Chapter 4 - THE BLUE BOOK OF BUTTERFLIES
Luca held out his hand.
“The notebook, Vanessa.”
For several seconds, she didn't move.
Then she placed it in his palm.
The blue cover was worn at the corners, and tiny silver butterflies decorated the front.
He recognized Caroline's handwriting on the first page.
For the children who can't speak for themselves.
Luca's throat tightened.
Caroline had always said that charitable work wasn't about having your name engraved on buildings.
It was about helping someone who might never know yours.
He opened the notebook.
Pages of dates, initials, and figures filled the paper.
But among the numbers were names.
Children's names.
Beside each one was a medical expense.
Surgery.
Physical therapy.
Specialized transportation.
Then, beginning six months before Caroline died, another column appeared.
The entries were much larger.
$85,000.
$120,000.
$240,000.
Each payment was marked with the same initials.
A.M.
Luca looked up.
“Antonio Moretti?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Richard told me Antonio needed medical care.”
“Antonio was supposed to be dead.”
“I know that now.”
Luca stared at her.
“When did you find out?”
Vanessa looked toward Claire, who remained near the library door.
“Last year.”
“You told me you didn't know Caroline.”
“I lied.”
The admission was quiet.
Almost exhausted.
Luca waited.
Vanessa sat on the edge of the leather couch.
“My uncle introduced me to Caroline at a charity luncheon. I was helping organize an auction for the foundation.”
“When?”
“Two months before the accident.”
“Why did you pretend otherwise?”
“Because Richard told me the meeting was confidential.”
Luca shook his head.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to hate me.”
Claire watched Vanessa carefully.
The woman who'd ordered her to kneel before forty-eight guests now seemed smaller in the dim library.
But fear didn't erase cruelty.
And regret didn't explain why she'd frightened Olivia.
Luca turned another page.
A handwritten note ran across the bottom.
Ask why the children's accounts are being used to pay for a man who has no medical file.
He looked at Vanessa.
“Did you know this money was being taken from sick children?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“No.”
“Then why did you try to destroy the photographs?”
“Because I was in them.”
“That's not an answer.”
She covered her face.
“Because Richard told me Caroline died after accusing me of helping him steal the money.”
“Were you helping him?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“I signed forms.”
“How many?”
“I don't know.”
Luca stared.
“You signed financial documents without knowing what they were?”
“My younger sister needed treatment. Richard arranged everything. When he asked me to help the foundation, I thought I was paying him back.”
Luca's expression softened for only a moment.
Then hardened again.
“You could have come to me.”
Vanessa looked up.
“Would you have believed me?”
“That's no excuse for what you did to my daughter.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I know.”
Claire finally spoke.
“Mrs. Bellini, you told Olivia her mother wanted to abandon her.”
Vanessa flinched.
“Claire, please.”
“She believed you.”
Vanessa looked toward the floor.
“I wanted her to stop searching.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard told me if Luca reopened the investigation, people would lose everything.”
Claire took a step closer.
“A nine-year-old girl spent two years believing her mother didn't love her because you were afraid of losing your place in this family.”
Vanessa began crying.
Claire didn't stop.
“And tonight, you tried to make me apologize on my knees for helping her.”
Luca looked at Claire.
There was something different in his expression now.
Not merely gratitude.
Recognition.
He had allowed Vanessa to establish rules in his home without seeing what those rules were doing to the people who lived there.
“Claire is right,” he said.
Vanessa looked at him desperately.
“Luca, I loved you.”
He took a long breath.
“Perhaps you did. But you used my daughter's grief to protect yourself.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Luca removed the engagement ring from the velvet ring box on Caroline's desk.
He had intended to give Vanessa a matching wedding band in six weeks.
Now he closed the box.
“The engagement is over.”
Vanessa looked as though she'd been struck.
“Luca—”
“I won't marry someone Olivia is afraid to question.”
She stood slowly.
For one moment, Claire thought Vanessa might finally tell them everything.
Instead, she reached into her purse and removed a folded photograph.
“I didn't know Caroline had this.”
Luca took it.
The image showed Antonio Moretti sitting in a hospital garden.
He was considerably older than in the restaurant photograph.
Beside him stood a woman in a nurse's uniform.
Behind them was a brick building with a green awning.
Luca turned the photograph over.
On the back was an address outside Chicago.
And a date.
February 2024.
One month before Caroline's death.
“Where is this?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Richard sent me there once with an envelope.”
“What was inside?”
“Cash and medical forms.”
Luca looked at the address again.
“Did you meet Antonio?”
“No. A woman took the envelope at the front desk.”
“Then how do you know he was there?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Because I saw him through a window.”
Luca stared at her.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“I was afraid.”
Luca closed the notebook.
“You need to leave tonight.”
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“Where am I supposed to go?”
“To your father's house. My security team will arrange transportation.”
She looked toward Claire.
For the first time, her voice held no superiority.
“I'm sorry about dinner.”
Claire met her eyes.
“Olivia is the person who needs to hear that.”
Vanessa nodded.
But Luca stopped her before she reached the door.
“One more question.”
She turned.
“Did Richard arrange Caroline's accident?”
Vanessa looked genuinely horrified.
“I don't know.”
“Do you suspect he did?”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Luca's face went still.
“Why?”
“Because the morning after Caroline died, Richard came to our house carrying her coat.”
Claire frowned.
“Her cream-colored coat?”
Vanessa nodded.
“The one in the photograph.”
Luca stepped closer.
“What did he do with it?”
“He asked my father to burn it.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Luca took the photograph from the notebook and studied Caroline's coat.
Its collar was folded neatly.
A small brooch shaped like a silver butterfly was attached near the shoulder.
Luca remembered that brooch.
He'd given it to Caroline on their fifth wedding anniversary.
“She was wearing that when she died,” he whispered.
Vanessa shook her head.
“No. She wasn't.”
Luca looked up.
“The hospital returned her personal belongings. The coat wasn't included.”
“Because Richard had it.”
“What happened to it?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“My father wouldn't burn it. He said destroying a dead woman's belongings was wrong.”
“Where is it now?”
“He gave it back to Richard.”
Luca turned toward Claire.
“Stay with Olivia.”
Then he walked toward the library doors.
Vanessa caught his sleeve.
“Luca, don't confront Richard alone.”
He stopped.
For the first time that evening, Vanessa looked genuinely concerned for him rather than herself.
“Richard has spent years protecting something,” she whispered. “And I don't think he's protecting money.”
Luca removed her hand.
“Then I'll find out what.”
When he reached the dining room, most of the guests had departed under Mrs. Wilson's supervision.
Richard remained with two security guards.
Frank stood near the fireplace.
Gabriel sat at the table, reviewing photographs.
Luca placed the blue notebook in front of Richard.
“Where is Caroline's coat?”
Richard's face changed.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Vanessa told me you took it from the hospital.”
Richard stared at the notebook.
Then at Luca.
“Your wife was going to destroy this family.”
Luca's voice remained steady.
“She was trying to protect children.”
Richard gave a bitter laugh.
“That's what she believed.”
Frank stepped forward.
“Richard, enough.”
But Richard wasn't looking at him.
He was staring at the final page of the blue notebook.
Luca followed his gaze.
The page had been folded beneath the back cover.
He opened it.
There was a photograph taped inside.
A little girl in a hospital bed.
Dark hair.
A white blanket.
An oxygen tube beneath her nose.
Luca frowned.
“Who is this?”
Richard lowered his head.
“Her name is Sophie.”
Luca looked at the date beneath the photograph.
March 2024.
Then at the handwritten words below it.
Patient 117. Special authorization.
His stomach tightened.
“Why did Caroline have this?”
Richard said nothing.
Luca studied the child's face.
Something about the eyes looked familiar.
Then he turned the notebook toward Frank.
“Do you recognize her?”
Frank's expression changed.
He gripped the edge of the table.
“Dear God.”
Luca stared at him.
“Frank?”
May you like
The older man slowly raised his head.
“LUCA, THAT'S ANTONIO MORETTI'S GRANDDAUGHTER. AND SHE WAS THE REASON YOUR WIFE REFUSED TO STOP INVESTIGATING.”
