Chapter 5 - THE BABY IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
“Who is that baby?”
Luca held the photograph so tightly that its edges began to bend.
Mrs. Wilson gently reached toward him.
“Careful, sir.”
He loosened his grip.
Then turned toward Anthony.
“Answer me.”
Anthony looked at the picture.
“A boy named Gabriel.”
Luca frowned.
“Gabriel who?”
Anthony hesitated.
“Gabriel Rossi.”
Vanessa sank into a chair.
I looked from the photograph to Luca.
The baby had dark hair and a small birthmark near his left ear.
Something about the picture felt important.
“Was he Sofia's son?” Luca asked.
Anthony nodded.
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?”
Anthony looked away.
“That's complicated.”
Luca's voice sharpened.
“Stop saying that.”
Vanessa suddenly spoke.
“He disappeared.”
The room became still.
Luca turned toward her.
“What?”
“When he was six months old. Sofia was told he'd been taken by his father.”
“Who was his father?”
Vanessa hesitated.
Then looked at Anthony.
He closed his eyes.
“Matteo Moretti.”
Luca stepped backward.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then he looked at the photograph again.
“My father had a child with my mother's sister?”
Anthony nodded slowly.
“Before he married Isabella.”
Luca stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And my mother knew?”
“Eventually.”
Luca swallowed.
“Did she know before she married him?”
Anthony shook his head.
“No.”
I watched the color drain from Luca's face.
The man who frightened half of Chicago suddenly looked like someone who had lost his footing.
“My father told me he had never met Sofia.”
Anthony lowered his head.
“He lied.”
Luca looked at the photograph.
“So Gabriel was my half brother.”
“Yes.”
“And he disappeared?”
Anthony nodded.
“That's what Sofia was told.”
Luca stared at him.
“Do you believe it?”
Anthony didn't answer.
Vanessa wiped her face.
“This is why I wanted the estate reviewed.”
Luca looked toward her.
“You wanted fourteen million dollars.”
“I wanted the money my mother lost. But I also wanted to know what your father did.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother spent her last years terrified of him.”
Anthony turned sharply.
“Vanessa.”
She shook her head.
“No, Daddy. You don't get to protect him anymore.”
Anthony stared at the table.
Vanessa continued.
“Mother kept a box of old letters in her closet. I found them after she died.”
“What letters?” Luca asked.
“Letters from Isabella.”
Luca stopped moving.
“My mother wrote to Margaret?”
Vanessa nodded.
“They were friends long before they married into these families.”
Mrs. Wilson whispered, “They certainly were.”
Luca turned.
“You knew?”
“I knew they were close as girls. They had a falling-out years later.”
“Over what?”
Mrs. Wilson looked toward Anthony.
“I was never told.”
Vanessa opened her handbag.
She removed a folded envelope.
“I brought this tonight because I thought Sofia might come.”
She placed it on the table.
Luca opened it carefully.
Inside was an old letter.
Isabella's handwriting.
He read silently.
Then stopped.
“What does it say?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Luca looked up.
For a moment, I thought he'd remind me it wasn't my business.
Instead, he handed me the page.
“Read it.”
My hands shook slightly.
I read aloud.
“Margaret, I know Sofia will never forgive me for staying silent. But Gabriel is alive. Matteo made me promise I would never tell her where he was taken.”
I looked up.
Luca had closed his eyes.
I continued.
“He says he arranged for the boy to be raised somewhere safe. But every year I receive a photograph, and every year I wonder whether silence makes me as guilty as he is.”
My throat tightened.
“Please help me find a way to tell Sofia.”
No one spoke.
Then I read the final line.
“Gabriel deserves to know his mother never abandoned him.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Luca took the letter back.
“My mother knew the boy was alive.”
Anthony nodded.
“Yes.”
“And she wanted to tell Sofia.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't she?”
Anthony rubbed his forehead.
“Because Matteo threatened to ruin anyone who helped.”
Luca stared at him.
“Ruin them how?”
Anthony glanced at Vanessa.
“He controlled the money behind several businesses. Mine included.”
Vanessa whispered, “That's why Mother lost everything.”
Luca looked at the letter again.
“But that doesn't explain why my mother died.”
“No,” Anthony said. “It doesn't.”
Then Mrs. Wilson spoke.
“There was a man who used to visit Isabella.”
Everyone turned.
She looked uncomfortable.
“I didn't know who he was. He always came through the garden entrance.”
“When?” Luca asked.
“The last few months of her life.”
“What did he want?”
“He brought photographs.”
Luca frowned.
“Of Gabriel?”
“I believe so.”
Vanessa leaned forward.
“Did you ever see his face?”
Mrs. Wilson nodded.
“He had a scar near his chin.”
Luca looked toward Daniel.
“Find every visitor log from that summer.”
Daniel nodded.
But Mrs. Wilson wasn't finished.
“The man also brought a small wooden box.”
“What was inside?” Luca asked.
“I never saw.”
She looked toward the Bible.
“But Isabella cried every time she opened it.”
I remembered the old cedar chest upstairs.
The preserved wedding dress.
The pearl buttons.
And the tiny wooden box I'd seen tucked into its lower drawer weeks earlier.
“Mr. Moretti?”
He turned.
“There may be a box in your mother's cedar chest.”
Mrs. Wilson looked startled.
“What kind of box?”
“Walnut. About the size of a jewelry case.”
Luca stood.
“Where?”
“In the drawer beneath the dress.”
Vanessa looked toward the stairs.
Her face suddenly changed.
“Don't.”
Everyone turned.
She swallowed.
“Please, Luca. Not that box.”
He stared at her.
“You've seen it?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Yes.”
“What's inside?”
She began shaking.
“Something I should have told you before tonight.”
Luca's voice lowered.
“Tell me now.”
Vanessa looked toward Anthony.
Then whispered:
“A childhood photograph of the man Sofia believes is Gabriel.”
Luca frowned.
“Who?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“A man who has been sitting at your dinner table for years.”
The room became completely silent.
Then she looked directly at Daniel.
May you like
And said:
“Your security chief.”
