”
Luca stood near the foot of the bed.
“Who attacked you?”
Mercer looked at him.
“Not Vanessa.”
“Who?”
“A man I had seen twice with Carlo Bellini.”
“Name.”
“Graham Voss.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Luca noticed.
“You know him.”
Daniel was silent.
“Daniel.”
“He used to work Moretti security.”
The hospital room went cold.
“When?”
“Before you took over.”
“Why did he leave?”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“Your father fired him after a warehouse fire.”
Mercer looked toward Olivia.
“The same fire Diane Hayes investigated.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What?”
Mercer nodded.
“Your mother wasn’t only tracing money.”
He reached toward the drawer beside the bed.
Pulled out a copied police report.
“Three months after she left Bellini Foundation, one of the shell-company warehouses burned.”
“Deaths?”
“Two.”
“Who?”
Mercer looked at Luca.
“An accountant named Paul Rizzi.”
Then Olivia.
“And a security guard named Graham Voss.”
She stared.
“But Graham attacked you yesterday.”
Mercer nodded.
“Which means somebody declared him dead seventeen years ago.”
Luca looked at Daniel.
May you like
Daniel had gone pale.
And for the first time, Olivia wondered whether the security chief standing beside Luca knew far more about the old Bellini crimes than he had ever admitted.
