Chapter 2 - THE WATCH THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BURIED
“Your father signed the order, Theo. But that isn't the worst thing your uncle has hidden from you.”
My grandmother's words silenced the room.
Theo stood beside me, staring at the photograph of his father.
For thirty-six years, he had believed he came from a family that valued loyalty above everything.
Now he was discovering what that loyalty had cost.
“Grandma Ruth,” I whispered, “are you absolutely certain?”
My eighty-one-year-old grandmother looked at me with eyes full of sadness.
“I wish I weren't.”
Rocco Caruso stepped forward.
“That's enough. This party is over.”
“No,” Theo said.
His uncle stopped.
Theo's voice was trembling, but he didn't move.
“You brought another woman to my fiancée's bridal shower. You humiliated Harper in front of everyone. And now I'm finding out my father may have been involved in killing innocent people.”
Rocco's jaw tightened.
“Your father made decisions you wouldn't understand.”
“Then explain them.”
“Not here.”
“Especially here.”
Forty-seven guests watched silently.
Bianca, or Nina Bell, stood beside the ruined champagne glass.
My best friend, Mallory, quietly moved the broken pieces away from her shoes.
Nina barely noticed.
She was staring at my grandmother.
“I thought you'd forgotten me,” she whispered.
Grandma approached her.
“How could I forget a girl who waited outside the hospital for three nights because nobody would tell her where her mother was?”
Nina covered her face.
Something shifted inside me.
This wasn't a woman trying to steal my fiancé.
This was someone who had spent twenty-two years running from a memory.
Rocco grabbed Nina's elbow.
“We're leaving.”
She pulled away.
“Please don't touch me.”
Theo stepped between them.
“Uncle Rocco, take your men and go.”
For the first time, Rocco seemed uncertain.
Then he looked directly at me.
“Harper, you have no idea what you're getting involved in.”
“Maybe not,” I answered. “But I know what you did today.”
His expression hardened.
“You think marrying Theodore makes you part of this family?”
“No. Loving him does.”
Theo reached for my hand.
Rocco glanced at our joined fingers.
“Love doesn't pay restaurant mortgages.”
Theo went still.
I turned toward him.
“What does that mean?”
Rocco smiled without warmth.
“Theodore's restaurant operates in a building I own. His lease comes up for renewal in two months.”
Theo had told me his uncle helped him get started.
He had never mentioned that Rocco controlled the building.
“You wouldn't,” Theo said.
“I've done considerably more difficult things for this family.”
Then Rocco looked at Nina.
“Come.”
She didn't move.
Instead, she approached me.
“I didn't want to wear that sash,” she whispered.
“I believe you.”
“He told me I only needed to stand there. That once Theo saw me, everything would make sense.”
“Why would he think that?”
Her eyes filled again.
“Because he knows what happened after I testified.”
Before I could ask another question, Rocco's voice cracked across the room.
“Nina.”
Hearing him use her real name changed everything.
He had known exactly who she was.
Grandma understood it too.
“You brought her here knowing she was Nina Bell?”
Rocco said nothing.
“After everything that happened to that girl?”
“I kept her alive,” he snapped.
The words landed like a stone.
Nina stared at him.
“You kept me quiet.”
Rocco looked away.
For one brief moment, something resembling shame crossed his face.
Then he adjusted his cuff.
And Theo made a strange sound.
Not quite a gasp.
Not quite a word.
He was staring at his uncle's wrist.
“Where did you get that?”
Rocco looked down.
A silver wristwatch rested beneath his charcoal sleeve.
Its face was scratched near the number nine.
Theo released my hand.
“My dad had a watch exactly like that.”
Rocco pulled his sleeve down.
“Lots of men owned watches like this.”
Theo stepped closer.
“No. Not with that scratch.”
His voice became almost childlike.
“When I was seven, Dad let me wear it while we fixed my bicycle. I dropped it on the driveway. He told me the scratch gave it character.”
Rocco said nothing.
Theo's eyes filled.
“After the fire, Mom told me they buried his watch with him.”
Grandma pressed a hand to her chest.
Rocco backed toward the doorway.
But Theo followed.
“Uncle Rocco.”
May you like
His voice broke.
“Why are you wearing the watch my mother said was buried with my father?”
