Chapter 2 - THE GODMOTHER IN THE RAIN
THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME WRAP MY OWN COAT AROUND HIS 78-YEAR-OLD GODMOTHER AT HIS ENGAGEMENT DINNER—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “SHE SHOWED UP UNINVITED,” BEFORE HE EVEN ASKED WHY THE WOMAN WAS SOAKED FROM HEAD TO TOE.
“Please, Mrs. D'Angelo. Sit down.”
I pulled a chair away from the dining table.
The elderly woman's blue dress was damp.
Rainwater dripped from the ends of her silver hair.
And her hands were trembling so badly that she couldn't hold the warm towel I'd brought her.
“I'm all right, sweetheart.”
But she wasn't.
Her lips had turned pale.
Her stockings were wet.
And she'd been standing outside the mansion for nearly forty minutes.
“Olivia!”
I froze.
Celeste Warren stood beside the dining room entrance in a fitted burgundy gown.
Twenty-eight guests were seated beneath the chandeliers of Marco Bellini's Philadelphia mansion.
Every conversation stopped.
“Why have you brought that woman inside?”
I tightened my grip on the coat around Mrs. D'Angelo's shoulders.
“I'm sorry, ma'am. She was outside in the rain.”
Celeste gave a little laugh.
“Then she should have called before arriving.”
The elderly woman looked down.
“I did call, Miss Warren.”
Celeste's smile disappeared.
“Excuse me?”
“Three times.”
“Then you should have understood that nobody was available.”
Mrs. D'Angelo lowered her eyes.
“I'm sorry. I only needed to speak with Marco.”
Celeste stepped closer.
“You've already caused enough embarrassment.”
I felt the elderly woman flinch beside me.
“Please,” I whispered. “She just needs somewhere warm.”
Celeste looked directly at me.
“Olivia, take her back to the kitchen.”
Before I could answer, a man's voice came from the head of the table.
“Why?”
Marco Bellini had risen from his chair.
And he was staring at the elderly woman.
My name is Olivia Carter.
I was twenty-six, worked as a housemaid at the Bellini estate, and had spent the last nine months learning that Celeste Warren didn't tolerate disobedience.
Normally, I stayed out of her way.
I cleaned bedrooms.
Pressed shirts.
Served dinner.
And sent most of my paycheck home to my father, who'd been struggling to keep his small repair shop open.
The bank had given him until Friday to make a payment.
Losing this job wasn't an option.
Celeste knew that.
She'd reminded me earlier that afternoon.
“If you cause one problem tonight, Olivia, don't bother coming back tomorrow.”
So I'd done everything she asked.
Until I heard someone knocking at the side entrance.
When I opened it, Mrs. D'Angelo was standing beneath the porch light.
She was drenched.
She'd taken a taxi from Trenton.
And she kept asking one question.
“Is Marco getting married?”
I'd told her this was his engagement dinner.
She'd covered her mouth.
Then started crying.
Now Marco was walking toward us.
Forty-one.
Black suit.
White shirt.
The kind of man who remembered people he'd met twenty years earlier and rarely needed to repeat himself.
Beside him stood Celeste.
Diamond necklace.
Perfect makeup.
A beautiful smile that had returned the moment he looked at her.
“Darling,” she said, “Mrs. D'Angelo arrived without an invitation. Olivia misunderstood and brought her into our private dinner.”
Marco stopped beside the elderly woman.
“Mrs. D'Angelo?”
She slowly looked up.
“Hello, Marco.”
His expression changed.
“Aunt Helen?”
Her eyes filled.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
For several seconds, he didn't speak.
Then he gently took her hands.
“Good God. You're freezing.”
“It's only rain.”
“Why didn't somebody let you inside?”
Celeste immediately answered.
“She arrived at the wrong entrance.”
Marco glanced toward me.
I looked down.
He turned back toward Helen.
“How long were you outside?”
The elderly woman hesitated.
“Not very long.”
I swallowed.
“Almost forty minutes, sir.”
Celeste's fingers tightened around her champagne glass.
Marco looked at me.
“Forty minutes?”
“Yes, sir.”
He slowly turned toward his fiancée.
“Why wasn't she allowed inside?”
Celeste smiled.
“Marco, she wasn't on the guest list.”
He stared at her.
“This woman held me at my baptism.”
The room went quiet.
“She helped my mother raise me after my father was killed.”
Celeste looked away.
Marco turned toward Helen.
“Sit down, Aunt Helen.”
“I don't want to interrupt your party.”
“You're not interrupting anything.”
He pulled out the chair beside his own.
Then looked at me.
“Olivia, would you bring her some hot tea?”
“Yes, Mr. Bellini.”
“And have the kitchen prepare something for her.”
Helen's eyes filled.
“Oh, Marco. You don't have to—”
“Yes, I do.”
He gently touched her shoulder.
“You're family.”
I hurried toward the kitchen.
When I returned, Helen was sitting beside Marco.
Celeste had resumed her conversation with the guests.
And everyone was pretending nothing unusual had happened.
But Helen hadn't touched her food.
She kept looking toward Marco.
Then toward Celeste.
Finally, Marco noticed.
“Aunt Helen, is something wrong?”
She folded her hands.
“I need to ask you something, sweetheart.”
“Anything.”
“Are you happy?”
Marco smiled slightly.
“I am.”
Helen looked toward Celeste.
“Are you certain?”
Celeste gave an uncomfortable laugh.
“For heaven's sake, Helen. What kind of question is that?”
The elderly woman didn't answer.
Marco leaned closer.
“Why would you ask me that?”
Helen looked down.
“Because I thought you'd call me when you decided to get married.”
Something changed in his expression.
“I did call.”
Helen slowly looked up.
“What?”
“Six weeks ago. I left a message.”
Her lips trembled.
“I never received it.”
Marco frowned.
“I called your house.”
“I know.”
Celeste immediately reached for her glass.
“Well, these things happen. Phone messages get lost.”
Marco looked toward her.
“How would you know?”
She hesitated.
“Know what?”
“That I left a message.”
Celeste smiled.
“Because you told me, darling.”
But Marco wasn't looking at her anymore.
He was watching Helen.
“Aunt Helen, why did you come tonight?”
The elderly woman's eyes filled.
“I promised your mother I'd look after you boys.”
Marco went very still.
“Boys?”
Helen nodded.
“You and your brother.”
The silence changed.
I'd worked at the estate for nine months.
I'd heard about Marco's younger brother, Daniel, only twice.
Both times, the conversation had ended immediately.
Daniel Bellini had gone to prison two years earlier.
According to the household staff, he'd betrayed his brother in a business deal that almost destroyed the family.
Marco hadn't spoken to him since.
Helen reached for her tea.
Her hands were still trembling.
“Daniel asked me to come.”
Marco's expression hardened.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Helen looked toward Celeste.
And stopped speaking.
Celeste immediately put down her glass.
“Marco, this is exactly why I didn't want her here.”
He slowly turned.
“What?”
“Your brother has been trying to manipulate you for years. Now he's using an elderly woman to do it.”
Helen flinched.
Marco noticed.
He looked back at her.
“Aunt Helen, has Daniel contacted you?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Marco leaned back.
“He's not supposed to be contacting my family.”
Helen's eyes filled.
“He is your family, sweetheart.”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Celeste sighed.
“Marco, please. We're celebrating our engagement.”
He looked toward her.
“Then let me speak with my godmother.”
Celeste stopped smiling.
Helen carefully placed her cup down.
“Daniel wanted me to tell you something.”
Marco's jaw tightened.
“I don't want his excuses.”
“He didn't ask me to make excuses.”
“Then what did he ask?”
The elderly woman looked toward me.
Then at Celeste.
“He asked me whether you were still planning to marry Miss Warren.”
My stomach tightened.
Celeste slowly stood.
“That's enough.”
Marco didn't move.
“Aunt Helen, why would Daniel care who I marry?”
Helen swallowed.
“Because he knew her before you did.”
Celeste went completely still.
Marco looked up.
“What?”
Helen's voice trembled.
“Daniel knew Celeste before you brought her home.”
Celeste gave a sharp laugh.
“That's ridiculous.”
Marco turned toward her.
“Did you know my brother?”
She hesitated.
“Not personally.”
Helen shook her head.
“Susie—”
Celeste's face drained of color.
“Don't call me that.”
The dining room went silent.
Marco stared at his fiancée.
“Susie?”
Celeste looked away.
Helen covered her mouth.
“I'm sorry.”
Marco leaned forward.
“Aunt Helen, why did you call her Susie?”
The elderly woman began crying.
“Because that's what Daniel called her.”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Marco slowly stood.
“Celeste.”
She wouldn't look at him.
“Did you know Daniel?”
Her lips parted.
“Yes.”
The answer was barely audible.
Marco stared at her.
“How well?”
Celeste began crying.
“It was years ago.”
He didn't move.
“How well?”
She wiped her cheeks.
“We dated briefly.”
I felt my stomach drop.
Marco's younger brother had been in prison for two years.
Celeste had been engaged to Marco for six months.
And she'd never once mentioned knowing Daniel.
Marco looked toward Helen.
“Did Daniel tell you this?”
She nodded.
“He told me before he went away.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
Helen's eyes filled.
“I tried.”
Marco frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“I came here two years ago. Your security wouldn't let me through the gates.”
Celeste stared at the tablecloth.
Helen continued.
“Then I called. A woman answered and told me you didn't want to hear anything about Daniel.”
Marco slowly turned toward Celeste.
“Was that you?”
She couldn't answer.
Helen wiped her face.
“I thought you knew, sweetheart.”
Marco's voice dropped.
“Knew what?”
The elderly woman looked toward his fiancée.
Then back at him.
“That they had been planning to get married.”
The room went completely silent.
Celeste stood so quickly that her chair scraped across the marble floor.
“That's a lie.”
Marco stared at her.
“You were engaged to my brother?”
She shook her head.
“It was never official.”
Helen looked devastated.
“He bought her a ring, Marco.”
Celeste turned toward her.
“Stop it!”
Helen flinched.
Marco stepped between them.
“Don't speak to her that way.”
His voice remained quiet.
But Celeste stopped.
For several seconds, the only sound was the rain against the windows.
Then Marco looked toward Helen.
“Why did Daniel send you here tonight?”
She took a shaky breath.
“Because he heard about your engagement.”
Marco stared at her.
“And?”
“He was afraid you didn't know who you were marrying.”
Celeste began shaking her head.
“Marco, please. Your brother has always hated me.”
Helen wiped her eyes.
“No, Susie.”
Celeste froze.
“He loved you.”
Nobody spoke.
Helen's voice broke.
“He loved you so much he wouldn't even tell his own brother what happened.”
Marco went completely still.
“What happened?”
The elderly woman looked down at her hands.
“Two years ago, when the police came to arrest Daniel, I was at his apartment.”
Marco frowned.
“Why?”
“He'd called me because he was frightened.”
“Of what?”
Helen looked toward Celeste.
“He said he'd found something he wasn't supposed to find.”
Celeste slowly backed away from the table.
Marco noticed.
“Celeste?”
She shook her head.
“This is insane.”
But Helen continued.
“Daniel told me he was going to meet you the following morning. He said he finally had proof of who'd been taking money from the company.”
Marco gripped the back of his chair.
“That money disappeared from an account only Daniel could access.”
Helen nodded.
“I know what you were told.”
“What does that mean?”
The elderly woman began crying again.
“Daniel told me he was going to protect you, even if it cost him everything.”
Marco's face changed.
“Protect me from whom?”
Helen looked directly at Celeste.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then she whispered, “He didn't want you to lose the woman you thought you loved.”
Celeste covered her mouth.
Marco stared at his fiancée.
Then at Helen.
“Aunt Helen.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“Are you telling me Daniel took the blame for Celeste?”
The elderly woman nodded.
But before Marco could speak, she caught his wrist.
“There's something else, sweetheart.”
He looked down.
“What?”
Helen's eyes filled.
“Daniel didn't ask me to come here just to tell you about the money.”
Marco waited.
“He's being released tomorrow morning.”
Celeste went completely pale.
Marco frowned.
“I know.”
Helen shook her head.
“No, sweetheart. You don't understand.”
She looked toward the woman in the burgundy engagement gown.
May you like
Then whispered the words that made every guest at that table go silent.
“Your brother called me yesterday because Celeste visited him in prison last week. She told him that if he ever came near you again, she'd make sure you learned what really happened the night your father died. And Marco... Daniel says that night is the reason he went to prison in the first place.”
