Chapter 2 - THE OTHER REASON
"Vanessa, what other reason were you planning to give me?"
Luca's question hung over the table like smoke after a gunshot.
Nobody answered.
I was still kneeling beside Ethan, my hand wrapped around his. His little fingers were cold. He watched Vanessa as though her next sentence might decide whether he was permitted to exist in his own home.
"You're embarrassing me," Vanessa finally whispered.
Luca's eyes didn't move. "I asked you a question."
"I was going to say he was too upset to attend. That it would be kinder to let him rest."
"And if he wasn't upset?"
She stared at the tablecloth.
"Would you have found a way to upset him?" Luca asked.
Vanessa's silence did more damage than any confession.
Across the room, a guest got up and left. Then another. Nobody said goodbye. Luca raised one hand to stop the waitstaff from clearing anything. He wanted the plates preserved. The cake. The serving utensils. Every detail.
"Call Dr. Singh," he told Mrs. Carter. "Tell her Ethan has not eaten the cake, but I want her advice. And keep that dessert away from him."
He took Ethan's face between his palms. "You are coming to every celebration in this family, buddy. I promise."
"Even if she doesn't want me?"
"She doesn't get to decide."
Vanessa made a small, wounded sound. "Luca, please. There are people here."
"That's what you were counting on," he said. "You thought I'd protect your reputation in front of our guests and ask questions later."
He turned to Mrs. Ellis. "Please give my office every wedding arrangement you made regarding my son. Tonight."
The coordinator nodded, pale and shaking.
Then Luca removed the engagement ring from Vanessa's left hand.
He didn't yank it. He simply held out his palm until she surrendered it.
"The wedding is canceled," he said.
Vanessa looked as if he had struck her.
"Over a piece of cake?"
"Over what you did to my son."
She lunged toward Ethan. I instinctively rose between them. Vanessa stopped short, her expression twisting.
"Move, Nora. You don't belong in this conversation."
"Neither do your threats," Luca said.
For the first time all evening, his voice was loud.
Two security men appeared in the doorway. They hadn't moved until he called them. He ordered them to escort Vanessa upstairs to collect her personal belongings, with Mrs. Carter present, and then off the property.
"You'll regret humiliating me," Vanessa said.
Luca looked almost exhausted. "I regret trusting you."
That should have ended it.
But when Vanessa reached the doorway, she turned around and looked directly at me.
"Ask your precious maid what she was doing in the west hallway at three this afternoon."
My blood went cold.
Luca frowned. "What does that mean?"
Vanessa smiled without warmth. "Ask her why she was outside your office. Ask her what she heard."
Then she was gone.
I had been outside Luca's office at three.
I'd been carrying fresh towels to the guest suite when I'd heard Vanessa speaking on her phone. She'd said, "If he signs the new trust documents on Friday, the boy won't matter anymore."
I'd told myself I misunderstood.
Now I couldn't.
Luca took Ethan upstairs and returned twenty minutes later. The child had asked to sleep with his old stuffed wolf, a toy he hadn't touched in years. I was standing in the kitchen when Luca found me.
"Nora. Tell me about the hallway."
I could have denied everything. My mother needed the money I earned here, and powerful families did not forgive servants who repeated private conversations.
But I'd watched Ethan apologize for nearly dying.
"I heard Miss Bellini on the phone," I admitted. "She mentioned trust documents. Friday. She said something about Ethan not mattering anymore."
Luca's expression went blank. He reached for the back of a chair.
"Those papers are supposed to give Vanessa a financial interest after we marry," he said quietly. "My attorney told me they were routine."
"I'm sorry, sir. I should have spoken sooner."
"You spoke when it mattered most."
His phone vibrated. He glanced at the message and went still.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"My lawyer says Vanessa just called him. She wants an emergency appointment tomorrow morning."
He looked up at me.
"And Nora? She told him you tried to poison Ethan."
I felt the room tilt.
"That's impossible."
"I know. But by morning, everyone in Chicago may be hearing her version."
Outside, a car engine turned over. Vanessa was leaving the house she'd expected to own.
For one foolish second, I thought we'd survived the night.
Then my phone lit up with a message from an unknown number.
YOUR MOTHER'S ADDRESS IS 44 HAWTHORNE. KEEP QUIET OR SHE PAYS FOR YOUR HEROICS.
May you like
I dropped the phone.
And in the sound it made against the kitchen tile, I heard the beginning of something much worse than a broken engagement.
