Chapter 10
Vanessa did not want the recordings played.
That alone told Alessandra enough.
But Luca went upstairs himself.
He returned carrying a small black recorder.
His face was gray.
Vanessa stood near the window.
Arms folded.
Still arrogant.
But quieter.
Luca placed the recorder on the table.
Alessandra looked at him.
“You listened?”
“Yes.”
Her voice stayed calm.
“And?”
He swallowed.
“You should hear it from me.”
“No.”
Alessandra’s gaze hardened.
“I heard everything else from everybody else.”
She pressed play.
Luca’s younger voice filled the room.
Angry.
Humiliated.
Drunk.
“I spent years waiting for a family she can’t give me.”
A pause.
Then:
“What am I supposed to do? Stay married because she cries well?”
Alessandra’s face did not move.
Tobin was no longer in the room.
One of her capos had taken him to a private dining room with food and cartoons.
She had insisted.
This part did not belong in a child’s ears.
The recording continued.
Ethan’s voice:
“What if the problem isn’t her?”
Luca:
“It is.”
Ethan:
“You sure?”
A long silence.
Then Luca:
“It has to be.”
The room froze.
Alessandra slowly looked at him.
There.
The major truth.
Not Vanessa.
Not Ethan.
Not Hale.
Luca.
He had doubted.
Before the divorce.
Before he humiliated Alessandra.
Before he let everyone blame her.
He had wondered whether the fertility problem might be his.
And consciously rejected the possibility.
The recording continued.
Ethan laughed.
“Why?”
Luca’s voice came quieter.
“Because I can survive a failed marriage.”
A pause.
“I’m not letting every man under my father hear that I can’t make a child.”
Alessandra closed her eyes.
Vanessa watched.
No satisfaction now.
Even she understood how ugly it sounded.
Luca reached toward the recorder.
Alessandra stopped him with one look.
It continued.
Ethan:
“So what do you want me to do if she comes back?”
Luca:
“Keep her away until I know what’s true.”
Another pause.
“And if she says she’s pregnant?”
Luca laughed.
Bitter.
“Then I’ll assume she found a man who could do what I couldn’t.”
Silence.
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Luca looked at Alessandra.
His eyes were wet.
Not enough to matter yet.
“I was angry.”
She stared.
“Don’t.”
His mouth closed.
“I was ashamed.”
“Better.”
Her voice remained quiet.
“You knew there was a possibility.”
“Yes.”
“You let them call me barren.”
His breathing shook.
“Yes.”
“You watched me pack.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think my body destroyed our marriage.”
His eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
Power shifted completely.
This was not a story where Luca had simply been deceived.
The deception worked because it protected something he valued more than Alessandra.
His pride.
His standing.
His masculinity.
Vanessa spoke softly.
“I told you.”
Everyone turned.
Her arrogance returned like armor.
“I didn’t create him.”
Luca looked at her.
“No.”
His voice was low.
“You just found the weakest part.”
Vanessa smiled bitterly.
“And used it.”
She did not apologize.
Alessandra almost respected the honesty more than excuses.
Almost.
Luca turned back.
“I didn’t know about Tobin.”
“No.”
Alessandra’s voice stayed level.
“But you made sure any pregnancy I brought you would look like betrayal.”
He flinched.
“You gave Ethan permission to treat me like a liar before I ever spoke.”
“Yes.”
“And when I came…”
His eyes closed.
“I know.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You don’t.”
Her voice finally sharpened.
“I stood in a parking garage carrying your child while your man told me you would call him proof I cheated.”
Luca’s breathing broke.
“I went home alone.”
“You slept beside the woman who helped make that happen.”
Silence.
“You didn’t lose four years with Tobin because Vanessa was smarter.”
Her eyes hardened.
“You lost them because she knew exactly which lie you wanted to hear.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Hale stepped forward.
“I need to say something.”
Alessandra looked at him.
He swallowed.
“The stored comparison Vanessa ordered…”
Luca’s face tightened.
“What?”
“It was stronger than she said.”
Vanessa froze.
Hale continued.
“It wasn’t merely compatible.”
Alessandra stared.
“Then what was it?”
Hale’s voice trembled.
“Enough that I told Vanessa I was nearly certain Luca was the father.”
Luca looked toward his fiancée.
Vanessa’s jaw hardened.
Hale continued.
“She told me certainty didn’t matter.”
A pause.
“She said Luca had already chosen the answer he could live with.”
May you like
Vanessa had known almost from the beginning.
But Luca had built the lie she needed before she ever used it.
