Chapter 12 - THE EMPTY CHAIR AT THE TABLE
I stood frozen in Luca’s study, staring at the letter on the floor.
Marco paid her to leave.
The words echoed in my head, loud and chaotic, drowning out the sound of the birds chirping in the garden outside.
My mother. My sweet, fragile mother who had looked Luca in the eye and swore Marco had pulled a knife on her. She had the scar to prove it.
But what if the scar wasn't from an attack?
What if it was a cover story?
My stomach churned violently. I felt like I was going to be sick.
I turned and ran out of the study, my feet pounding against the hardwood floors.
I sprinted down the long hallway toward the guest wing, ignoring the confused looks from Enzo and the other guards.
I reached the double doors of the first-floor guest suite and pushed them open.
My mother was sitting in a plush armchair near the window, a blanket draped over her lap, reading a book. She looked so peaceful. So safe.
She looked up when I burst in, a smile forming on her lips.
“Hannah? What’s wrong, sweetheart? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I walked toward her, my hands shaking.
“Mom,” I said, my voice cracking. “Did you take money from Marco Moretti four years ago?”
The smile vanished from her face instantly.
The book slipped from her lap, hitting the floor with a soft thud.
She didn't deny it. She didn't act confused.
She just closed her eyes, a tear escaping and sliding down her cheek.
“Oh, God,” I whispered, taking a step back. “It’s true. You let Marco kill him.”
“No!” my mother cried, reaching her hands out toward me. “Hannah, please, listen to me!”
“How could you?” I sobbed, the betrayal ripping my heart in two. “Luca gave you his protection! He gave you his family crest! And you lied to his face!”
“I didn't know what Marco was going to do!” my mother pleaded, struggling to stand up from the chair. “Hannah, you were in college. Your tuition was due. The bank was threatening to foreclose on the apartment. I was drowning!”
She leaned on her cane, weeping.
“Marco approached me in the hallway that day. He offered me fifty thousand dollars in cash just to take a fifteen-minute coffee break. That’s all he said! He said he just wanted to talk to his brother privately without the doctors interrupting.”
“And you believed a mafia boss just wanted to talk?” I yelled.
“I was desperate!” she cried. “When I came back to the room… the alarms were going off. Luca’s father was coding. I saw the empty syringe on the floor.”
“The scar,” I said, pointing to her chest. “Marco didn't cut you.”
“I cut myself,” she confessed, sobbing into her hands. “I took a scalpel from the tray. I knew if the Commission found out I left the room, they would kill me. I made up the story about Marco attacking me to protect myself. And to protect you.”
I backed away toward the door.
“Luca’s father knew,” I realized. “That’s why he told you to send me here. He knew you took the bribe. He held it over your head to force you to place me in this house to protect Teresa.”
“Yes,” my mother wept. “It was my penance. He told me if I didn't send you to watch over his wife, he would leave evidence of my bribe for Luca to find.”
I shook my head, unable to look at her.
My whole life, my job, my presence in this house… it was all built on my mother’s corrupted bargain.
“I have to tell him,” I whispered.
“Hannah, please!” my mother begged, falling to her knees. “He’ll kill me! Luca will kill me!”
I turned my back on her and walked out of the room.
I felt numb as I walked back through the mansion.
I found Luca in the dining room.
He was standing at the head of the long table. The broken blue dish had been cleaned up. The room was pristine again.
He turned and smiled when he saw me.
“There you are,” Luca said warmly. “Mom and Mia are setting the table. We’re having lunch together. Just the four of us.”
He pulled out the chair to his right—the seat of honor.
“Sit with me,” he said.
I looked at the empty chair. Then I looked at the man who had offered me his heart and his grandmother’s ring just last night.
I couldn't sit there. I wasn't worthy of this family.
“Luca,” I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. “My mother lied to you.”
Luca’s smile faded. “What do you mean?”
I stood in the doorway and told him everything.
I told him about the bribe. The fifty thousand dollars. The self-inflicted wound.
I stripped away every lie my mother had told to protect herself.
When I finished, the dining room was dead silent.
Luca didn't yell. He didn't pull his gun.
He just stared at the empty chair he had pulled out for me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears finally falling. “I’ll pack my things. My mother and I will be gone in an hour.”
I turned to walk away.
“Stop.”
Luca’s voice wasn't angry. It was heavy.
I stopped, but I couldn't bring myself to turn around.
I heard his footsteps approaching.
He stopped right behind me.
“Do you know why my father asked your mother to send you here?” Luca asked quietly.
“To spy on Teresa,” I said, staring at the floor.
“No.”
Luca gently grasped my shoulders and turned me around to face him.
“My father knew your mother made a desperate mistake,” Luca said, his dark eyes searching mine. “But he also knew she raised a daughter who was pure. A daughter who would never take a bribe. A daughter who would stand up to Vanessa Bellini in a room full of mobsters just to protect an old woman’s peach cobbler.”
I looked up at him, shocked.
“My father didn't send you here to be a spy, Hannah,” Luca whispered, wiping a tear from my cheek. “He sent you here because he knew you were exactly the kind of woman I needed.”
“But my mother—”
“Your mother made a mistake,” Luca interrupted. “And she will live with that guilt for the rest of her life. But I am not my uncle. I don't punish daughters for the sins of their parents.”
He reached into his pocket.
He pulled out the vintage diamond ring.
He didn't get down on one knee. It wasn't that kind of moment. It was raw, real, and undeniable.
He took my left hand and slid the ring onto my finger.
It fit perfectly.
“You didn't break this family, Hannah,” Luca said, pulling me against his chest. “You fixed it.”
From the doorway of the kitchen, Teresa and Mia walked in, carrying a fresh, warm blue dish of peach cobbler.
Teresa saw the ring on my finger, and a brilliant, beautiful smile lit up her face.
Mia ran over and hugged me tight around the waist.
I looked at Luca. He was smiling, looking at the family he had finally secured.
We walked to the table together.
Luca sat at the head.
Teresa sat to his left. Mia sat next to her grandmother.
May you like
And I sat in the chair to his right.
For the first time in four years, there were no empty chairs at the Moretti table.
