Chapter 2 - HOW DID HE GET HER ADDRESS?
Vanessa stepped back, her red satin gown rustling against the marble floor.
She looked at the thirty wealthy guests staring at her in absolute silence. Then she looked at Luca.
“Luca, please,” she whispered, her voice losing all its previous arrogance. “I only confirmed the address. He already knew what city she was in.”
Luca didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to.
“I asked you a question, Vanessa. How did Richard Vance get Madison’s address?”
Madison flinched at the sound of her biological father’s name. Luca’s grip on her hand tightened, reassuring and steady.
Vanessa’s eyes darted toward her own parents, who were seated near the head of the table. Her father, a prominent Chicago judge, looked suddenly pale.
“He called my father’s office,” Vanessa finally admitted. “He said he was a distant relative trying to send a wedding gift. My father’s secretary gave him the apartment number.”
Luca stared at the judge. The older man looked down at his plate.
“A secretary,” Luca repeated. The words were quiet, but they carried a lethal weight. “A secretary handed over my daughter’s location to a man with a violent criminal record.”
Vanessa took a step toward him. “Luca, it was an innocent mistake. But once he reached out to me directly, he made a valid point. He’s her blood. It would look terrible to the families if he wasn't invited.”
“He broke Julia’s jaw in three places when Madison was five,” Luca said softly.
The entire dining room gasped.
Vanessa froze. “What?”
“He broke her mother’s jaw because Julia tried to stop him from throwing a glass bottle at Madison’s head.” Luca stood up. The massive crystal chandelier cast harsh shadows across his face. “That’s the man you invited to my daughter’s wedding.”
I stood near the door, my heart pounding against my ribs. I watched Madison wipe her tears with the back of her hand. She looked so small in that moment, despite being a grown woman.
Vanessa shook her head, panicking. “I didn’t know that. Luca, I swear I didn’t know.”
“You didn't ask.” Luca stepped away from the table. He unbuttoned his suit jacket, his chest rising and falling with heavy, controlled breaths. “You only cared about your perfect image. You wanted her out of the picture because you couldn’t stand that my late wife’s child means more to me than you do.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled. “That’s not fair! You treat her like royalty! She’s not even yours!”
“She is mine.” Luca’s voice cracked like a whip. “She has been mine since the day she asked me to check her closet for monsters.”
He turned to his head of security, Marco, who was standing quietly by the velvet drapes.
“Marco,” Luca said. “Escort Vanessa and her family out of my house.”
Vanessa gasped. “Luca, you can’t do this. The wedding is in two months. The press—”
“There is no wedding.” Luca didn’t even look at her. “I am done with you.”
Vanessa’s father stood up. “Now see here, Moretti. You don’t humiliate us like this over a misunderstanding.”
Luca slowly turned his head. The look in his eyes was so terrifying that the judge immediately stopped talking.
“You have three minutes to get off my property,” Luca said. “Before I forget that I promised my daughter no violence would ever happen in this house.”
The guests scrambled from their chairs. It was chaotic, quiet, and deeply uncomfortable. Within seconds, the room began to empty.
I moved to help Madison, who was shaking violently in her chair.
“Madison, let’s get you some water,” I whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She nodded, tears spilling onto her navy dress.
Luca knelt beside her, his large hands enveloping hers. “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t know. If I had known he was near you—”
“Dad, there’s more,” Madison choked out.
Luca stopped. “What is it?”
Madison reached into her purse. Her hands were trembling so badly she could barely open the clasp.
“When he came to my apartment,” she whispered. “He didn't just want an invitation.”
She pulled out a small, faded photograph.
I recognized it immediately. It was the picture Luca kept on his desk. The one of eight-year-old Madison, missing two front teeth, smiling beside Luca.
But this copy was different.
Across Luca’s face, someone had drawn a thick, jagged red X in permanent marker.
Luca took the photo, his jaw locking.
“He slid this under my door,” Madison cried. “And he left something else on my doormat.”
Luca looked up. “What did he leave?”
Madison reached into the bottom of her purse. She pulled out a heavy, rusted object and set it on the white linen tablecloth.
It was a pair of old steel handcuffs.
“He said these were for you,” Madison whispered. “Because he finally found the proof.”
Luca stared at the rusted metal. The blood slowly drained from his face.
“Proof of what?” he asked.
Madison looked terrified. “He said he knows what really happened the night Mom’s car went off the bridge. And he says he can prove it wasn't an accident.”
Before Luca could process her words, Marco burst back into the dining room.
“Boss,” Marco said, his hand resting on the weapon at his hip. “We have a problem.”
May you like
Luca stood up, shielding Madison behind him. “What?”
Marco pointed toward the front windows. “Someone just breached the front gates. And they drove a stolen police cruiser right onto your lawn.”
