Chapter 3 - THE NURSE'S CONFESSION
The cold wind seemed to stop entirely.
Luca stood perfectly still, the empty silver locket dangling from his fingers.
“You were my mother’s nurse?” Luca asked, his voice low and dangerous.
Evelyn Hayes nodded slowly, stepping out onto the stone porch. She looked tired, her shoulders stooped under the weight of a worn trench coat, but her eyes were remarkably clear.
“Twenty years ago at St. Jude’s,” Evelyn said. “I worked the night shift in the palliative wing.”
Vanessa stepped between them, her elegant red dress a stark contrast to Evelyn’s faded coat.
“Luca, don't listen to her,” Vanessa snapped, her voice rising in panic. “She’s the grandmother of one of those beggar children! She’s probably here to extort you!”
Luca didn't even look at his fiancée.
He gently pushed Vanessa aside, stepping closer to the older woman.
“Evelyn,” Luca said softly, though the authority in his tone was absolute. “My mother died calling your name. Why?”
Evelyn swallowed hard. She clutched the cartoon dinosaur sticker in her hand.
“Because Caroline made me promise to find you when you were old enough to understand the truth.”
“What truth?”
Evelyn looked at Vanessa, then back to Luca.
“Vanessa told you the letter in that locket proved your mother was a mistress. That you are illegitimate.”
“Is it true?” Luca demanded.
“No,” Evelyn said firmly. “Your mother was legally married to your father. She was his only wife.”
Vanessa let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “You're delusional, old woman. My father saw the marriage certificate. He knew the first wife—”
“Your father saw a forgery!” Evelyn interrupted, her raspy voice suddenly carrying a fierce strength. “He saw the forgery your mother created.”
Vanessa froze.
I stood by the iron gates, my hands gripping the cold metal. The pieces were shifting, forming a picture none of us were prepared for.
Luca’s jaw tightened. “Explain.”
Evelyn took a deep breath.
“Your mother didn't write the note in that locket, Luca. The woman who visited her hospital room the night she died wrote it.”
Evelyn pointed a shaking finger at Vanessa.
“Her mother.”
Vanessa’s face went completely pale. “My mother was a respected socialite! You're lying!”
“Your mother was desperate,” Evelyn corrected. “She visited Caroline’s hospital room when the machines were already failing. I was standing in the hallway. I heard everything.”
Evelyn looked at Luca, her eyes filling with tears.
“Vanessa’s mother leaned over Caroline’s bed. She said, ‘I have the forged documents. When you die, I will tell the Commission that your son is a bastard. They will strip him of the name. They will kill him.’”
Luca stopped breathing.
“Why would she do that?” he whispered.
“Blackmail,” Evelyn answered. “She told Caroline that the only way to protect your life was to sign over fifty percent of the Moretti foundation to the Bellini family.”
The foundation.
The same foundation that was supposed to feed the children at Caroline’s Kitchen.
The same foundation Vanessa had been draining for months.
“Caroline refused to sign,” Evelyn continued, wiping a tear from her cheek. “So Vanessa’s mother wrote a note. A fake confession, stating Caroline was merely a mistress. She shoved it inside that silver locket and said she would give it to the Five Families the moment Caroline died.”
Luca stared at the locket in his hand.
He had carried the grief of losing his mother for twenty years. Now, he was learning her final moments were spent in absolute terror for his life.
“Why didn't my mother tell my father?” Luca asked, his voice cracking.
“Your father was in Sicily,” Evelyn said gently. “He didn't make it back in time. She was terrified. She gave the locket to me and begged me to hide it.”
Vanessa’s confidence finally shattered.
“You're lying!” Vanessa screamed. “My mother never threatened her!”
“Then how do you explain the note you claim to have burned, Vanessa?” Luca asked, turning toward her. His eyes were completely black, stripped of any remaining affection.
Vanessa stumbled backward. “My mother was protecting our family’s interests—”
“Your mother terrorized a dying woman,” Luca growled. “And you spent the last six months stealing food from starving children to fund a wedding you thought would legitimize your theft.”
Vanessa backed up against the heavy oak doors. “Luca, please. The families needed to merge. It was business!”
Luca didn't yell. He didn't raise his hand.
He simply looked at her with the cold, dead eyes of the mafia boss Chicago feared.
“The wedding is off.”
Vanessa gasped. “You can't do that! If you break this engagement, my father will release the forged documents! He’ll tell the Commission you're illegitimate!”
“Let him try,” Luca said.
He turned to me.
“Maria. Have the guards escort Miss Bellini off the property. She leaves with the clothes on her back. Nothing else.”
Vanessa burst into tears. “Luca! You're making a mistake!”
Two massive men in dark suits stepped out from the shadows of the porch. They didn't wait for her to argue. They grabbed her arms and dragged her toward the gates.
For the first time all night, the estate was quiet.
Luca looked at Evelyn. He looked exhausted, the weight of the last twenty minutes pressing down on him.
“Why didn't you come to me sooner?” Luca asked quietly.
Evelyn lowered her head.
“I tried, Luca. When you turned eighteen, I went to your father’s office. I wanted to tell him about the blackmail.”
She looked up, and the sorrow in her eyes made my chest ache.
“But he wouldn't let me in. His head of security told me if I ever came near the Moretti family again, my son would disappear.”
Luca frowned. “My father’s head of security?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Yes. A man named Dominic.”
Luca went completely still.
He slowly turned his head, looking back toward the brightly lit drawing room where the twenty-six guests were waiting.
Dominic was sitting inside right now.
He was Luca’s most trusted advisor. The man who had mentored him after his father died.
Evelyn reached into her worn coat pocket.
“I didn't come here tonight just to tell you about the locket, Luca.”
She pulled out a small, heavy object wrapped in a white handkerchief.
“I came to give you the one thing Caroline managed to hide before Vanessa’s mother walked into the room.”
She peeled back the handkerchief.
Sitting in her palm was a heavy gold signet ring.
It wasn't a Moretti ring.
It bore the crest of a rival family.
Luca stared at it, the color draining from his face.
May you like
“Where did you get that?” he whispered.
“Your mother pulled it from the hand of the man who poisoned her IV line,” Evelyn said.
