Chapter 4 - The Visit She Tried To Hide
“Gabriel came to your apartment last Sunday?”
Luca stared at Vanessa.
She closed her eyes.
“Rosie misunderstood.”
The little girl frowned.
“No, Mommy.”
Vanessa looked at her sharply.
“Sweetheart, please.”
Rosie hugged her rabbit.
“He had a brown jacket. And he said my name.”
I felt a chill.
A six-year-old could misunderstand complicated adult conversations.
But she knew what she'd seen.
Luca crouched beside her.
“Did he talk to you?”
Rosie shook her head.
“Mommy told me to stay inside.”
“Did he look like the pictures of your daddy?”
She nodded.
“He had the same hair.”
Luca gently squeezed her hand.
“Thank you for telling me.”
Then he stood.
“Vanessa. I want the truth.”
She looked toward the empty dining room.
For the first time all evening, there was nobody left to impress.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Luca waited.
“Gabriel came last Sunday.”
His eyes filled.
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“You spoke to him six days ago.”
“For about ten minutes.”
“And you didn't think to tell me?”
Vanessa wiped her cheeks.
“I was terrified you'd cancel the wedding.”
Luca looked at Rosie.
“She spent four years believing her father went away. You knew he was back, and you didn't let them speak?”
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“You weren't there when he left.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
She pressed her fingers against her forehead.
“Four years ago, Rosie was very sick.”
The little girl looked up.
“Me?”
Vanessa immediately softened.
“When you were little, honey.”
Rosie nodded.
She went back to eating.
Vanessa continued.
“She had a terrible infection. She spent weeks in the hospital. We had insurance problems and bills we couldn't pay.”
Luca's anger faltered.
“Gabriel never told me.”
“He didn't want your help.”
“Why?”
“Because the two of you had been fighting over the restaurant for months.”
Luca looked away.
I saw something change in his expression.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Vanessa continued.
“Gabriel thought you cared more about the business than you did about him.”
Luca shook his head.
“That wasn't true.”
“He believed it.”
For several seconds, the only sound was Rosie's fork touching her bowl.
Then Luca said quietly, “I told him he couldn't keep ignoring how the restaurant was being run.”
Vanessa nodded.
“You said he needed to grow up.”
His face tightened.
“I remember.”
“He was trying. We had a sick baby and a house that needed repairs. He was working nights.”
“Why didn't he tell me any of that?”
“Because he thought you'd use it against him.”
Luca looked devastated.
I remembered something my grandmother had told me when I was younger.
Sometimes the people who loved each other most became so busy defending themselves that they stopped hearing what the other person needed.
But Vanessa hadn't simply misunderstood something.
She had hidden a child.
And now she was hiding the fact that Gabriel had returned.
“Did Gabriel ask to see Rosie last Sunday?” Luca asked.
Vanessa nodded.
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That it wasn't a good time.”
“Why?”
“Because you and I were getting married in a week.”
Luca stared at her.
“You were marrying his brother while pretending he'd disappeared?”
Her face crumpled.
“I didn't plan for any of this.”
“But you did plan to keep Rosie downstairs tonight.”
She lowered her eyes.
“The sitter canceled. I couldn't leave her home alone.”
“So you brought her here and told her not to call you Mommy?”
Vanessa began crying.
“I thought I could get through the dinner and explain everything afterward.”
Luca looked toward Rosie.
The little girl was wiping butter from her chin.
He swallowed hard.
“You made your daughter feel like something shameful.”
Vanessa didn't answer.
Then Marco approached the table.
“Boss?”
Luca looked up.
The chef was nearly sixty, with gray hair and hands marked by decades of working in restaurant kitchens.
He had worked for the Moretti family longer than I'd been alive.
“I think there's something you need to know.”
Luca nodded.
“Go ahead.”
Marco glanced toward Rosie.
“Maybe we should speak near the service doors.”
Luca looked at Hannah—at me.
“Would you stay with her?”
“Of course.”
I moved beside Rosie while the three adults stepped a few feet away.
But their voices carried through the quiet room.
Marco looked at Luca.
“Gabriel didn't disappear because he stopped loving his family.”
Luca frowned.
“What do you know?”
The chef hesitated.
“I knew about Rosie.”
Vanessa looked up sharply.
“You promised not to discuss her.”
Marco nodded.
“I did. And I kept that promise when I should have told somebody the truth.”
Luca stared at him.
“You knew she was my niece?”
“Yes.”
“For four years?”
“Longer.”
Luca looked wounded.
“Marco, you've known me since I was ten years old.”
The chef's eyes filled.
“I know.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Gabriel asked me not to involve you. He thought you were angry enough already.”
Luca shook his head.
“That's no excuse.”
“No,” Marco admitted. “It isn't.”
He glanced toward the old service corridor.
“There's something else about the night Gabriel left.”
Vanessa looked frightened.
“Marco, please.”
The chef continued.
“The money from the employee fund wasn't stolen in the way you were told.”
Luca went completely still.
“What are you saying?”
Marco swallowed.
“I was there when the money was taken.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Did Gabriel take it?”
The old chef shook his head.
“No, boss.”
May you like
His voice broke.
“I'm the one who took the forty-six thousand dollars.”
