Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The bracelet lay in Luca's palm.
Tiny.
Silver.
With a single blue stone.
He stared at it as if it had become something dangerous.
“Where did you get this?” I asked.
Fiona pointed toward the trunk.
“I found it there.”
Luca closed his fingers around it.
“Fiona, go downstairs.”
“But—”
“Now.”
She looked frightened.
I immediately stepped between them.
“Don't scare her.”
Luca stopped.
His voice softened.
“I'm not angry.”
Fiona looked at him.
“Then why are you sad?”
He swallowed.
“Because I thought I lost something.”
She nodded.
Children accepted strange answers more easily than adults.
She walked away.
I waited until she was gone.
Then I looked at Luca.
“You said this was buried with Chloe.”
“Yes.”
“Then Chloe didn't leave this behind.”
“No.”
“Someone took it from her.”
His expression was grim.
“Or someone wanted me to think it belonged to her.”
I turned toward the trunk.
“What else is in here?”
“Nothing you should touch.”
“That answer is over.”
I lifted the remaining papers.
One was a receipt from a private clinic.
Another was a train ticket.
Chicago.
Six years ago.
Two weeks after Fiona was born.
The passenger name was Chloe Moretti.
My hands went cold.
“Luca.”
He looked.
His face tightened.
“She left the state.”
“So she was alive.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew?”
“I knew she was alive when she left.”
“Why didn't you follow her?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“She vanished in Chicago.”
I stared at him.
“You looked for her?”
“For four years.”
Something inside me shifted.
I had spent the last hour thinking my husband had hidden a living woman.
Now I realized he had spent years searching for one.
But that did not erase the lie.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because every person who knew the truth became a target.”
I looked at the bracelet.
“Who was targeting her?”
Luca hesitated.
Then said,
“My father.”
I stared at him.
“Your own father?”
“He wanted control of everything.”
“And Chloe threatened that?”
“She found something.”
“What?”
“Money.”
That sounded almost absurdly ordinary.
“Money?”
“Millions.”
He sat down.
“My father had been moving company funds through private accounts.”
“For what?”
“To pay people who didn't exist.”
I waited.
“Ghost employees. Fake suppliers. Shell companies.”
“And Chloe found it?”
“She worked in the accounting office.”
The pieces began fitting together.
“Then Damian helped her.”
Luca nodded.
“Damian discovered it too.”
“What happened to him?”
“My father forced him out.”
“And then?”
“Damian disappeared.”
I stared at the silver bracelet.
“Your father died, didn't he?”
“Yes.”
“Before Chloe?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you still afraid?”
Luca looked at me.
“Because my father's secrets didn't die with him.”
The bedroom door opened.
Fiona stood there again.
This time she held something else.
A folded piece of paper.
“Mommy.”
I crouched.
“What is it?”
“I found this in Daddy's old coat.”
Luca immediately stood.
“Fiona.”
She handed it to me.
It was a child's drawing.
Three stick figures.
One was tall.
One was a woman.
One was a little girl.
Above them was a crooked house.
But beside the house was a black car.
And beneath the car were three red circles.
I looked at Fiona.
“Who drew this?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“You remember the car?”
She nodded.
“It came to the house.”
Luca's face hardened.
“What car?”
“The black one.”
“Who was inside?”
Fiona looked toward him.
Then at me.
“Mr. Damian.”
I turned to Luca.
He shook his head.
“That isn't possible.”
Fiona frowned.
“He came.”
“Fiona, Damian has been missing for years.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Baby—”
“He came.”
Luca crouched.
“When?”
She pointed at the drawing.
“After Mommy went away.”
I looked at the date written in the corner.
Three years earlier.
That was the year I met Luca.
My stomach dropped.
Luca saw the date.
He went silent.
I looked at him.
“You told me Damian disappeared twenty years ago.”
“He did.”
“Then who was Fiona seeing?”
He had no answer.
A loud sound came from downstairs.
The front door.
Luca immediately reached for me.
“Stay here.”
I pulled my hand away.
“No.”
He looked at me.
For the first time, I wasn't afraid of the truth.
I was afraid of what hiding it was doing to all of us.
We went downstairs together.
A man stood in the foyer.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Elegant.
His face looked strangely familiar.
Luca stopped.
The man smiled.
“Congratulations.”
I looked at Luca.
His face had gone completely blank.
The stranger extended his hand.
“To the new Mrs. Moretti.”
Luca did not take it.
“Why are you here?”
The man smiled wider.
“Because your father left something unfinished.”
“Get out.”
The stranger ignored him.
His eyes moved to me.
Then to Fiona.
Then back to Luca.
“Did you tell your wife about Chloe?”
Luca stepped forward.
“Leave.”
The man finally sighed.
“You never did learn when to stop protecting people.”
I looked at Luca.
“Who is he?”
Luca's voice was barely audible.
“Victor Moretti.”
I froze.
“Your father's lawyer?”
“No.”
He stared at the man.
“My father's brother.”
Victor smiled.
“Uncle Victor.”
Then he looked directly at me.
“Ask your husband why Chloe trusted Damian.”
I felt the room tilt.
Victor turned toward the door.
Before leaving, he stopped.
“And ask him why Damian has been watching your house.”
Then he walked away.
Luca did not move.
I looked at him.
“Is Damian alive?”
He stared at the closed door.
“I don't know.”
Victor's voice came from outside.
“You should.”
Then the door shut.
Luca slowly looked down at the bracelet in his hand.
May you like
And whispered,
“Because if Damian is alive, Chloe might be too.”
