Chapter 1 - The Empty Plate
"Take that away, Claire."
Vanessa Bellini's command stopped me beside the dining table, a silver serving spoon suspended above nine-year-old Benjamin Moretti's plate.
The roasted chicken was still warm. Benjamin had been waiting nearly an hour to eat.
And his father's fiancée wanted me to take it away.
The enormous dining room glowed beneath crystal chandeliers. Twenty-four guests celebrated Luca Moretti's engagement, surrounded by polished walnut, gilded chairs, and enough food to feed twice their number.
Yet Benjamin sat beside his father's empty chair, looking at the first dinner anyone had offered him.
"Please, Miss Claire," he whispered. "It's okay."
His stomach had been growling.
I knew he hadn't eaten since lunch. He had told me himself, and I'd heard him ask for dinner three times.
Vanessa watched me from across the table, her golden-blonde waves falling over a floor-length crimson silk gown. Diamond earrings glittered beside her pale eyes. On her finger shone the enormous engagement ring Luca had given her three months earlier.
"Benjamin has already had his dinner. He's just trying to get attention."
"No, I haven't," Benjamin said.
"Benjamin. Don't start."
He immediately lowered his eyes.
Then Luca Moretti returned.
At thirty-nine, Luca was a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark swept-back hair, a sharply defined jaw, short stubble, and watchful brown eyes. His tailored black suit and white shirt looked immaculate beneath the chandeliers. A dark ornamental tattoo marked the left side of his neck, and a silver watch circled his left wrist.
People lowered their voices around Luca Moretti.
Tonight, however, he noticed only his son.
"Ben? Why aren't you eating?"
Before Benjamin answered, Vanessa laughed.
"Oh, darling, he already ate upstairs. Claire just doesn't understand that children need boundaries."
My fingers tightened around the serving spoon.
She had answered a question Luca hadn't asked her.
Luca sat down and looked at Benjamin.
"Did you have dinner upstairs?"
The boy glanced toward Vanessa before nodding.
"Yes, sir."
"What did you eat?"
Benjamin opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
"Chicken and vegetables," Vanessa supplied. "Mrs. Carter brought it to him before the guests arrived."
Luca turned toward her.
"She went home at four."
For the first time, Vanessa's smile faltered.
She suggested another housekeeper must have delivered the meal.
Then Luca looked at me.
"Claire, did you take Benjamin's dinner upstairs?"
"No, sir."
"Did anyone?"
"Not that I know of."
I could feel Vanessa watching every movement I made.
My name is Claire Sullivan. I was twenty-seven, with chestnut hair gathered into a loose low bun, hazel-green eyes, and a midnight-navy maid's uniform with a white collar and apron.
I cleaned rooms, polished silver, and served dinner at the Moretti estate.
Most of my paycheck went to my mother, whose arthritis had forced her to stop working after thirty years at a grocery store.
Her rent was due Friday.
Earlier that afternoon, Vanessa had warned me that interfering with Benjamin's discipline would cost me my job.
I couldn't afford to challenge her.
But I couldn't pretend the child wasn't hungry.
Luca turned back to his son.
"Ben, look at me. Are you hungry?"
"A little."
"Then eat, sweetheart."
Benjamin reached toward his fork.
Vanessa placed her hand over it.
"No."
The nearest guests fell silent.
"Benjamin needs to learn that bad behavior has consequences," she explained.
"What bad behavior?" Luca asked.
Vanessa finally admitted Benjamin had told her she wasn't his mother.
"Why?" Luca asked his son.
"Because she told me I had to start calling her Mom."
Luca looked at Vanessa.
"This is his home."
She insisted she'd been teaching him respect.
"And you took away his dinner?"
"I was teaching him a lesson."
"What lesson?"
Vanessa couldn't answer.
Luca gently removed her hand from the fork and placed it beside Benjamin's plate.
"Eat your dinner, Ben."
But the boy remained still.
"Am I allowed?"
Something painful crossed Luca's face.
"You never have to ask permission to eat dinner in your own home."
Benjamin's chin trembled.
Luca asked me to bring warm potatoes to replace the cold ones.
Then he looked directly at me.
"Did Vanessa tell you not to feed my son?"
I remembered my mother's unpaid bills.
"Yes, sir."
"Claire, be very careful what you say next," Vanessa warned.
Luca's gaze shifted toward her.
"Claire, are you afraid of losing your job?"
"Yes, sir."
"You won't."
Vanessa protested that Luca was believing an employee instead of his future wife.
"Then why are you threatening her for answering my question?" he asked.
Nobody spoke.
I brought Benjamin fresh potatoes.
"Thank you, Miss Claire."
"You're welcome, sweetheart."
He finally took a bite.
Luca watched him before telling Vanessa they would discuss everything later.
But Benjamin suddenly lowered his fork.
"Daddy, please don't be mad at Vanessa."
"I'm not mad at you, Ben."
"I know. But if you get mad at her, she's going to tell you I did the other thing, too."
The room went still.
"What other thing?"
Benjamin explained that he'd cried when Vanessa took his late mother's photograph from beside his bed.
Caroline Moretti had died three years earlier, when Benjamin was six.
The photograph was one of the few belongings he kept close.
Vanessa claimed keeping those reminders was unhealthy.
But Benjamin had heard something crueler.
"She said little boys who still cry for their mommies grow up weak."
I looked down.
I'd heard those words that afternoon. I'd watched him clutch the photograph while Vanessa tried to take it.
Luca moved closer to his son.
"Crying because you miss your mom doesn't make you weak."
"It doesn't?"
"No, sweetheart. It means you loved her."
Benjamin leaned against his father's arm.
Then he asked another question.
"Daddy, did you really tell her she could give Mommy's things away?"
"I never said that."
"Then why did she tell me you wanted to forget Mommy?"
Vanessa claimed she had been helping Benjamin move forward.
Luca said nothing.
Benjamin reached into his pocket and placed a worn pink ribbon beside his father's plate.
It had belonged to Caroline. She used to tie it around his stuffed bear.
"She said I should give you this, too."
"Why?"
"Because after Saturday, we're supposed to be a different family."
Saturday was Luca and Vanessa's wedding.
Luca's gaze sharpened.
"What happens after Saturday, Ben?"
"I'm supposed to be brave."
"Brave about what?"
"About leaving."
Luca went completely still.
Benjamin admitted Vanessa had told him not to get too comfortable in his own home. After the honeymoon, he supposedly wouldn't be coming back.
"She told me you wanted some time to be happy without me."
Vanessa's face drained of color.
Luca looked at her.
"Tell me my son misunderstood you."
"I thought it would be easier if Benjamin heard about the arrangements gradually."
"What arrangements?"
"The school."
"What school?"
Vanessa looked away.
Benjamin's eyes filled.
"Daddy, is it true I have to go away on Saturday morning?"
"No, Ben. Why would you think that?"
"Because Vanessa said I was going somewhere very far away."
Luca stood.
"Vanessa. What have you done?"
She didn't answer.
Then Benjamin caught his father's hand.
"Daddy, there's something else."
Luca knelt beside him.
"What is it, sweetheart?"
"The lady who came to pick me up this afternoon said she couldn't take me unless you knew."
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Luca stared at his son.
May you like
"What lady?"
Benjamin looked toward Vanessa.
