Chapter 8
Vanessa stopped crying.
For a moment, she simply stared at her father.
Then she whispered, “You promised me you wouldn't tell them that.”
Charles gave a short laugh.
“I'm not taking the blame for everything.”
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Did you take the money?”
She nodded.
“Four thousand dollars?”
“Yes.”
Margaret stared at her.
“Vanessa, why?”
Her daughter reached for a napkin, then pushed it away.
“Because Helen's husband had been laid off. She needed money for rent.”
Margaret's expression changed.
“Helen?”
Vanessa nodded.
“I paid her two thousand. I gave the rest to Mrs. Ortiz because she needed fabric and couldn't afford to buy it herself.”
Eleanor leaned forward.
“You told me those payments came from your personal savings.”
“I didn't want you to know how bad things had gotten.”
Charles folded his arms.
“And somehow that becomes my fault.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You told me the company would repay the design fee before Mom ever needed it.”
Margaret looked confused.
“Before I needed what?”
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“You mentioned your roof was leaking.”
Margaret stared at her.
“You remembered that?”
“Of course I remembered.”
Margaret's eyes filled.
For several seconds, I thought she might forgive everything.
Then she asked, “Why didn't you just tell me?”
Vanessa looked down.
“Because you'd have given me the money back.”
Margaret gave a sad little smile.
“Probably.”
“And I couldn't let you do that again.”
Luca watched them carefully.
I could tell he was beginning to see something complicated beneath Vanessa's cruelty.
She had made selfish choices.
But not every choice had been selfish.
That didn't erase what she'd done.
It made understanding her harder.
Eleanor reached across the table.
“Vanessa, why didn't you tell me the workers needed emergency payments?”
“Because you were already covering expenses with your savings.”
Eleanor looked toward Charles.
“Was I?”
He shifted in his chair.
“I told you we had a temporary cash shortage.”
“You told me we'd have it covered by November.”
Charles didn't answer.
Eleanor slowly removed her wedding ring.
She held it between her fingers.
“Three years ago, you told me we could build something together.”
Charles stared at her.
“We did.”
“No,” she whispered. “I built something for thirty years. You convinced me we could make it bigger.”
His expression hardened.
“You wanted the expansion.”
“Yes. I did.”
She looked toward Margaret.
“And I wanted the prestige that came with it.”
The admission surprised everyone.
Eleanor placed the ring beside her bracelet.
“I won't pretend I was innocent.”
Charles looked at her.
“Don't make me the villain because the plan failed.”
“You made promises you couldn't keep,” she replied.
“So did you.”
Eleanor accepted that without argument.
Margaret quietly pushed her water glass aside.
“May I ask something?”
Luca turned toward her.
“Anything.”
She looked at Vanessa.
“Did you really want to marry this man?”
The question seemed to frighten Vanessa more than anything else.
“Yes.”
Margaret waited.
Vanessa looked at Luca.
“I love him.”
“Then why did you turn your wedding into a business deadline?”
Vanessa's lips trembled.
“Because I thought I could fix everything before he found out.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Honey, that's not how fixing something works.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
I looked toward Luca.
He had been quiet for several minutes.
Now he removed his engagement ring from his finger.
Not Vanessa's ring.
His own.
He set it on the table.
Vanessa stared.
“Luca?”
He looked exhausted.
“I asked you to marry me because I believed we could tell each other the truth.”
“We can.”
“We haven't.”
She shook her head desperately.
“Please don't do this here.”
He glanced toward Margaret.
“You chose this room to deny your mother in front of thirty people.”
Vanessa flinched.
“That's not the same.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It's worse.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
But he didn't raise his voice.
“I don't know what happens to us next,” he told her. “I'm not going to pretend I do.”
Vanessa stared at the ring.
“Are you ending our engagement?”
“I'm stopping us from making another promise we aren't ready to keep.”
The words left her trembling.
Then Luca turned toward Margaret.
“Mrs. Bellini, I need to ask one more question.”
She nodded.
“Was there anything else Vanessa asked you to do on Tuesday?”
Margaret frowned.
“Only the hem.”
“Did she ask you to sign anything?”
“No.”
Vanessa suddenly went still.
Luca noticed.
He looked at the cream-colored sample sheet.
Then at her.
“Vanessa, your mother says she didn't sign this.”
She stared at the signature.
“I know.”
“Your father says you brought it to the showroom.”
“Yes.”
“Then I need you to tell us exactly where it came from.”
For a long moment, she couldn't speak.
Margaret reached toward her.
“Sweetheart, whatever happened, tell the truth.”
Vanessa began shaking her head.
“I thought I could make it right.”
Margaret's voice softened.
“Then start now.”
Vanessa looked toward Charles.
He avoided her eyes.
She looked toward Eleanor.
Eleanor was crying.
Finally, Vanessa turned toward Luca.
“I was afraid that if we lost the collection, Daddy would disappear again. Eleanor would lose her business. And everyone would know I wasn't the woman I'd pretended to be.”
Her breath caught.
“So I kept finding ways to make the next week look better than the last.”
Luca looked at her.
“And the signature?”
Vanessa wiped her face.
May you like
Then turned toward Margaret.
“Mom, I didn't get your permission. I signed your name myself.”
