Chapter 1 - THE PHOTOGRAPHS THAT LIED
David Collins looked as though he wished the floor of Luca Moretti’s study would open and swallow him. The photographer’s hands rested on his knees, but they would not stay still. His fingers kept rubbing together, thumb over forefinger, a nervous rhythm that grew faster every time Luca looked at him. Anna sat in the chair nearest the fireplace with her left arm secured in a sling. Dr. Harris had given her an anti-inflammatory injection and strict instructions not to lift anything for several days. The pain had dulled from sharp to heavy, but the ache in her shoulder was nothing compared with the tension in the room.
Luca stood behind his desk.
The camera lay between them.
On its small screen, Vanessa’s fake bruises waited in perfect high-resolution detail.
“Start again,” Luca said.
David swallowed. “Miss Bellini hired me three weeks ago.”
“For wedding photographs?”
“No.”
“For what?”
David glanced toward Anna as if hoping she might save him from the question. She looked down.
Luca’s voice stayed calm.
That was worse than anger.
“What did she hire you for?”
“To create a record.”
“A record of what?”
David’s mouth tightened.
“She said she was afraid of you.”
Anna saw Luca’s expression change by less than an inch. His jaw hardened. Nothing else moved.
“And you believed her?”
“At first.”
“Yet you agreed to photograph injuries you knew were fake.”
David looked ashamed.
“She told me the photographs were a precaution. She said powerful men control narratives. That if she ever needed to leave you, nobody would believe her without evidence.”
Luca walked around the desk.
“Makeup is not evidence.”
“I know.”
“You knew then.”
David said nothing.
Luca stopped several feet from him.
“How much?”
“Ten thousand for the session. Another fifteen if I delivered everything Sunday morning.”
“To the journalist?”
David nodded.
“What is her name?”
“Evelyn Shaw.”
Daniel, standing near the study door, immediately pulled out his phone.
Luca noticed.
“Find her.”
Daniel nodded once and stepped into the hall.
David leaned forward.
“Mr. Moretti, I didn’t know she was going to hurt anyone. I didn’t know about Anna. I thought this was some ugly rich-people divorce strategy. I swear.”
Luca looked at Anna.
Her eyes were lowered, but she could feel the weight of his attention.
“Did Vanessa say anything else while you were in the room?”
Anna hesitated.
She had spent the entire afternoon trying not to remember.
Now every detail returned.
The smell of powder.
The white lights around Vanessa’s dressing mirror. Melissa Grant blending purple makeup along Vanessa’s cheek. David moving around the room with his camera.
Vanessa laughing while she studied herself in the mirror.
And then the conversation.
“There was something about Saturday,” Anna said quietly.
Luca turned fully toward her.
“What?”
“She told Mr. Collins that the pictures had to look recent. She said nobody could be able to tell they were taken before the wedding.”
David’s face tightened.
Luca looked at him.
“Is that true?”
He nodded.
Anna continued.
“She also asked the makeup artist if swelling could be faked.”
David closed his eyes.
Luca’s gaze became colder.
“What kind of swelling?”
“Around the eye,” Anna said. “And the wrist.”
Silence filled the room.
David finally spoke.
“She wanted bruises on her ribs too. I refused to photograph anything more revealing. That’s when she got angry.”
Luca looked toward the camera.
“And Sunday morning?”
“She told me I would get instructions after the ceremony.”
“Instructions to do what?”
David shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Luca stepped closer.
“You expect me to believe you accepted twenty-five thousand dollars without asking what would happen to the photographs?”
“I asked.”
“And?”
“She said if the wedding went well, maybe nothing. But if something happened, I had to send the files to Evelyn Shaw and tell her they were taken after an argument.”
Anna’s stomach turned.
Luca was silent for several seconds. Then he reached for the camera, removed the memory card, and handed it to Daniel when he returned.
“Make three copies. Lock the original in the downstairs safe.”
Daniel accepted it.
“I found Shaw,” he said. “Freelance investigative reporter. Domestic violence, corruption, organized crime. She has a national syndication deal.”
David looked toward the door.
“Can I go?”
“No,” Luca said.
The photographer’s face went pale.
“I told you everything.”
“You told me what you thought would keep you out of trouble.”
“That is everything.”
Luca’s eyes remained on him.
“No. It’s what you were paid to see.”
David stared.
Luca pointed at the camera.
“Someone wanted photographs of Vanessa looking abused. Someone wanted them delivered after my wedding. Someone wanted an accusation ready before anything had happened.”
He paused.
“That is not a precaution. It is a plan.”
David’s breathing changed.
Luca saw it.
“So either Vanessa planned this alone, which I doubt, or someone told her exactly how those photographs would be useful.”
“I don’t know who.”
“But you know something.”
David shook his head too quickly.
Luca moved closer.
Anna had never seen him threaten anyone physically.
He did not need to.
The distance between the two men became enough.
David finally broke.
“There was another man.”
Luca stopped.
“What man?”
“I never met him. She took a call during the session. She put it on speaker because Melissa was working near her face.”
“What did he say?”
David stared at the carpet.
“He asked whether the transfer documents were ready.”
Luca did not move.
Anna saw something flash behind his eyes.
“What transfer documents?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exact words.”
David swallowed.
“He said, ‘Once the marriage certificate is filed, we need Luca isolated before he can reverse the transfer.’”
Anna felt the room grow colder.
Luca’s voice lowered.
“And Vanessa?”
“She said you would never see it coming.”
No one spoke.
Then footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Fast.
Sharp.
A second later, the study door opened.
Vanessa stood there.
She had changed out of the red silk dress and into a cream robe. Her hair was loose around her shoulders. Her eyes moved from Luca to David.
Then to Anna.
For one instant, her face became blank.
Not shocked.
Calculating.
Then the expression vanished.
“What is he doing here?”
David looked away.
Luca leaned one hip against the desk.
“David forgot something.”
Vanessa’s gaze landed on the camera.
“What?”
“A lens.”
She looked at Luca.
He looked relaxed.
Too relaxed.
Anna understood immediately.
He was not confronting her yet.
Vanessa did not.
She stepped into the room.
“Why is Anna still here?”
Luca glanced at Anna’s sling.
“Because you injured her.”
Silence.
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“Excuse me?”
“She says you grabbed her.”
Anna’s pulse raced.
Vanessa turned toward her.
The softness in her face disappeared.
“She’s lying.”
Luca watched her.
Vanessa gave a laugh.
“This is absurd. She interrupted a private appointment and started making accusations. I asked her to leave.”
“You told me she fell into your dressing table.”
“She did.”
Anna stood slowly.
Her shoulder protested.
“No, ma’am.”
Vanessa stared at her.
For months, Anna had watched Vanessa dismiss staff with smiles sharp enough to make people feel small. She had watched her correct table settings nobody else could see were wrong. She had watched her send flowers back because the white roses were “too cream.” Anna had never contradicted her directly.
Until now.
“You pushed me into the wardrobe,” Anna said.
Vanessa’s expression froze.
Luca did not look at Anna.
He watched Vanessa.
“You said dressing table,” he said.
Vanessa turned toward him.
“She was stumbling all over the room. I don’t remember exactly what she hit.”
“You remembered enough to explain her injury before I asked about it.”
Vanessa’s cheeks colored.
“This is insane.”
Luca’s voice remained quiet.
“What was the photography session for?”
David went completely still.
Vanessa looked at him.
Then at the camera.
Finally, she smiled.
Not warmly.
“Is this what tonight is about?”
Luca waited.
Vanessa crossed the room and poured herself a drink from the crystal decanter.
“You want to know why I had photographs taken?”
“Yes.”
She lifted the glass.
“Because I was thinking about leaving you.”
Anna almost forgot her pain.
Luca’s face showed nothing.
Vanessa took a sip.
“You’re controlling. Suspicious. You have men watching everyone who comes into this house. You interrogate people as though every dinner is a criminal hearing.”
Luca’s gaze did not move.
“So you painted bruises onto your body.”
“I wanted insurance.”
“Against what?”
“You.”
The word landed hard.
Vanessa looked at Anna, then at David.
“Do you think people would believe a waitress over me?”
“Housekeeper,” Anna said before she could stop herself.
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
Luca almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he looked at Vanessa again.
“Who told you the photographs should be dated after the wedding?”
Her hand stopped halfway to her mouth.
David looked down.
Vanessa recovered.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Who told you I would be isolated after the marriage certificate was filed?”
This time she did not recover as quickly. The glass in her hand trembled.
Once.
Barely.
But Anna saw it.
So did Luca.
Vanessa set the drink down.
“David is obviously trying to save himself.”
Luca said nothing.
“He took money from me,” she continued. “Now he’s invented a story because he thinks you’ll punish him.”
David looked up.
“You put the call on speaker.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“Shut up.”
The words came out so fast and viciously that everyone went still.
Vanessa realized the mistake immediately.
Her face changed.
Luca straightened.
“Daniel.”
His head of security stepped forward.
Vanessa’s eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
“David will stay in the guest house tonight.”
“You can’t hold him here.”
“I can ask him to stay while my attorney discusses the photographs with him.”
David nodded quickly.
“I’ll stay.”
Vanessa looked at Anna.
“And her?”
Luca’s answer came without hesitation.
“Anna stays too.”
Anna looked up.
Vanessa laughed.
“In this house?”
“Yes.”
“She has an apartment.”
“She also has an injured shoulder and someone who already threatened her employment.”
“I never threatened—”
“Enough.”
Luca did not raise his voice.
Vanessa stopped speaking anyway.
He looked at Daniel.
“Put someone outside Anna’s room.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You’re protecting the help from me now?”
Luca met her eyes.
“I’m protecting a witness.”
The words changed the room.
Vanessa’s face emptied.
For the first time that evening, she looked genuinely afraid.
Then Luca’s phone rang.
Daniel glanced at the screen before handing it to him.
Unknown number.
Luca answered.
“Moretti.”
A woman spoke on the other end.
Daniel could not hear her.
Neither could Anna.
But Luca’s expression shifted.
“Who is this?”
A pause.
Then:
“How did you get this number?”
Another pause.
Luca looked toward Vanessa.
His eyes became very still.
“Say that again.”
Anna watched the color drain from his face. He ended the call without saying goodbye.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Boss?”
Luca did not answer immediately.
He continued looking at Vanessa.
She had gone pale.
“Who was it?” Daniel asked.
Luca’s voice was almost expressionless.
“Evelyn Shaw.”
The reporter.
Anna’s stomach tightened.
“What did she want?” Daniel asked.
Luca looked at the camera on his desk.
“She said she already has the photographs.”
David shot to his feet.
“That’s impossible.”
Luca’s gaze moved to him.
“She has them.”
“But I never sent them.”
Vanessa backed toward the door.
Luca noticed.
“And she has something else,” he said.
No one moved.
Daniel asked, “What?”
Luca’s eyes remained on Vanessa.
“A signed statement from my fiancée.”
Vanessa’s lips parted.
Luca continued.
“Dated tomorrow.”
Anna felt a chill crawl across her skin.
May you like
Tomorrow had not happened yet.
And yet somewhere outside the mansion, a journalist already possessed Vanessa’s statement describing whatever Luca was supposedly going to do.
