Chapter 3
Vanessa admitted the pregnancy was fake before midnight.
She did not admit anything else.
She sat at the end of Cesare’s long conference table while Julian stood near the aquarium window refusing to look at her.
“I thought he was going to leave me.”
Julian finally turned.
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“Every time we talked about marriage, you said Avice needed more time.”
“Because her mother died.”
The room went silent.
Avice’s mother, Caroline, had died in a car accident eighteen months earlier.
Julian had spent the year after her death barely functioning outside work.
Vanessa entered his life eight months later.
Cesare had never objected.
She seemed patient with Avice.
That memory now embarrassed him.
Vanessa continued.
“I thought if there was a baby, Julian would stop being afraid to move forward.”
Julian stared at her.
“So you invented one.”
“I panicked.”
“For five months?”
Vanessa looked down.
Cesare leaned back.
“A panic lasts five minutes. This required clothing, appointments, photographs, dates, and explanations.”
Diane interrupted.
“She made an emotional mistake.”
Cesare looked toward her.
“You seem unusually prepared to explain it.”
Diane stiffened.
“I’m trying to prevent you from destroying Julian’s life because Vanessa behaved stupidly.”
Julian laughed without humor.
“My life?”
He pointed toward the false belly.
“She made me talk to Avice about becoming a big sister.”
Vanessa started crying again.
“I loved you.”
“Then why didn’t you trust me enough to tell the truth?”
Ethan had remained silent until then.
He leaned against the wall with an ice pack pressed against his cheek.
“Because none of you make anything easy.”
Cesare looked at him.
“What exactly did we make difficult?”
Ethan lowered the ice pack.
“You people investigate everyone who comes near this family.”
“Apparently not enough.”
Ethan’s mouth tightened.
Julian sat down.
He looked suddenly exhausted.
“For months she wouldn’t let me attend an appointment.”
Vanessa said she had a private specialist.
She claimed the doctor preferred limited visitors.
She showed Julian ultrasound images on her phone.
Whenever Julian offered to drive her, Diane told him Vanessa needed privacy and rest.
Cesare looked toward his sister.
“You told him that?”
Diane crossed her arms.
“She asked me to.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed her.”
Cesare watched Diane carefully.
No hesitation.
No confusion.
A perfect answer.
Too perfect.
Then Julian remembered something.
“The first ultrasound.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“You said Diane went with you.”
Vanessa stopped crying.
Diane’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.
Cesare noticed.
Julian did too.
“Did she?”
May you like
Vanessa said nothing.
And for the first time that evening, Diane looked genuinely afraid.
