Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW EVERYTHING
Luca didn't sleep that night.
Neither did I.
At two in the morning, I found him standing in front of the bedroom window, his phone pressed against his ear.
"No," he said coldly. "Don't touch Salvatore yet."
He ended the call.
I wrapped my arms around myself.
"You're going after your uncle."
"Eventually."
"Eventually?"
He turned.
"He's been inside this family longer than I've been alive. If he's responsible, I need proof before I make a move."
I approached him.
"Your mother said your father discovered something."
"My father died in a car accident."
"Do you believe that?"
He looked toward the darkness outside.
"I did."
The following morning, Luca arranged for his mother to visit.
Isabella Varenna arrived at the mansion shortly after eleven.
She was sixty-two, elegant, and usually composed. But when she saw the medical folder on Luca's desk, her face drained of color.
"Where did you get that?"
"From my study."
"That file should have been destroyed."
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
Isabella looked at me.
"Does she know?"
"She's my wife."
"That isn't what I asked."
I stepped forward.
"I'm carrying his child. I think I deserve to know why everyone seems terrified of that."
Isabella lowered herself into a chair.
For several seconds, she stared at her hands.
Then she spoke.
"Twelve years ago, your husband wasn't supposed to survive his accident."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"Explain."
"Your father had discovered that Salvatore was moving money through the family's shipping companies. Millions of dollars were disappearing. He confronted him."
"And?"
"Salvatore arranged for your car to be sabotaged."
I covered my mouth.
Luca didn't move.
"You're telling me my uncle tried to kill me?"
"I believe he did."
"Then why did I survive?"
"Because your driver pulled you out before the vehicle caught fire."
Luca looked down at the file.
"And the infertility diagnosis?"
Isabella's eyes filled.
"Salvatore paid the surgeon. He wanted you to believe you couldn't have children."
"Why?"
She hesitated.
Then she gave an answer I hadn't expected.
"Because your father had written a provision into his will. If you produced a legitimate heir, control of the family trust would pass directly to your firstborn child when you reached forty."
Luca's expression turned murderous.
"That provision was never mentioned."
"Salvatore suppressed it."
"Why would he need to prevent me from having children if he could simply destroy the will?"
"Because he couldn't find the original."
The room fell silent.
I looked between them.
"Where is it?"
Isabella closed her eyes.
"Your father gave it to someone he trusted."
"Who?"
"Your first fiancée."
Luca stared at his mother.
"Victoria?"
She nodded.
Victoria Hale.
The woman Luca had once planned to marry.
The woman who had disappeared from Boston shortly before his accident.
The woman nobody in the family had mentioned for twelve years.
"Where is she?" Luca asked.
"I don't know."
"Mother."
"She contacted me six months after your father's death. She said she had something important to tell me, but she was afraid."
"Afraid of Salvatore?"
Isabella nodded.
Then she looked at my stomach.
"She also told me something else."
I felt my pulse quicken.
"What?"
"She said your father had left behind a child."
Luca went completely still.
"What child?"
Isabella's lips trembled.
"She never told me the name."
For the next hour, Luca questioned his mother.
But Isabella had no further answers.
Before leaving, she approached me privately.
"Protect yourself, Evelyn."
"From Salvatore?"
She shook her head.
"From anyone who suddenly becomes interested in that baby."
She slipped something into my hand.
A small brass key.
"What is this?"
"Your husband's father gave it to me before he died. He said if Luca ever became a father, I should give it to his wife."
I looked at the key.
"What does it open?"
Isabella's eyes moved toward Luca.
"Something your husband has been searching for without knowing it."
After she left, I showed Luca the key.
He turned it over.
On one side was a tiny engraved number.
417\.
He immediately called Marco.
"Find every property my father owned that had a room numbered 417."
Marco returned the call twenty minutes later.
There was only one.
An abandoned private clinic outside Boston.
And according to the ownership records, it had been purchased twelve years ago by a company registered under Victoria Hale's name.
But when Luca ordered the security team to inspect it, they discovered something unexpected.
Someone had been inside that morning.
And on the floor of Room 417 lay a fresh ultrasound photograph.
It showed a baby approximately twelve weeks into pregnancy.
May you like
On the back, written in black ink, were five words.
Luca, your child isn't first.
