Chapter 2 - THE HANDWRITING BENEATH THE LEATHER STRAP
Luca stared at the worn brown leather of his son’s baseball glove.
The dining room of the Chicago mansion was so quiet I could hear the rain hitting the tall glass windows. Thirty-two wealthy guests had stopped eating. Vanessa Bellini sat frozen in her red silk gown, her manicured nails digging into the white tablecloth.
I stood two feet away, holding my breath.
Luca didn’t look at Vanessa. He didn’t look at his guests. His dark, intense eyes were locked on the inside rim of the glove.
"Who wrote this?" Luca’s voice was dangerously quiet.
Caleb’s small shoulders trembled in his navy suit. "I didn’t want to show you, Daddy. I tried to clean it off. But it wouldn’t come out."
Slowly, Luca turned the glove so the light from the chandelier caught the ink.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I had cleaned Caleb’s room a dozen times. I had seen that glove sitting proudly on his nightstand. Inside the wrist strap, Caleb’s late mother, Isabella, had written a faded message in beautiful cursive years ago: To my brave boy. Never stop catching.
But that wasn’t what Luca was looking at.
Directly beneath Isabella’s faded, loving words, someone else had written a new name in thick, aggressive black permanent marker.
The name took up the entire leather strap.
PROPERTY OF DANIEL BELLINI.
Luca’s jaw tightened. The muscle in his cheek feathered.
Vanessa’s nephew’s name. Written over Caleb’s mother’s final message to her son.
"Caleb," Luca said, his voice dropping an octave. "Did Daniel write this?"
The eleven-year-old boy wiped a tear from his cheek. "No, Daddy. Daniel wasn't even at practice yesterday. He was at his piano lesson."
Luca slowly lifted his gaze to the far end of the table. He looked at Coach Robert Hayes. "Robert. Who had access to my son's equipment bag yesterday?"
Robert swallowed hard. His charcoal suit suddenly looked too tight. "Mr. Moretti, Caleb’s bag was locked in the coach’s office. Only the staff has keys." He paused, his eyes darting toward the head of the table. "And... Miss Bellini. She came into the office to drop off the new team schedules."
Vanessa stood up so fast her chair scraped loudly against the hardwood floor.
"Luca, this is ridiculous!" she laughed, but the sound was high and brittle. "Some child must have played a prank. You know how vicious eleven-year-old boys can be. Daniel probably did it himself to be funny."
"You just said Daniel was at a piano lesson," Luca replied smoothly.
Vanessa’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Luca turned fully toward his fiancée. The absolute authority radiating from him made the air in the room feel thin.
"You crossed out my dead wife’s handwriting," Luca said softly. "You took a marker, and you crossed out Isabella’s memory to write your nephew's name in a glove that belongs to my son."
"I was trying to be practical!" Vanessa snapped, her sophisticated mask finally slipping. "Daniel needed a glove for the tournament! Caleb’s was already broken in. I thought it would make a wonderful hand-me-down since Caleb won't be playing anymore!"
Caleb let out a small, broken sob.
Instinct took over. I couldn't help it. I stepped forward and placed my hand gently on the little boy’s shoulder. Caleb immediately leaned against my hip, burying his face into my apron.
Vanessa glared at me. "Get your hands off my future stepson, Rachel. You are a maid. Act like one."
Luca didn’t even raise his voice. "Rachel, keep your hand exactly where it is."
Vanessa flinched.
"The engagement dinner is over," Luca announced, not looking at his guests. "Everyone, please see yourselves out. Robert, stay."
The guests scrambled to leave. Chairs scraped. Whispers filled the room as Chicago’s elite hurried toward the coat check. Within three minutes, the grand dining room was empty except for Luca, Caleb, Robert, Vanessa, and me.
Vanessa crossed her arms, trying to regain her composure. "Luca, darling, you are making a massive scene over a piece of cowhide. I will buy Caleb a hundred new gloves tomorrow."
"You will never buy him anything," Luca said. He placed the defaced glove gently on the table. "Because you are packing your bags tonight."
Vanessa went completely pale. "You’re breaking our engagement? Over a baseball team?"
"I am breaking our engagement because you tried to erase my son." Luca stepped toward her. "I am a man who protects his blood. You thought I would be too busy with my business to notice you dismantling his childhood."
Vanessa’s eyes flashed with sudden, desperate anger.
"You can't kick me out, Luca," she hissed, her voice turning venomous. "You need the Bellini family. You need my father’s political connections to rezone the downtown harbor project."
"I am Luca Moretti," he whispered. "I don't need anyone."
"Is that right?" Vanessa sneered. She reached into her expensive beaded clutch. "Then perhaps you should explain this."
She pulled out a small, silver velvet box and slammed it onto the mahogany table.
May you like
It popped open on impact.
Inside the box wasn't a piece of jewelry. It was a folded, yellowed document that made Luca step backward, his face draining of color as a heavy silence swallowed the room.
