Chapter 3 - The Letter Sarah Never Got to Finish|
I had never seen Luca Moretti look frightened.
Angry, yes.
Cold, certainly.
But frightened?
Not until he held that letter.
Vanessa stood beside the fireplace, her red dress suddenly looking too bright against the dark wood paneling.
“Sarah was mistaken,” she whispered.
Luca lifted his eyes.
“You told me you never met my wife.”
“I didn't know her personally.”
“Then why did she write your name?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Because someone must have mentioned me.”
Luca looked back at the page.
He began reading aloud.
Luca, there is something I need to tell you, but I don't know how to begin without frightening you.
His voice grew rough.
Someone has been inside the house while you're away. At first, I thought I was imagining things. A drawer left open. A photograph moved. A recipe missing from my box.
My stomach tightened.
The recipe box.
Sarah had noticed someone going through it five years earlier.
Luca continued.
Yesterday I saw her outside Lily's room. She said she worked for a charity connected to Richard Bellini. But when I asked the staff, nobody knew who had let her inside.
Vanessa's face went white.
Luca stopped reading.
“Richard.”
She shook her head.
“Luca, I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
“My father knew Sarah through charity work. I accompanied him once or twice. That's all.”
“You said you'd never met her.”
“I didn't think it mattered.”
Luca stared at her.
“You stood in my daughter's bedroom while my wife was alive, and you didn't think it mattered?”
Vanessa's lips trembled.
“You're making it sound sinister.”
He looked down at the letter again.
Then continued.
I found a document in Antonio's old files. It concerns the warehouses and the company accounts. I don't think Luca knows what his business partners have been doing.
I watched his expression change.
Antonio Moretti had been Luca's father.
He'd died seven years earlier.
Most of the older employees still spoke about him in lowered voices.
Luca read the final paragraph.
If something happens before I can explain, check the place where we first celebrated Lily's birthday. And please, Luca, don't let anyone convince our daughter that loving me is something she should be ashamed of.
His voice broke on the last sentence.
The room became so quiet that I could hear the grandfather clock ticking behind the bookshelves.
Luca folded the letter.
Then unfolded it again.
As though he might have misunderstood.
I watched his thumb move across Sarah's handwriting.
“She knew,” he whispered.
Vanessa took a cautious step forward.
“Darling—”
“Don't.”
She froze.
He looked at her.
“My wife knew you were in this house.”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
“And you spent the last eighteen months telling me Sarah's photographs made you uncomfortable.”
“Because I was trying to build a future with you!”
“By erasing my past?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You have no idea what it's like living in the shadow of a dead woman.”
Luca stared.
Then said something so quietly I nearly missed it.
“You weren't living in her shadow.”
He held up the letter.
“You were hiding from her.”
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“You're going to regret treating me this way.”
Luca stepped toward the door.
“Marco.”
His security chief appeared immediately.
“Escort Miss Bellini to the east guest suite. She can collect her personal belongings tomorrow, with someone present.”
Vanessa gasped.
“You're throwing me out?”
“I'm giving us space until I know what happened.”
She laughed bitterly.
“My father won't tolerate this.”
Luca turned.
“Your father isn't in charge of my family.”
Vanessa looked toward me.
Her eyes narrowed.
“This is your fault.”
My heart pounded.
“Mrs. Bellini—”
“You brought that ridiculous cake upstairs. You started all this.”
Luca moved between us.
“Claire did what I should have done.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then removed her engagement ring.
She dropped it onto the library table.
“Don't come crawling back when you discover Sarah wasn't the saint you remember.”
She walked out with Marco following.
Luca stood motionless.
Then he looked toward the ceiling.
“Where's Lily?”
“With Mrs. Alvarez in her bedroom.”
He nodded.
I started toward the door.
“Claire.”
I turned.
“Yes, sir?”
He held Sarah's letter.
“Did Lily know about this?”
“No.”
“Did she know Vanessa was removing her mother's things?”
I hesitated.
“Only that the boxes were being packed.”
His jaw tightened.
I took a breath.
“Sir, Lily has been trying very hard to make Vanessa like her.”
Luca looked at me.
“What do you mean?”
I told him about the cake.
How Lily had spent hours mixing ingredients.
How she'd carefully copied her mother's recipe.
How she'd hoped the cake would help Vanessa understand that they could all become a family.
And finally, I told him the sentence I'd heard in the kitchen.
Your mother had her turn.
Luca slowly sat down.
For several seconds, he stared at the floor.
Then he whispered, “I brought that woman into my daughter's home.”
I didn't know what to say.
He pressed a hand over his face.
“And I never noticed how afraid Lily was of her.”
I wanted to tell him he was a good father.
But I knew he needed something more useful than easy comfort.
So I told him the truth.
“Lily still trusts you, sir. She told me tonight she was afraid you wouldn't like the cake. But she carried it upstairs anyway.”
He looked up.
“Why?”
“Because she loves you.”
His eyes filled.
He carefully picked up the recipe card.
The two torn halves fit together in his hands.
Then he asked me a question.
“Claire, where did we celebrate Lily's first birthday?”
I frowned.
“I wasn't working here then.”
He looked toward the window.
“We rented the old lake house in Wisconsin.”
He stood.
“Sarah decorated the kitchen with yellow balloons. She made lemon cake. There were photographs everywhere.”
His expression changed.
“The lake house.”
I stared at him.
“The place Sarah mentioned in the letter?”
He nodded.
Then took out his phone.
“Marco, I need the lake house checked tonight.”
He listened.
His face darkened.
“What do you mean someone was there yesterday?”
A pause.
Then he looked directly at me.
“Who had the keys?”
Whatever Marco said made Luca's jaw tighten.
May you like
He lowered the phone.
“Vanessa.”
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