Chapter 2 - THE NAME MY MOTHER NEVER SPOKE
“Ask Sarah who her father was, Luca.”
Richard Bellini's words hung over the dining table.
I felt thirty-two pairs of eyes turn toward me.
“I don't know who my father was,” I said.
Richard gave a tired, humorless smile.
“That's what Thomas wanted you to believe.”
Luca moved closer to me.
“Richard, be careful what you say next.”
“Your father should have been careful twenty-two years ago.”
Vanessa gripped the edge of her chair.
“Uncle Richard, stop.”
But Richard wasn't looking at her.
He was looking at the little gold locket around my neck.
“Did Thomas ever tell you where that came from, Sarah?”
“My mother gave it to me.”
“Did she tell you who gave it to her?”
I shook my head.
Richard leaned back.
“Anthony Moretti.”
Luca's expression changed.
“My father gave Isabella that necklace?”
“He gave her considerably more than a necklace.”
I instinctively touched the locket.
For years, I'd believed it was the only thing my mother had owned that was worth keeping.
Suddenly, it felt unfamiliar.
Luca turned toward Richard.
“Are you saying my father had a relationship with Isabella?”
Richard hesitated.
“I'm saying Anthony protected her when protecting her threatened everything he'd built.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
“No,” Richard admitted. “It doesn't.”
Daniel tugged at my sleeve.
“Mommy, can we go home?”
His hearing aid had begun making the faint whistling sound it made when he was overwhelmed.
I crouched beside him.
“Soon, sweetheart.”
Vanessa stood.
“This is exactly why I didn't want that child here. Look at what she's doing to him.”
Something inside me hardened.
“Don't talk about my son.”
She stared at me.
“Excuse me?”
“You've said enough about Daniel tonight.”
Vanessa's face flushed.
“Luca, are you going to allow an employee to speak to me like that?”
Luca didn't even look at her.
“Sarah is right.”
The silence that followed felt heavier than the first.
He turned toward his security chief, a tall man named Gabriel Russo.
“Take Daniel into the family sitting room. Have Mrs. Alvarez bring him something to eat.”
Daniel tightened his grip on my hand.
“No, Mommy.”
Luca immediately knelt.
“Your mom can come with you, buddy.”
Then he looked up at me.
“We'll continue this somewhere private.”
Richard pushed back his chair.
“I'm leaving.”
Gabriel stepped toward the doorway.
“Mr. Moretti asked everyone to remain.”
Richard looked almost amused.
“Your father made the same mistake, Luca. He thought keeping everyone in one room meant he knew who his enemies were.”
Luca approached him.
“My father disappeared the night you threatened him on that recording.”
Richard's amusement vanished.
“That tape doesn't tell you everything.”
“Then tell me what it leaves out.”
Richard studied my face.
Finally, he said something that made my blood run cold.
“Ask Sarah what happened to her mother.”
I stared at him.
“She died in a car accident.”
“Who told you that?”
“My grandfather.”
Richard slowly shook his head.
“Thomas was a better man than I ever was. But he lied to protect you.”
I couldn't speak.
Luca noticed my expression.
“Sarah?”
“My mother died when I was six,” I whispered. “Grandpa said her car went off a bridge during a storm.”
Richard looked toward the cassette player.
“Your mother's car was never found.”
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“That isn't true.”
“Ask the police in Ohio.”
Luca turned toward Gabriel.
“Have someone verify Isabella Bennett's death record.”
Gabriel nodded.
Richard suddenly looked frightened.
Not because Luca had ordered an investigation.
Because of something else.
“You shouldn't use the old Moretti security channels,” Richard said.
Luca narrowed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because I don't know who still answers them.”
For the first time, I wondered whether Richard was afraid of someone other than Luca.
Vanessa approached him.
“Uncle Richard, please tell them enough to end this.”
Richard looked at her.
“You already know what happens when people start asking questions.”
Her eyes filled.
I had no sympathy for the woman who'd humiliated my child.
But I recognized genuine fear.
And that troubled me.
Luca noticed it too.
He took the cassette from the recorder and placed it in his inside jacket pocket.
“This recording stays with me.”
Richard shook his head.
“Then you've just made yourself a target.”
Luca's expression remained calm.
“I've been a target since I was thirteen.”
He turned to me.
“Sarah, did your grandfather leave anything besides the tapes?”
“A few boxes. Old clothes. Photographs.”
“Anything unusual?”
I almost said no.
Then I remembered a small brown envelope.
Grandpa had kept it beneath the lining of his wooden dresser.
After his funeral, I'd found it while sorting through his things.
Inside was an old train ticket and a photograph of three people standing outside a church.
My mother.
My grandfather.
And a man whose face had been carefully cut out.
“There was a photograph,” I said.
Richard went still.
“What photograph?”
I described it.
The longer I spoke, the paler he became.
Luca watched him closely.
“Where is it?”
“At home.”
“Do you remember the church?”
“No. But there's writing on the back.”
“What does it say?”
I closed my eyes, trying to remember.
“Saint Catherine's. June 14, 2004.”
Richard gripped the table.
“That's impossible.”
Luca turned.
“Why?”
Richard didn't answer.
Vanessa whispered, “Because that's the date.”
Richard snapped his head toward her.
“Vanessa.”
She covered her mouth.
Luca stepped closer.
“What date?”
Nobody answered.
Then Gabriel returned from the hallway.
“Mr. Moretti, I contacted the county records office through an independent investigator.”
Luca looked at him.
“And?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“There is a death certificate for Isabella Bennett.”
Relief nearly buckled my knees.
Then Gabriel continued.
“But no corresponding accident report, hospital record, or identification record has been located.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” Luca said quietly, “we don't yet know what happened to your mother.”
Richard lowered his head.
I turned toward him.
“You know, don't you?”
He looked at me with an expression I couldn't understand.
Regret.
Fear.
And something that almost resembled affection.
“Your grandfather made me promise never to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Richard glanced toward Daniel, who stood near the doorway holding Mrs. Alvarez's hand.
Then he looked back at me.
“Isabella was not Anthony Moretti's mistress, Sarah.”
Luca went completely still.
Richard swallowed.
“She was his daughter.”
I couldn't breathe.
Luca stared at him.
“My father had a daughter?”
Richard nodded.
“A daughter he kept hidden for nineteen years.”
Luca slowly turned toward me.
If Richard was telling the truth, Isabella had been Luca's sister.
My mother.
Which meant the powerful man standing beside me was my uncle.
Before I could speak, Richard reached into his jacket and removed a worn silver pocket watch.
On its back were two engraved initials.
A.M.
Luca recognized it immediately.
“That's my father's watch.”
Richard opened the cover.
Inside was a tiny photograph of my mother holding a newborn baby.
Me.
Beneath it were four words scratched into the silver.
Keep Sarah from Victor.
Luca looked up.
“Who is Victor?”
Richard's face emptied of color.
May you like
And Vanessa whispered:
“My father.”
