Chapter 7 - The Second Secret Inside the Watch
The kidnappers wanted Antonio's pocket watch. Not the key. Not the photograph. The watch itself.
Luca stared at the message.
“Why?”
Dr. Voss shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Caleb leaned closer.
“Maybe there's something else inside.”
Luca removed the gold watch from his coat.
The hands showed 8:17.
He'd wound it only once since the engagement dinner.
It was still ticking.
He remembered Arthur Bennett's words.
Let my son wind it himself.
Perhaps Antonio had designed more than one hidden mechanism.
Luca called Arthur.
“Grandpa Bennett, I need you.”
Arthur answered with concern.
“What's happened?”
“Someone wants the watch.”
A long silence.
Then Arthur whispered, “Oh, dear God.”
“You know why?”
“I suspected there might be another compartment.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father made me promise not to open the movement.”
Luca looked at the watch.
“Can you open it?”
“Yes.”
“I'm bringing it to you.”
Arthur's workshop smelled of oil, polished wood, and old leather.
Lily waited beside her grandfather.
She looked exhausted.
Since the engagement dinner, she'd barely slept.
Luca placed the watch on the workbench.
Arthur examined it under a magnifying lens.
“The movement is unusual.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father had it modified.”
Arthur removed the back plate.
Beneath the gears, he found a tiny brass disc.
It was no larger than a dime.
He turned it carefully.
A second compartment opened.
Inside lay a miniature memory chip.
Luca stared.
“Can you read it?”
Arthur shook his head.
“Not with my equipment.”
Lily stepped forward.
“I know someone who can.”
Luca looked at her.
“Who?”
“My cousin works in digital forensics.”
Arthur frowned.
“Lily, we shouldn't involve more family.”
She shook her head.
“Grandpa, they threatened you. They threatened Mr. Moretti's wife. We can't keep pretending this is someone else's problem.”
Luca studied her.
“You understand how dangerous this is?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then why help?”
Lily looked toward her grandfather.
“Because your father helped us when nobody else would.”
Arthur lowered his eyes.
Lily continued.
“When my parents died, Antonio paid for my education. He never told anyone. He said a family's worth wasn't measured by how much money it had.”
Luca felt a painful warmth in his chest.
He'd spent years thinking his father was a cold, ruthless businessman.
But Antonio had quietly helped people Luca barely knew.
Perhaps he'd misunderstood more about his father than he'd realized.
Lily's cousin, Noah Bennett, arrived an hour later.
He connected the memory chip to a secure computer.
A password prompt appeared.
Noah frowned.
“It's encrypted.”
Luca looked at Arthur.
“Did my father leave a password?”
Arthur shook his head.
“Not that I know of.”
Luca thought about Antonio's final request.
The summer his mother died.
The pocket watch.
The phrase engraved inside Elena's wedding ring.
Always, even in the dark.
He typed the words.
The screen flashed.
Incorrect password.
He tried his mother's birthday.
Incorrect.
His father's birthday.
Incorrect.
Then he remembered something.
When he was a child, Antonio had taught him to wind the watch.
“Never rush the hands,” his father used to say. “Time reveals what force cannot.”
Luca looked at the watch face.
8:17.
He typed 0817.
The screen unlocked.
Noah stared.
“How did you know?”
Luca swallowed.
“My mother died on August seventeenth.”
The computer displayed several folders.
Financial records.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
And one video labeled:
For Luca.
He opened it.
Antonio appeared on the screen.
Older.
Paler.
Sitting in his study.
“My son,” he began.
Luca's breath caught.
His father had been dead for eight months.
Hearing his voice felt like being struck in the chest.
“If you're watching this, then I failed to stop what Frank began.”
Antonio paused.
“I know you blame me for Elena's disappearance. Perhaps you should. I built a world where men like Frank could hide behind our name.”
Luca leaned closer.
“But I need you to understand something.”
Antonio's eyes filled with tears.
“Elena found evidence that the Crown was using our businesses to move money and people. She came to me because she was afraid you wouldn't believe her.”
Luca closed his eyes.
She'd been right.
He hadn't believed her.
Antonio continued.
“I tried to protect her. I tried to protect you. But Frank was always one step ahead.”
He looked down.
“By the time I learned about Sofia, Elena had already lost everything.”
Luca gripped the table.
His father took a breath.
“I arranged the safe-deposit box. I paid for the cottage. I helped Elena hide. But I couldn't bring her home.”
Antonio's voice broke.
“Because the Crown had someone watching you.”
Luca glanced at Caleb.
Antonio continued.
“Not Caleb.”
Caleb went still.
“He was compromised, yes. But he wasn't the person giving Frank access to every room in our house.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Then who?”
Antonio looked directly into the camera.
“The person you trusted most.”
The video flickered.
A second recording appeared.
Security footage from Luca's mansion.
Elena stood in the kitchen.
She was speaking to someone.
The other person's back faced the camera.
Luca recognized the posture.
The gray suit.
The silver cufflinks.
His stomach tightened.
The man turned.
It was Daniel Mercer.
Luca's attorney.
His closest childhood friend.
The man who had helped him search for Elena.
On the recording, Daniel handed Elena an envelope.
She opened it.
Her face changed.
Daniel spoke.
“If you tell Luca what you found, I'll make sure your baby never sees daylight.”
Luca staggered backward.
Noah paused the video.
Nobody spoke.
For years, Daniel had handled Luca's legal affairs.
His father's estate.
The search for Elena.
The investigation into her disappearance.
He had even helped arrange the private security protecting Arthur and Lily.
Luca suddenly realized something horrifying.
Daniel knew where everyone was hiding.
His phone rang.
Daniel Mercer.
Luca stared at the screen.
Then answered.
“Daniel.”
His friend's voice sounded calm.
“Luca, we have a problem.”
Luca forced himself to breathe.
“What problem?”
“Someone leaked information about Sofia.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Daniel continued.
“I think Frank knows where she is.”
Luca looked at the frozen recording.
“Where?”
A pause.
Then Daniel said:
“She's at St. Catherine's Children's Hospital. And if we don't move quickly, we'll lose her.”
Luca felt his blood turn cold.
May you like
Because he had never told Daniel that Sofia existed.
Continue to Chapter 8: Luca discovers the true traitor—and the hospital where his daughter is being held.
