“What do you envision we need from you?” Francesca asked.
“That’s what I want to know. You don’t need me to sign off on the Bellini; our tests confirmed Lucia’s painting as genuine, and after visiting Lucia’s art studio, I see that the Alessi was only caught because youwantedit to be. So, again, what do you want fromme?”
“You care about art, don’t you?”
“Is that a real question?” Penelope asked.
“And you care about your father, about what happened to him?”
Penelope visibly clenched her jaw. Lucia felt the tension roll off her like heat—sharp, bitter.
“We believe that…we might be in a position to help each other reach our goals.” Francesca folded one leg over the other.
“How convenient. What is my goal?”
“Revenge? Justice? I’m not particularly invested in the difference in this case, but we have a common enemy.”
“Varnelli. How is she your enemy?” Penelope asked.
“The Madonna in Red—”
“Don’t tell me that’s a fake, too!” Penelope looked at Lucia. “If so, you didn’t paint it. But no. I’ve seen it a hundred times. It’s real.”
“It is. However, we have reason to believe that Varnelli plans to steal it.”
“She loaned it to the Meridian. She has no reason to steal her own property.”
“Yes, but haven’t you found some…inconsistencies with its records?”
“How do you know that?”
Francesca held Penelope’s gaze. “We heard noise about Varnelli trying to end the loan contract with the Meridian early. Now why would she do that?”
“Because she gets off on power?”
Francesca cringed. “Varnelli is a bit more complex than that. She stole the painting from me—along with the original provenance papers. She might’ve destroyed them to erase the link to me or kept them as leverage. Either way, I don’t have them anymore.” She sighed. “Questionable paperwork never mattered while theMadonnastayed hidden. But now that it’s on public display, those cracks could show. Wanting to end the loan early? That’s her trying to contain the damage.”
“What happens now?” Penelope asked.
“Now she wants it back before anyone can notice—and she can’t have it!”
Penelope startled. “You sound like a kindergartner who got their favorite toy stolen.”
“Something like that.” Francesca pressed her lips into a tight line. “TheMadonna in Redbelonged to my family for over four generations. My great-great-grandfather acquired it in 1871. Valentina took it over twenty-five years ago, hid it for most of that time, and only loaned it to the Meridian to taunt me.”
Penelope’s eyebrows rose. “How convenient.”
“It’s true.” Francesca’s gaze didn’t waver.
“I’m assuming going to the police is not part of your natural instinct.”
“No.”
“So how do you plan on preventing Valentina from stealing the painting?”
“We steal it first,” Lucia blurted out, wincing, wishing she could drag the words back.
Francesca shot her a long-suffering look, while Penelope’s gaze snapped toward her.
