Chapter 6 - THE SUITCASE BY THE DOOR
We reached home to find the front door unlocked.
My heart stopped.
“Kelly!”
No answer.
“Leo!”
Silence.
The house looked untouched.
No broken glass.
No overturned furniture.
Nothing.
That was worse.
Luca ran upstairs.
I followed.
Kelly's room was empty.
Leo's room was empty.
Then I heard voices from the backyard.
We ran outside.
Kelly and Leo were sitting on the patio with Nora.
My knees nearly gave out.
“Nora!”
She stood immediately.
“I got them out.”
Luca grabbed Kelly.
“What happened?”
Nora shook her head.
“I received a message that someone was coming.”
“From whom?”
“Richard.”
I stared.
“How?”
“He knew I had turned against him.”
Nora reached into her blue coat.
She removed a small envelope.
“He sent this.”
Inside was a photograph of our house.
On the back:
THE CHILDREN ARE THE ONLY THING LUCA STILL VALUES.
I looked at Luca.
He closed his eyes.
Nora continued.
“I took them through the side entrance before anyone arrived.”
“Where were you?”
“Watching the house.”
I hugged Kelly.
She was shaking.
Leo clung to me.
“Mom, why is everyone acting weird?”
I kissed his hair.
“Because adults made some bad choices.”
He looked at Luca.
“Dad too?”
Luca swallowed.
“Yes.”
Leo nodded.
“Okay.”
The simplicity of that answer nearly broke me.
We moved the children to Arthur's estate.
Security was increased.
The house became a temporary fortress.
But inside, life remained painfully ordinary.
Kelly asked for homework.
Leo wanted his soccer cleats.
Luca sat at the dining table watching them eat.
He didn't speak much.
Finally Kelly looked at him.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Are you and Mom getting divorced?”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“Are you still my dad?”
Luca's eyes filled.
“Always.”
“Okay.”
She returned to her food.
Then Leo asked,
“Does Dad have to move out?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Luca looked at me.
“I don't know yet.”
Leo frowned.
“You should know.”
I almost smiled.
Luca did too.
“I'll work on that.”
After dinner, Arthur asked to see Luca.
They sat alone in the study.
I remained outside.
I heard Arthur's voice.
“You disappointed me.”
Luca answered,
“I know.”
“You hurt Jessi.”
“I know.”
“You let Richard use your ambition.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Arthur said,
“But I don't think you're beyond repair.”
Luca started crying.
Not loudly.
Just enough that I heard his breath break.
I looked away.
Some wounds were theirs to handle.
When Luca came out, he looked different.
Not healed.
But humbled.
Arthur called me in next.
He handed me a photograph.
It showed Luca as a child.
Arthur's arm around him.
“Take this.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you to remember that people are more than their worst decision.”
I looked at the photograph.
“Are you asking me to forgive him?”
“No.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Forgiveness is yours to give.”
Then he looked at me.
“I am asking you not to let his worst moment become the only thing your children remember about their father.”
I nodded.
That night, Luca slept in the guest room.
The children were upstairs.
I was reviewing financial records when I found something.
A transfer dated sixteen years earlier.
The year Luca and I married.
The recipient was a trust.
The trust was named after my maiden name.
I stared.
Why would Arthur have created a trust using my family name?
I opened the file.
The beneficiary was me.
I nearly dropped the laptop.
The trust had been established six months before our wedding.
It contained shares in Vance Industrial.
Not many.
But enough to matter.
I called Rachel.
“Why did Arthur create a trust for me before I married Luca?”
She went silent.
“I don't know.”
“You're his attorney.”
“I wasn't his attorney then.”
“Who was?”
She gave me a name.
Thomas Hale.
Arthur's former attorney.
He had died seven years earlier.
But his files had been preserved.
I found the trust document.
It contained a letter.
Arthur had written it sixteen years ago.
He had noticed how hard I worked.
How carefully I managed money.
How I treated Luca.
He wanted to protect me from becoming financially dependent on his family.
The trust was meant as a wedding gift.
But he never told me because Thomas advised him to keep it separate from the marriage.
I read the final paragraph.
IF LUCA EVER TREATS JESSI AS AN ASSET, THIS TRUST BELONGS TO HER ALONE.
My eyes filled.
Arthur had known.
Not everything.
Not the affair.
Not the future.
But he had seen something in me.
Then I found a second document.
A transfer record.
The trust had been altered two years later.
Someone had attempted to remove me as beneficiary.
The signature was Arthur's.
But the date was wrong.
I called Rachel.
“Another forgery?”
“Yes.”
“Who accessed the file?”
“Only three people.”
“Who?”
She listed them.
Thomas Hale's successor.
Arthur.
And—
Richard Bennett.
My blood ran cold.
Richard had been inside Arthur's legal files for years.
Then I heard footsteps.
Luca stood in the doorway.
“What's wrong?”
I showed him.
He stared.
“Richard.”
“Yes.”
He sat down.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
“And he protected you.”
“Yes.”
Luca looked at the trust.
Then at me.
“I don't deserve you.”
“That isn't the point.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
He stood.
Then stopped.
“Jessi.”
“What?”
“I need to tell you something before anyone else does.”
My heart tightened.
“What?”
He reached into his jacket.
He pulled out an old leather wallet.
From inside came a folded photograph.
It showed Luca and Chloe.
But behind them was Richard.
And beside Richard stood someone else.
Someone I knew.
Someone who had been present at our wedding.
Someone who had hugged me.
Someone who had held Leo as a baby.
Someone who had access to every room in our house.
I stared at the photograph.
“No.”
May you like
Luca whispered,
“I think the person helping Richard has been inside our family the whole time.”
