Chapter 6
Avice stopped asking about the baby.
That was how Julian knew she understood more than adults wanted to believe.
She asked different questions instead.
“Is Vanessa sick?”
“No.”
“Is Aunt Diane mad at me?”
Julian sat beside her on the living-room rug.
“No.”
Avice looked down at her blocks.
“She pulled my chair.”
“I know.”
“Because I told about the tummy?”
Julian hesitated.
That question hurt.
“I don't know.”
Avice nodded as though she accepted the answer.
Then she quietly moved her blocks farther from him.
Julian called Cesare afterward.
“I should have seen it.”
“You should have asked more questions.”
“I believed her.”
“So did I.”
Julian was silent.
Cesare rarely admitted mistakes to his son.
This time he did.
At the museum, another problem was emerging.
Ethan Cole had been negotiating a major security contract with the Lombardi Foundation.
His company wanted responsibility for overnight protection at the marine museum and two storage facilities.
Julian had refused to approve the deal three months earlier.
The price was too high.
The performance history was weak.
Ethan had reacted badly.
Cesare had forgotten about the argument until the museum director showed him the meeting notes.
Diane had supported Ethan.
Strongly.
“She said rejecting him would create unnecessary tension once Vanessa joined the family,” the director explained.
Cesare looked up.
“When did she say that?”
“Two weeks after Vanessa announced the pregnancy.”
Now the fake baby had touched something outside Julian’s relationship.
Ethan’s company stood to earn nearly nine hundred thousand dollars annually if the contract was approved.
Julian had delayed the vote twice.
The third vote had been scheduled for Monday.
Three days after the gala.
Cesare called Julian.
“Did Vanessa ever talk to you about Ethan’s contract?”
A pause.
“Constantly.”
“What did she say?”
“That Ethan needed one chance. That after the baby came, she wanted everyone getting along.”
“Did Diane say anything?”
Another pause.
“She said I should stop treating Ethan like an outsider.”
Cesare looked through the aquarium glass.
The false pregnancy had not simply been keeping Vanessa attached to Julian.
It had been used whenever anyone wanted Julian to make a decision.
Marriage.
Family.
Business.
Guilt.
All of it wrapped around a baby that did not exist.
May you like
But Cesare still did not know whether Vanessa had invented the scheme alone and everyone else had exploited it afterward—
or whether someone had designed it for her.
