Chapter 5 - The Ring
I did not sleep.
At three in the morning, I sat at the foot of the enormous bed while rain moved against the windows.
My grandmother had worked for the Vitales.
That sentence refused to fit inside my memory of her.
Sofia Hale hated rich people.
At least I thought she did.
She used to roll her eyes at expensive cars.
She kept cash in coffee tins.
She trusted nobody wearing shoes that cost more than rent.
At four fifteen, I gave up.
I found Rosa in the kitchen making tea.
“You knew I would come down.”
She did not look surprised.
“I hoped you would sleep.”
“I hoped my dead grandmother had not secretly worked for a criminal dynasty.”
Rosa poured two cups.
“Life disappoints.”
I sat opposite her.
“What did she do?”
Rosa hesitated.
“She was nanny to Alessandro.”
I stared.
“To him?”
“And later, to his younger brother.”
“I didn’t know he had a brother.”
“He did.”
The word did landed badly.
“What happened?”
Rosa looked toward the kitchen door.
“That is not my story to tell.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“It is how families like this survive.”
I leaned forward.
“What did the ring mean?”
Rosa’s fingers tightened around her cup.
“Alessandro’s mother, Lucia, gave it to Sofia the night everything changed.”
“What changed?”
A voice behind me answered.
“My brother disappeared.”
I turned.
Alessandro stood in the doorway.
No suit.
No tie.
Black shirt.
Sleeves pushed to his forearms.
He looked more dangerous somehow without the armor of expensive tailoring.
I waited.
He entered.
“My brother Matteo was eight.”
“I was eleven.”
“Someone entered this house during my father’s absence.”
“They killed two guards and took Matteo.”
I felt my stomach twist.
“Was he ever found?”
“No.”
“What did my grandmother have to do with it?”
“Sofia got me out.”
His voice was flat.
Too flat.
“She hid me in a laundry cart and took me through the servants’ tunnel.”
“She saved your life.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she leave?”
“That is the question my father spent years asking.”
“Lucia gave Sofia the emerald ring before she disappeared.”
“My father believed the ring contained information.”
“What kind?”
“We never knew.”
I thought about the hidden hinge beneath the setting.
“David stole it.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
Alessandro placed a photograph on the table.
David stood outside a pawnshop.
The date stamp was six months earlier.
The image was grainy.
But the ring in his hand was unmistakable.
My chest tightened.
“How do you have this?”
“My people started tracing him after you identified him.”
I looked closer.
Another man stood behind David.
Julian.
The waiter from Lumina.
My blood went cold.
“They know each other.”
“Yes.”
The photograph had been taken months before I ever worked at Lumina.
I looked at Alessandro.
“You think I was hired there because of David.”
“I think your employment may not have been accidental.”
I remembered Julian recommending me for better shifts.
Giving me access to private dining rooms.
Telling me which VIP tables needed refills.
My stomach turned.
“Why would they put me near you?”
Alessandro’s expression darkened.
“I do not think they put you near me.”
May you like
He tapped the photograph.
“I think they put you near Leo.”
