Chapter 7 - THE DEBT BEHIND THE DINNER
“A debt in your name?”
Luca looked at Vanessa across the dining table.
She stood beside the chair where she'd sat during their engagement dinner.
For a moment, she looked as though she might leave.
Then she slowly pulled out the chair.
“I was going to repay everything.”
Luca didn't raise his voice.
“That wasn't my question.”
Vanessa sat.
Her hands were trembling.
I'd spent months seeing her perfectly dressed and perfectly confident.
Watching her struggle to speak felt strange.
I didn't suddenly forgive her.
But I was beginning to understand that the woman who'd made my life miserable had been hiding troubles of her own.
“The hotel was supposed to pay for the reception,” she said.
“My father promised.”
Luca nodded.
“I remember.”
“He couldn't afford it anymore.”
Teresa frowned.
“Then why didn't you simply change the arrangements?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Because my father told everyone he was hosting the most extravagant wedding Chicago had seen in years.”
“That doesn't answer my question,” Teresa said.
Vanessa looked at her.
“You've never had to stand beside a father who makes promises he can't keep and then expects you to protect his reputation.”
Teresa's expression changed.
“No,” she said quietly. “But I've stood beside a husband who was afraid he couldn't pay the rent.”
Vanessa looked away.
Luca leaned forward.
“What was the personal debt?”
“A cancellation fee.”
“For what?”
“The original reception arrangements. When the hotel couldn't cover the costs, I moved the event to your estate. The contracts had already been signed in my name.”
I remembered the preparations.
The flowers.
The musicians.
The imported champagne.
Vanessa had insisted everything look flawless.
Now I understood why.
She'd been trying to hide the difference between the life her family claimed to have and the life they could actually afford.
Luca rubbed his forehead.
“You could have told me.”
She looked up.
“And heard you offer to pay?”
“Yes.”
“That would have been humiliating.”
The words settled heavily over the room.
I looked at her.
“More humiliating than making me beg for my baby's milk?”
Her eyes flickered.
“Sarah—”
“You thought asking your fiancé for help was humiliating. So you made sure I couldn't ask anybody for help either.”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
For once, I didn't lower my eyes.
“My son was in intensive care. I was terrified every day. And you knew that.”
Her expression softened briefly.
“I didn't understand how serious it was.”
“You knew enough to call his hospital.”
Luca glanced toward me.
Then back at Vanessa.
“That's what I still don't understand,” he said.
“Why interfere with Sarah's hospital calls? The financial transfers don't explain that.”
Vanessa looked toward the window.
“I needed the dinner to go smoothly.”
“Why did that require Sarah to stay?”
“Because we were short on staff.”
Mrs. Carter spoke from the doorway.
“We weren't short on staff, Miss Bellini.”
Everyone turned.
She stepped inside.
“I arranged additional servers that afternoon. Two were sent home because you said the dinner budget couldn't cover them.”
Vanessa stiffened.
“That was my decision.”
“Yes,” Mrs. Carter replied. “And you replaced them with Sarah, even though her shift was supposed to end at seven.”
I remembered how desperately I'd watched the clock.
All those minutes slipping away.
Owen waiting at the hospital.
Three bottles cooling in my bag.
I had thought the extra hours were necessary.
Now I knew they weren't.
“Why?” I asked Vanessa.
She pressed her lips together.
“Because I needed people I could depend on.”
I shook my head.
“No. You needed someone who couldn't afford to say no.”
Her face crumpled for a moment.
Then she straightened.
“I wasn't trying to keep you from your child forever.”
“Only when it was convenient,” I said.
Silence followed.
Luca finally spoke.
“Sarah deserves a direct answer about the hospital.”
Vanessa twisted the ringless finger of her left hand.
“I called because I thought the nurses would keep interrupting the dinner.”
“Did they tell you Owen was having trouble?” I asked.
She hesitated.
“They said there was an important update.”
My chest tightened.
“An important update?”
She nodded.
“I didn't know what it was.”
“But you told them not to call me.”
“I told them you were unavailable.”
I stared at her.
For weeks, I'd worried that I wasn't doing enough for Owen.
Meanwhile, someone had decided an engagement dinner mattered more than finding out whether he was safe.
Teresa slowly stood.
“Vanessa, you grew up with every advantage my son didn't have.”
Vanessa lowered her head.
“But you've become so afraid of appearing needy that you can't bear seeing need in anyone else.”
Luca looked at his mother.
Neither spoke for a moment.
Then he faced Vanessa.
“The engagement is over. You can collect your belongings with Daniel present. Helen will arrange repayment of the money separately.”
Vanessa nodded stiffly.
She didn't argue.
I thought the conversation was finished.
But Mrs. Carter remained standing near the doorway.
Something in her expression bothered me.
“Mrs. Carter?” I asked.
She looked up.
“Is there something else?”
Her hands tightened around the folded schedule she was holding.
“Sarah, there's something about your leave I haven't told you.”
My stomach dropped.
She looked toward Luca.
“Vanessa didn't simply tell me Sarah wanted to return early.”
Vanessa went pale.
Mrs. Carter continued.
“She instructed me to mark Sarah's remaining paid leave as declined.”
Luca frowned.
“And you did?”
Mrs. Carter began crying.
“Yes.”
I stared at her.
She looked directly at me.
“But there's something worse, sweetheart.”
My fingers went cold.
“What?”
May you like
She swallowed.
“Vanessa told me to change your schedule before you ever asked to come back.”
