Chapter 5 - THE TORN WEDDING VEIL
Vanessa stared at the dirty white lace on the floor.
All the color drained from her face, leaving her looking like a ghost trapped in a black designer suit.
“That’s… that’s impossible,” she stammered, backing away from the veil as if it were a venomous snake.
Michael stepped fully into the room.
He ignored the security guards. He ignored Vanessa.
He looked straight at Luca.
“Four years ago,” Michael said, his voice rough with emotion, “Dad found out Isabella was pregnant.”
Luca stood rigidly, shielding Lily behind him. “Dad wanted the baby. He wanted an heir.”
“No,” Michael corrected him bitterly. “Dad wanted an alliance with the Rossi family in New York. He needed you to marry their daughter. Isabella and a bastard child were complications he couldn’t afford.”
Teresa let out a heartbreaking sob from her wheelchair.
“My husband,” she wept. “My ruthless, terrible husband.”
Michael nodded slowly.
“Dad gave me an order,” he continued, looking down at his own trembling hands. “He told me to take Isabella for a drive. He told me to make sure neither she nor the baby ever came back.”
Luca lunged forward.
He grabbed his brother by the collar of his wet leather jacket and slammed him against the oak bookshelf.
Books rained down around them.
“You killed her?” Luca roared, tears streaming down his face. “You killed the woman I loved?!”
“No!” Michael shouted back, not fighting his brother’s grip. “I couldn’t do it, Luca! I swear to God, I couldn’t!”
Luca froze, his fist raised in the air.
Lily whimpered, clutching my hand tighter.
Michael breathed heavily, looking into Luca’s furious eyes.
“I drove her to the bridge,” Michael confessed. “I told her what Dad wanted. I told her she had to disappear, or Dad would hire someone else who wouldn’t hesitate. I gave her all my cash. I helped her push the empty car into the river to fake the accident.”
Luca slowly lowered his fist.
He stepped back, trying to process the magnitude of the betrayal.
“Then where has she been?” Luca demanded, his voice breaking. “For four years, Michael. Where has she been?”
Michael looked down at the floor.
“I hid her in a safehouse on the South Side,” he whispered. “I paid for her groceries. I paid for the doctors when Lily was born. But a year ago… they vanished. The safehouse was empty. I’ve been searching for them ever since.”
Vanessa suddenly burst into shrill, hysterical laughter.
“Oh, what a touching story!” she mocked, her confidence returning. “The brave brother saving the damsel! But it doesn’t change a thing. Isabella abandoned you, Luca. She took your kid and ran because she didn’t love you!”
I looked down at the torn wedding veil on the floor.
My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears.
I knelt down and gently picked up the delicate lace.
The fabric was ruined, but the embroidery along the edges was still intact.
It was a pattern of tiny, interlocking ivy leaves.
I traced the stitches with my thumb.
“She didn’t run away,” I whispered.
Everyone in the room stopped and looked at me.
Vanessa glared. “Keep your mouth shut, maid.”
I ignored her. I looked directly at Luca.
“Mr. Moretti,” I said, my voice trembling but finding strength. “My mother was a master seamstress before she became a nurse. She designed this exact embroidery pattern. She called it the ‘Eternal Ivy.’”
Luca frowned, confused. “Hannah, what are you saying?”
I held up the veil, showing him the intricate stitches.
“My mother has been renting out our basement apartment to a woman who works night shifts,” I said, the pieces rapidly locking into place in my mind. “A woman I was never allowed to meet. A woman who paid her rent in cash.”
I pulled the hospital bracelet from my pocket and held it next to the veil.
“Isabella didn’t give Lily my mother’s bracelet by mistake,” I said, looking at the little girl holding my hand. “She gave it to her because she knew my mother was the only person I trusted.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened in sheer panic.
She took a step toward the door.
But Michael moved faster.
He slammed the library doors shut and locked them, pocketing the key.
“Where do you think you’re going, Vanessa?” Michael asked softly.
Luca turned to me, his eyes burning with a desperate, wild hope.
“Hannah,” he breathed. “Is Isabella at your house?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But my mother is at Chicago General Hospital. And if Isabella is the woman living in our basement, she’s in terrible danger.”
Lily suddenly tugged on my skirt.
She looked up at me, her dark eyes filled with absolute terror.
“Mommy isn’t in the basement anymore,” Lily whispered.
May you like
She pointed a shaking finger at Vanessa.
“That lady put Mommy in the back of a black car this morning.”
