Chapter 5
Vanessa did not deny it.
She laughed.
Slowly.
Then applauded once.
“Finally.”
Luca stared.
She looked at him.
“What?”
“You want me to pretend I’m ashamed?”
Hale lowered his eyes.
Vanessa walked toward him.
“You took the money.”
Hale flinched.
“You lied.”
Another step.
“You watched Alessandra leave that marriage.”
Her smile turned vicious.
“And now you grow a conscience because she came back wearing a signet ring?”
Alessandra watched Vanessa.
No fear.
No apology.
Exactly what she expected.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“How did you know about the tests?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I knew Ethan.”
Ethan said nothing.
She continued.
“I knew you were unhappy.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I knew you wanted children.”
“Vanessa.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I heard the clinic was testing you too.”
“How?”
A pause.
Then she smiled.
“People talk when you pay them.”
Luca stared.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“You’re a Moretti.”
“Your problem was never fertility.”
“Your problem was weakness.”
His eyes narrowed.
She pointed toward Alessandra.
“You married a woman who was becoming more respected than you.”
Alessandra’s brow lifted slightly.
Luca looked toward her.
Vanessa continued.
“Capos listened when she spoke.”
“Your own father asked her opinion.”
“You hated it.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?”
Vanessa smiled.
“You loved her until the room started noticing her.”
Silence.
That accusation reached somewhere deeper.
Alessandra watched Luca.
He did not answer quickly enough.
Vanessa knew she had hit it.
“So yes.”
She lifted her chin.
“I gave you a simpler problem.”
“Not your ego.”
“Not your insecurity.”
“Her body.”
She looked toward Alessandra.
“And you swallowed it whole.”
Tobin hugged his paper lion.
“Mom?”
Alessandra looked down.
“I’m okay.”
Vanessa snorted.
“No, you’re not.”
Her cruelty sharpened again.
“You built an empire because one man stopped wanting you.”
Alessandra’s eyes returned to her.
“No.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Then why come back?”
“To show him what he lost?”
“To put your little boy in his face?”
Alessandra stepped closer.
“No.”
Her voice was calm.
“I came because you invited me.”
Vanessa froze.
Luca looked between them.
“What?”
Alessandra reached into her jacket.
Not paper.
A black velvet invitation card.
No legal seal.
No paperwork.
Just a handwritten invitation to the restaurant dinner.
Signed:
V.
Vanessa stared.
“I never sent that.”
Alessandra’s eyes narrowed.
“I know.”
The room shifted.
Ethan stopped smiling.
Luca looked at him.
Alessandra continued.
“Whoever sent it knew I would come.”
“Knew Tobin would be with me.”
“And knew you’d insult me before dessert.”
Vanessa turned toward Ethan.
He did not look at her.
That mattered.
Alessandra watched.
“Someone wanted this confrontation.”
Luca’s face hardened.
Ethan shrugged.
“Maybe.”
Vanessa snapped:
“What did you do?”
He looked at his sister.
“Relax.”
Her face changed.
That was the wrong answer.
Ethan smiled.
“I knew Alessandra would come if the invitation looked like yours.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Why?”
Ethan glanced toward the capos behind Alessandra.
Then toward Luca.
“To see who stood up.”
Silence.
Alessandra understood.
The restaurant had become a loyalty test.
Not against her.
Against Luca.
Ethan had wanted to know which Chicago captains would move behind Alessandra once she returned.
Vanessa stared at her brother.
“You used me.”
Ethan laughed.
“You were going to insult her anyway.”
Her eyes hardened.
“That isn’t the point.”
“It is exactly the point.”
His smile became cruel.
“You’re predictable.”
The insult landed.
Then Ethan looked at Luca.
“And now I know something useful.”
Luca’s expression chilled.
“What?”
Ethan nodded toward Alessandra.
“Half your strongest men respect your barren ex-wife more than they respect you.”
The room went silent.
Tobin looked confused.
Alessandra looked at Ethan.
“You keep using that word.”
He smirked.
“What?”
“Barren.”
“Yes.”
His eyes moved toward Tobin.
“Because one kid doesn’t prove whose bed fixed the problem.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Alessandra’s face became still.
Then Hale spoke behind them.
“It does if the child was conceived before the divorce.”
Every person in the restaurant froze.
Luca turned slowly toward Alessandra.
May you like
Tobin was three.
The timeline had just changed.
