Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN INTENSIVE CARE|
The first thing Luca noticed when he entered St. Catherine's Medical Center was how ordinary everything looked.
A nurse was laughing quietly behind the reception desk.
A janitor pushed a yellow cleaning cart across the polished floor.
Somewhere nearby, a vending machine hummed beneath fluorescent lights.
The world was continuing as though his entire life hadn't just fallen apart.
He approached the intensive care desk.
"My name is Luca Moretti."
The nurse looked up.
"I'm here for Eleanor Hayes."
Her expression changed.
"Are you family?"
Luca hesitated.
For thirty-nine years, he had known exactly how to answer that question.
Now he wasn't certain.
"I believe I'm her son."
The nurse studied him.
Then softened.
"She's been asking for someone named Luca."
His chest tightened.
"Is she awake?"
"Only intermittently."
"Can I see her?"
The nurse glanced at the chart.
"She's very weak, and the doctor needs to speak with you first."
"I'll wait."
A physician appeared several minutes later.
Her name was Dr. Amelia Foster.
She was in her forties, with tired eyes and the careful manner of someone accustomed to delivering difficult news.
"Mr. Moretti?"
Luca stood immediately.
"How is she?"
"She's stable, but she experienced a serious cardiac event."
Luca felt his stomach drop.
"Is she going to survive?"
"We're treating her, and she's responding."
Dr. Foster paused.
"But I won't promise something medicine can't guarantee."
Luca nodded.
He respected the honesty.
"Did someone hurt her?"
The doctor studied him.
"She was severely distressed when she arrived."
"Did she say why?"
"Only that she was frightened someone would find her."
Luca closed his eyes.
Salvatore.
"Can I see her?"
Dr. Foster nodded.
"For a few minutes."
She led him through a quiet hallway.
At the third room, she stopped.
"Try not to overwhelm her."
Luca looked through the window.
An elderly woman lay beneath white hospital sheets.
Her silver-streaked hair rested against the pillow.
A heart monitor glowed beside her bed.
She looked small.
Painfully small.
And Luca couldn't stop staring at her face.
He had seen that face before.
Not in photographs.
In his own mirror.
The same dark eyebrows.
The same straight nose.
The same stubborn line around the mouth.
He entered quietly.
"Eleanor?"
Her eyelids moved.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then she turned her head.
Her eyes opened.
And she stared at him.
"Luca?"
His throat closed.
"Yes."
Her trembling hand moved across the blanket.
"Oh, my God."
He stepped closer.
"It's me."
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
"My baby."
Luca had faced armed men without blinking.
He had watched fortunes disappear in a single afternoon.
He had stood beside Giovanni Moretti's grave and promised himself he would never cry in public again.
But those two words nearly brought him to his knees.
"My baby."
He slowly took her hand.
Eleanor began sobbing.
"I thought I'd never see you."
Luca sat beside her.
"I'm here."
She touched his cheek with trembling fingers.
"You're so handsome."
He laughed once, helplessly.
She traced the shape of his jaw.
"You look like him."
Luca went still.
"Like who?"
Eleanor's expression changed.
"Your father."
He swallowed.
"Salvatore?"
Her hand fell away.
Fear crossed her face.
"He's here?"
"No."
She began shaking.
"Did he find you?"
Luca leaned closer.
"Eleanor, you're safe."
She gripped his wrist.
"You don't understand."
"Then help me understand."
Her breathing quickened.
"He'll tell you he saved you."
Luca nodded slowly.
"He already tried."
"He'll say Giovanni stole you."
"He said that too."
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"That man has been lying since before you were born."
Luca waited.
Then he took the birth certificate from his coat.
"His name is here."
Eleanor stared at the paper.
Tears gathered again.
"Yes."
"Is he my father?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she looked toward the hospital door.
"Are we alone?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
Luca stood.
He checked the hallway.
Then closed the door.
When he returned, Eleanor was staring at the ceiling.
"That certificate was never supposed to survive."
"Why?"
"Because Salvatore controlled the hospital administrator."
Luca sat down.
"What did he do?"
Eleanor swallowed.
"He changed the records."
Luca stared at her.
"Changed them how?"
"He made himself your father."
The room seemed to tilt.
"Then who is my biological father?"
Her eyes filled.
"His name was Anthony Vale."
Luca repeated it silently.
Anthony Vale.
A name that meant nothing.
And somehow meant everything.
"Who was he?"
Eleanor smiled through tears.
"A good man."
"What happened to him?"
Her expression changed.
"He died trying to protect us."
Luca felt something cold settle inside his chest.
"Did Salvatore kill him?"
Eleanor looked away.
"I don't know who pulled the trigger."
"But you know who ordered it."
She began crying again.
Luca squeezed her hand gently.
"You don't have to tell me tonight."
She shook her head.
"I've waited thirty-nine years."
"You're sick."
"And I've spent too much of my life letting other people decide when I can speak."
Luca fell silent.
Eleanor took a careful breath.
"I was twenty-two when I met Anthony."
She smiled faintly.
"He worked on the waterfront."
"He was a dockworker?"
"An accountant."
Luca frowned.
"He discovered money being moved through shipping companies."
"Salvatore's companies?"
She nodded.
"Anthony kept copies of everything."
Luca leaned forward.
"What kind of money?"
"Money stolen from workers' pension accounts, payments hidden through false invoices, and other things I didn't understand until much later."
Luca's jaw tightened.
Eleanor continued.
"Anthony wanted to take the evidence to federal investigators."
"What stopped him?"
"Salvatore found out."
Her eyes closed.
"He had Anthony followed."
Luca remained still.
"Then what happened?"
"Anthony disappeared."
Eleanor's voice became barely audible.
"Three days later, they found his car in the river."
Luca stared at her.
"Was he inside?"
She shook her head.
"Never."
The monitor beeped steadily.
Luca felt his pulse hammering.
"Then how do you know he's dead?"
Eleanor looked at him.
"Because Giovanni told me he was."
Luca stopped breathing.
"Giovanni?"
She nodded slowly.
"Giovanni Moretti came to see me after Anthony vanished."
"What did he say?"
"That Salvatore had ordered Anthony killed."
Luca swallowed.
"And you believed him?"
"I believed the man who was risking his life to get me out of Chicago."
"Why would Giovanni help you?"
Eleanor's face softened.
"Because Anthony was his closest friend."
Luca stared at her.
That was something Giovanni had never mentioned.
"He and Anthony grew up together."
She nodded.
"They were like brothers."
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"Giovanni promised Anthony that if anything happened, he would protect me and the baby."
Luca looked down at his hands.
For the first time, pieces of his childhood began fitting together.
Giovanni's fierce protectiveness.
The security around their home.
The way he hated discussing the past.
Eleanor continued.
"Salvatore wanted Anthony's records."
"Did you have them?"
"I had one copy."
"Where?"
She hesitated.
"Giovanni helped me hide it."
Luca immediately thought of the blue sewing box.
"Did Mrs. Carter know?"
"Not everything."
"Then why did Salvatore take me?"
Eleanor's face crumpled.
"Because he wanted leverage."
"Against you?"
"Against Giovanni."
Luca frowned.
"Explain."
"Salvatore knew Giovanni would never abandon Anthony's child."
She swallowed.
"So he threatened to take you and disappear unless Giovanni agreed to keep quiet about the financial records."
Luca went still.
"Giovanni made a deal."
"Yes."
"And he raised me."
"Yes."
"What happened to you?"
Eleanor's breathing became uneven.
"Salvatore told me you had died."
Luca stared at her.
She began sobbing.
"He showed me a death certificate."
The words struck harder than anything Luca had heard that night.
"He told you I was dead?"
She nodded.
"For years."
Luca covered his mouth.
Eleanor reached for him.
"I buried an empty casket, Luca."
He couldn't speak.
"I visited that grave every Sunday."
Tears slid down her cheeks.
"I brought flowers on your birthdays."
Luca lowered his head.
He had spent his birthdays surrounded by expensive gifts and people who loved him.
And somewhere in another city, a mother had been leaving flowers beside a grave that should never have existed.
"When did you find out?" he whispered.
"Four years ago."
"How?"
"A retired hospital employee contacted me."
Luca looked up.
"She had kept copies of the original records."
"And she told you I was alive?"
Eleanor nodded.
"She told me Giovanni had raised you."
Luca closed his eyes.
"Why didn't you come directly to me?"
"I tried."
"The letters."
"Yes."
He swallowed.
"Vanessa destroyed them."
Eleanor's expression darkened.
"I know."
Luca frowned.
"How?"
"Because I met her."
"When?"
"Two years ago."
Luca stared.
"Where?"
"At a charity luncheon in New York."
Eleanor's eyes filled.
"I told her I was looking for you."
"What did she say?"
"She said she'd help."
Luca felt sick.
Eleanor continued.
"She asked me for the documents proving who I was."
"Did you give them to her?"
"Copies."
"Then what happened?"
"Nothing."
Her voice cracked.
"Until I received a letter telling me to stop contacting you."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"From Vanessa?"
Eleanor nodded.
"She said you knew everything."
Luca stared at her.
"She told you that?"
Eleanor began crying.
"She said you didn't want to meet me."
For several seconds, Luca couldn't breathe.
Then he leaned forward and embraced her carefully.
"I'm sorry."
Eleanor clung to him.
"I thought you hated me."
He shook his head.
"I didn't know you existed."
They held each other until Dr. Foster quietly appeared at the doorway.
"Mr. Moretti, she needs rest."
Luca nodded.
He pulled back.
But Eleanor refused to release his hand.
"Promise me something."
"Anything."
"Don't let Salvatore turn you into him."
Luca looked at her.
"I won't."
She studied his face.
Then whispered:
"And don't punish Giovanni for what he did."
Luca swallowed.
"He lied to me my entire life."
"He also saved it."
The doctor stepped closer.
"We really do need to let her rest."
Luca kissed Eleanor's forehead.
"I'll be here tomorrow."
Her eyes filled.
"You promise?"
"I promise."
He reached the door.
Then heard her call softly.
"Luca?"
He turned.
She was watching him with an expression he couldn't understand.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Anthony left a recording."
Luca went still.
"A recording?"
She nodded.
"A message for you."
"Where is it?"
Eleanor's eyes moved toward the suitcase sitting in the corner.
"The blue one."
Luca followed her gaze.
"I'll ask the staff about it."
Eleanor suddenly gripped his hand.
"No."
Her voice sharpened.
"Don't open it here."
"Why?"
Tears filled her eyes.
"Because if Salvatore finds out what's inside, he'll make sure nobody ever hears your father's voice."
Luca stared at the suitcase.
Then at the hospital door.
And for the first time since he had arrived, he noticed something strange.
A man in a gray coat was standing across the hallway.
Watching Eleanor's room.
When Luca looked directly at him, the stranger turned away.
May you like
But not before Luca saw the familiar silver pin on his lapel.
The same pin worn by Salvatore Bellini's personal security team.
