Chapter 2
Vanessa recovered first.
Of course she did.
She picked up her wineglass from a nearby table.
Her hand was steady.
“A bracelet.”
She took a sip.
“That’s your grand revelation?”
Alessandra watched her.
Vanessa smiled.
“You disappear for years, come back with a child, put Luca’s old jewelry on him, and suddenly we’re all supposed to gasp?”
Tobin looked at his wrist.
“It’s mine.”
Vanessa laughed.
“No, sweetheart.”
Her voice became sweeter in the ugliest way.
“It belonged to somebody important.”
She glanced at Alessandra.
“Your mother just likes borrowing things from families she couldn’t stay inside.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“Stop speaking to him.”
Vanessa turned.
“Why?”
A smile.
“Worried he’ll ask better questions than you did?”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Alessandra noticed.
That wound had history.
Ethan stepped beside his sister.
“You want a mystery? Fine.”
He pointed toward Tobin.
“Ask Alessandra who his father is.”
The room quieted.
Tobin looked up.
Alessandra rested one hand on his shoulder.
“Not here.”
Ethan smiled wider.
“There.”
He looked toward the capos.
“Five years later and she still runs when the question gets difficult.”
Alessandra looked at him.
“I didn’t run.”
“No?”
His tone dripped contempt.
“Luca threw you out and you vanished.”
Luca’s eyes flashed.
“I never threw her out.”
Alessandra turned toward him.
A long silence.
Luca realized too late that his correction had opened something.
“No?”
Her voice was quiet.
He inhaled.
“You left.”
“You stood in our bedroom and told me there was no point staying married to a woman who could never give you a family.”
Luca’s face tightened.
Vanessa leaned back.
Almost pleased.
Alessandra continued.
“You removed your ring.”
Another pause.
“And then you asked how long I needed to pack.”
Nobody spoke.
Tobin pressed the paper lion against his chest.
Luca looked away first.
That was answer enough.
Vanessa smiled at Alessandra.
“There. See?”
Her voice was vicious.
“He didn’t throw you out.”
“He gave you time to pack.”
One capo muttered something under his breath.
Vanessa’s eyes snapped toward him.
“What?”
The man remained standing.
“You have something to say?”
He looked directly at her.
“No, ma’am.”
Vanessa smirked.
“Good.”
Alessandra noticed she still believed the room belonged to her.
That confidence would matter later.
Luca looked at the bracelet.
“How did you get it?”
“I told you.”
“From the hospital blanket?”
“Yes.”
“Which hospital?”
Alessandra’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because somebody had access.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please.”
Luca ignored her.
Alessandra studied him.
He sounded genuinely confused.
That changed something.
Not forgiveness.
Only direction.
“The child was born outside Chicago.”
Ethan’s mouth tightened.
Luca turned.
“You knew that?”
Ethan shrugged.
“I knew she had a kid.”
“When?”
Silence.
Vanessa interrupted.
“Everyone knew eventually.”
Luca looked at her.
“When?”
Her smile weakened.
“Luca.”
“When did you know Tobin existed?”
She put down the wineglass.
“Why does that matter?”
Luca’s eyes hardened.
“When?”
Vanessa sighed theatrically.
“Before his first birthday.”
Alessandra’s gaze sharpened.
Ethan looked at his sister.
Again.
Too fast.
Luca caught it.
“You said you never heard from Alessandra after the divorce.”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“I didn’t.”
“You knew she had a son.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Luca took one step closer.
“How did you know?”
For the first time, Vanessa’s confidence cracked.
Only slightly.
Then she smiled again.
“I had people watching her.”
Tobin’s eyes widened.
Alessandra’s face went cold.
“Why?”
Vanessa looked at her like the question was stupid.
“Because women like you come back.”
Her lips curled.
“Especially once they find something they can put in a tiny suit and point at a billionaire.”
Alessandra’s capos shifted.
Vanessa laughed.
“Oh, don’t glare.”
She pointed at Tobin.
“If he’s not Luca’s, she used him.”
“If he is Luca’s…”
Her eyes moved toward Alessandra.
“…she hid him.”
“Either way, she’s exactly who I said she was.”
Tobin tugged Alessandra’s sleeve.
“Mom?”
She crouched.
“What?”
He whispered:
“She knows my birthday.”
Alessandra became still.
Vanessa’s face changed.
Luca heard.
“What?”
Tobin looked toward Vanessa.
“She said before my birthday.”
His little brow furrowed.
“She told the man on the phone I’d be three on Tuesday.”
The restaurant went silent.
May you like
Vanessa had claimed she only knew Alessandra had a child.
Tobin had just revealed she knew the exact date he was born.
