Chapter 8 - What Anthony Heard Behind the Doors
Vanessa wiped her cheeks.
“Yes. My father needs a new location.”
Luca stared at her.
“And you never thought I deserved to know that?”
“I didn't want you to reject it because it came from my family.”
“Then you should have trusted me enough to tell me the truth.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand what it feels like to be judged before you've even opened your mouth.”
Frank looked uncomfortable.
Vanessa turned toward him.
“Every family dinner, somebody reminded me how hard Luca's father worked. How important this restaurant was. How much Anthony mattered.”
Frank opened his mouth.
But Vanessa continued.
“I was going to be Luca's wife, and somehow I was still the person who didn't belong.”
Teresa looked at her sadly.
“I invited you into my home.”
“You did.”
“I treated you like a daughter.”
Vanessa's face softened.
“I know you tried.”
Teresa lowered her eyes.
“But you didn't believe me.”
For a moment, Vanessa looked as though she might break.
Then she said, “I wanted to build something that was ours.”
Luca answered quietly.
“You could have built it with us.”
She pressed her lips together.
“I didn't know how.”
I stood near the sideboard, listening.
Part of me felt sorry for her.
I'd watched wealthy guests dismiss Vanessa as a woman who'd married well before she'd even married.
I'd heard Frank jokingly refer to her as the future hostess.
She'd smiled through comments that would have hurt anyone.
But I also remembered how she'd spoken to me.
How quickly she'd reminded me that my job depended on pleasing her.
She knew exactly what it felt like to be treated as less important.
And she'd passed that feeling on to people who couldn't defend themselves.
Caroline stood.
“I need to know something.”
Vanessa looked toward her.
“When I called at four forty-five, did you understand Anthony was in the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Did you understand he was going into emergency surgery?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Not the first time.”
Caroline's voice remained steady.
“What about the second?”
“Yes.”
“And the third?”
Vanessa stared at her.
Caroline took one step closer.
“I called three times because I thought Luca needed to be there. You told me you had already spoken to him.”
Luca slowly turned.
Vanessa whispered, “I knew he couldn't do anything while Anthony was in surgery.”
Caroline looked stunned.
“He could have held my hand.”
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“He could have been there,” Caroline continued, “when the doctor explained they were worried about bleeding. He could have sat beside me while I filled out the hospital paperwork.”
She pressed a hand against her chest.
“Anthony kept asking for his best friend before they took him away.”
Luca looked devastated.
Caroline's voice broke.
“And I had to tell him you weren't coming.”
“No,” Luca whispered.
She turned to him immediately.
“I didn't know, Luca.”
“I know.”
He looked at Vanessa.
“You didn't just keep information from me.”
His voice trembled.
“You made Anthony think I chose a dinner over him.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“Luca, I'm sorry.”
He took a step away.
“I can't even tell him that wasn't true.”
Caroline gripped the chair.
“You will.”
He looked at her.
“He's going to hear it from you.”
Her certainty made his eyes fill.
I lowered my gaze.
I had known something about that hospital call.
Not enough to understand how serious it was.
But enough to ask a question.
I hadn't.
Because I was frightened of losing my job.
Now I looked at Caroline, who had spent hours believing Luca had abandoned her husband.
And I knew I couldn't stay quiet about something else.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Luca turned.
“Yes, Megan?”
“Anthony came here yesterday.”
Vanessa's head lifted.
“I know he met Vanessa.”
“He came before the dinner staff arrived.”
I swallowed.
“I was setting the glasses when they started arguing near the sideboard.”
Vanessa's face went pale.
“Megan.”
I looked at Luca.
“I didn't hear everything.”
“Tell me what you heard.”
Vanessa stepped toward me.
“You need to be careful about repeating private conversations.”
My hands started shaking.
I thought about my mother's rent again.
Then Luca moved between us.
“Megan has my permission to speak.”
I drew a breath.
“Anthony said he wasn't going to stand in front of your family and tell a lie.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
“Then Mrs. Bellini told him he should think about what would happen if you believed he'd been trying to interfere in your marriage.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“What else?”
I looked at Vanessa.
“She said people might start wondering why Anthony was so desperate to keep the restaurant open.”
Vanessa whispered, “That's not fair.”
I continued.
“She mentioned the money he was spending on repairs.”
Caroline's face tightened.
“Anthony was helping because he cared.”
“I know.”
I looked at Luca.
“Then Mrs. Bellini said that if Anthony refused to support her, she could tell you he only wanted the restaurant kept open so he could demand his money back.”
Luca stood perfectly still.
Caroline made a small, wounded sound.
Her husband hadn't simply been asked to betray a friend.
He'd been threatened with the loss of that friend's trust.
Vanessa shook her head.
“I was upset. I didn't mean it.”
Luca's voice became frighteningly quiet.
“But he believed you might do it.”
Caroline nodded.
“He came home shaking.”
I wiped my palms against my apron.
“Before he left, Anthony said something else.”
Luca turned toward me.
“What?”
“He said the restaurant didn't have to choose between paying its bills and keeping its family.”
Vanessa looked down.
“He said he could prove it.”
Luca glanced at the repair proposal.
“What proof?”
I pointed toward the papers.
“Anthony said the winter bookings were only half of his plan.”
Caroline opened his envelope again.
She searched through the folded pages.
Then she stopped.
There was a second sheet tucked behind the repair schedule.
Something neither of us had noticed.
Caroline read the first paragraph.
Her expression changed.
“Luca.”
He went to her.
She handed him the page.
May you like
At the top was a handwritten heading.
THE FAMILY TABLE PLAN — SIX MONTHS WITHOUT SELLING OUR HOME.
