Chapter 2 - THE SILVER ROSARY
The silence in the study was absolute.
Luca Moretti didn’t blink. He didn’t move.
The sentence hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.
I just don’t want people like you reminding him he doesn’t belong with people like me.
Slowly, Luca looked down at the navy handbag resting on his mahogany desk.
When he looked back up, his dark eyes were completely cold.
“Julia.”
“Yes, sir.”
“My car is out front. Come with me.”
I swallowed hard, clutching my injured shoulder.
“Mr. Moretti, if Vanessa sees me leaving with you—”
“Vanessa isn’t my concern right now,” he interrupted, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Daniel!”
The study door opened instantly. His head of security stepped inside.
“Boss.”
“Bring the SUV around. We’re going to Union Station.”
Ten minutes later, we were tearing down Lake Shore Drive in the pouring rain.
Luca sat in the back seat beside me, his jaw tight. He kept dialing his aunt’s number.
Straight to voicemail.
“She doesn’t even know how to navigate Union Station,” Luca said quietly. “She hasn’t taken a train in twenty years.”
When we pulled up to the massive transit hub, Daniel and three of his men spread out.
Luca told me to stay close.
We wove through the crowded terminal.
And then, I saw her.
Teresa Moretti was sitting on a wooden bench near Gate B.
She looked tiny in her oversized wool coat.
She didn’t have any luggage.
She was just staring blankly at a yellow paper ticket in her hands.
“Aunt Teresa.”
She jumped when Luca spoke.
When she saw him, tears immediately spilled over her wrinkled cheeks.
“Luca. You shouldn’t be here. Your dinner—”
He dropped to one knee right in the middle of the filthy station floor, ignoring the businessmen rushing past.
He took her trembling hands in his.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked softly.
Teresa looked away, her chin quivering.
“She was right, Luca. I don’t fit in your new life. Your fiancée’s family… they’re elegant. They’re educated. I used to scrub toilets in their neighborhood.”
“I don’t care about her family,” Luca said fiercely. “I care about you.”
Teresa shook her head.
“You have to let me go back to Milwaukee. If I stay… she said she’ll ruin you.”
Luca froze.
“What?”
I stepped closer, my heart pounding. Vanessa hadn’t just insulted her.
Teresa slowly opened her hand.
Beneath the train ticket was an object.
A tarnished silver rosary.
Luca stared at it. All the color drained from his face.
May you like
“Where did you get that?” he whispered.
“Vanessa gave it to me in the ballroom,” Teresa cried softly. “She found it, Luca. She knows what happened the night your father died.”
