Chapter 5 - FIND CLARA
Vittorio did not confront Bianca.
That surprised everyone.
He canceled the wedding instead.
A short statement went to the press: PERSONAL MATTER. NO COMMENT.
Bianca screamed from the upstairs balcony when she heard.
"You think you can throw me away because a maid filmed one bad morning?"
Vittorio looked up.
"No. I can throw you out because my daughter is afraid of you."
The words landed harder.
Police were not called yet because Maya wanted evidence preserved first, not scattered through a family panic.
Vittorio's trusted security chief, Daniel Ruiz, replaced every guard Marcus had hired.
Then they went looking for Clara.
Her apartment was empty.
Her phone disconnected.
Her sister in Indiana said Clara had sent one message three months earlier.
I'M SAFE. DON'T LOOK FOR ME.
"Does that sound like her?" Vittorio asked.
Her sister shook her head.
"Clara never used periods in texts. Ever."
A small detail.
A huge one.
Emma remembered Clara kept a storage unit near Evanston.
Inside they found furniture, winter coats, books, and a sealed envelope addressed to Lucy.
Emma opened it with Maya present.
Lucy,
If I leave without saying goodbye, it is because someone made me. None of this is your fault.
Beneath the letter was a motel receipt from Wisconsin dated two weeks after Clara supposedly quit.
Vittorio drove there with Ruiz.
The motel manager remembered her.
"Quiet woman. Looked scared. Left with a man in a gray sedan."
"Did she want to go?"
The manager hesitated.
"I don't know. But she left this in the room."
He handed Vittorio a broken silver bracelet.
Vittorio recognized it.
Lucy had given it to Clara for Christmas.
On the clasp was dried red paint.
Ruiz frowned.
"Paint?"
Vittorio turned the bracelet over.
Stamped into the metal was a tiny number.
17B.
Emma saw the photograph later and went pale.
"That's not a bracelet number."
May you like
"What is it?"
"It's a storage bay at the old D'Angelo warehouse."
