Chapter 2 - The Name Vanessa Was Afraid to Say

Luca did not ask me to repeat myself.

He only looked down at the photograph again, as if the woman in the nurse’s uniform might change if he stared long enough.

“She said that exactly?” he asked.

I nodded. “She said if you found out who the woman was, you would never marry her.”

The room went so quiet that I could hear the clock on the mantel.

Daniel stood near the study door. He had been there since Luca asked him to bring me downstairs, but until then I had barely looked at him. My shoulder hurt too much, and I was still trying to understand why a photograph had frightened Vanessa more than being caught selling a family portrait.

Then Daniel stepped closer.

“May I see it?”

Luca handed him the photograph.

Daniel was usually difficult to read. He had the stillness of someone who was paid to notice other people before they noticed him. But the moment he looked at the woman, his jaw tightened.

“You know her,” Luca said.

Daniel did not answer immediately.

I saw something else then. A faint brown mark sat beneath Daniel’s left eye, half hidden by the shadow from the lamp.

Not identical to Luca’s. Not exactly.

But close enough that my attention stayed there a second too long.

Daniel noticed.

“What?” he asked.

I looked away. “Nothing.”

Luca did not.

His eyes moved from Daniel’s face to the baby in the photograph.

Then back again.

“Daniel.”

Daniel stared at the picture. “Her name was Marina Hart.”

Luca leaned forward. “Was?”

“She died when I was six.”

My stomach tightened.

Daniel turned the photograph over and studied the date.

“Where did you know her from?” Luca asked.

Daniel’s voice changed.

“She was my mother.”

Nobody spoke.

I looked at the baby again.

The date was thirty-one years earlier.

Daniel was thirty-one.

He had mentioned his age once when Mrs. Carter brought out a cake for the security staff in March.

The baby in Marina Hart’s arms could have been him.

Luca must have made the same calculation.

“Your mother was a nurse?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Did she work for my family?”

Daniel slowly shook his head. “Not that I knew.”

Luca stood.

“Not that you knew?”

“My aunt raised me after my mother died. She didn’t talk about Marina much. I was told she worked private nursing jobs before I was born.”

Luca pointed toward the photograph. “That is my mother standing beside her.”

“I can see that.”

“And that child—”

“Could be anybody.”

The answer came too quickly.

Luca heard it too.

Daniel set the photograph on the desk with more care than necessary.

“I’m not saying it means nothing. I’m saying we don’t know what it means.”

For the first time since I had met Luca Moretti, he looked as if he did not know what question to ask next.

That frightened me more than anger would have.

A knock came at the study door.

Mrs. Carter entered without waiting.

“Mr. Moretti, Miss Bellini is asking where you are.”

Luca looked at the clock.

The engagement dinner was still happening downstairs.

Twenty-eight guests had been left with coffee, dessert, and a bride-to-be who had no idea we had found a photograph she wanted hidden.

“Tell her I’ll be there in five minutes.”

Mrs. Carter’s gaze moved to my sling.

“She should be resting.”

“I will be,” I said.

Mrs. Carter gave me the look she used when she thought someone was being foolish but had decided not to embarrass them.

Then she left.

Luca picked up the photograph.

“Claire, you’re not going home alone tonight.”

I stiffened. “I can drive.”

“With one arm?”

“I drove here with one arm.”

“That does not improve the argument.”

Despite everything, I almost smiled.

Daniel did not.

He was still watching the photograph.

Luca noticed.

“Take Claire home after Dr. Harris clears her. Put someone outside her building.”

I shook my head. “Mr. Moretti, I don’t need security.”

“You were injured after finding something Vanessa wanted concealed.”

“She grabbed me. She didn’t try to kill me.”

“I’m not assuming she did.”

His voice softened.

“I’m also not assuming I understand what she was willing to do.”

That ended my argument.

Luca slid the photograph into a plain envelope and locked it in the center drawer of his desk.

Then he looked at Daniel.

“You stay here.”

Daniel’s expression hardened. “Boss—”

“That wasn’t a punishment.”

“It sounded like one.”

“It was a request from a man who has just learned his head of security may be the baby in a photograph taken beside his mother.”

Daniel looked away.

Luca took a breath.

“I need five minutes to end the dinner. Then we figure out what this is.”

He left.

I remained in the chair because standing hurt.

Daniel remained near the window because apparently sitting hurt him in a different way.

After a while, I said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For noticing the birthmark.”

His hand rose unconsciously toward his face.

Then stopped.

“My mother used to tell me it was lucky.”

“Do you remember her?”

“Pieces.”

He looked toward the dark courtyard.

“Her perfume. A blue coat. The way she cut apples so thin you could see light through them.”

His voice was quieter now.

“Not enough to explain why she was standing beside Isabella Moretti with me in her arms.”

The words settled between us.

With me.

Daniel had said it without qualification.

He knew.

Or at least some part of him did.

Footsteps sounded in the hall.

Vanessa entered before either of us could move.

She had abandoned the beautiful smile from dinner.

Her face was pale with anger.

“What are you doing in here?”

Daniel shifted between her and the desk.

Vanessa noticed.

Her eyes went to my sling.

Then to the drawer where Luca had put the photograph.

“You showed him.”

It was not a question.

“I gave Mr. Moretti something that belonged to his family.”

“You have no idea what you gave him.”

“No,” I said. “That’s why I gave it to him.”

Her mouth tightened.

“You should have minded your own business in the carriage house.”

“My shoulder remembers that you already made that point.”

Daniel looked at her.

“Vanessa.”

She turned toward him.

For half a second, something changed in her face.

Not recognition.

Something closer to grief.

Daniel saw it too.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

She recovered quickly.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

The study door opened again.

Luca walked in.

Vanessa turned.

“There you are. Your guests are leaving because you disappeared during your own engagement dinner.”

“I told them the wedding is postponed.”

The color drained from her face.

“What?”

“Postponed.”

“You cannot humiliate me in front of both families because a housekeeper found an old photograph.”

Luca closed the door.

“This has nothing to do with Claire’s job.”

“Oh, please.”

“She was injured because you pulled her into a cabinet.”

Vanessa went still.

Luca continued.

“I watched the courtyard footage.”

For the first time that night, Vanessa had no answer ready.

“You lied about how she was hurt. You tried to sell my parents’ portrait without my permission. And you knew who the woman in that photograph was before Claire gave it to me.”

Vanessa’s eyes moved toward Daniel.

That was enough.

Luca followed her gaze.

“Who is Marina Hart?”

Vanessa said nothing.

Daniel stepped forward.

“My mother.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

Just for a second.

When she opened them again, the anger had changed into something more complicated.

“Daniel, I didn’t want you dragged into this.”

His voice went flat.

“Into what?”

She looked at Luca.

“Ask your father.”

Luca’s expression hardened.

“My father has been dead nine years.”

“I know.”

“Then answer the question.”

Vanessa crossed her arms over herself.

The gesture made her look younger than she had at dinner.

“My father told me Marina Hart was a mistake that should have stayed buried.”

Daniel’s face lost all expression.

“What did Carlo Bellini have to do with my mother?”

Vanessa swallowed.

“More than I understood when he first told me.”

Luca walked toward her.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I am not discussing thirty-year-old family business in front of an employee.”

I stood carefully.

Pain pulled through my shoulder, but I welcomed it.

It gave me something simple to focus on.

“You’re right,” I said. “I should go.”

Luca looked at me.

“Claire—”

“I found the photograph. I told you what she said. The rest belongs to your family unless you need me as a witness.”

Vanessa gave a humorless laugh.

“At least she finally understands her place.”

Luca turned toward her so sharply that she stepped back.

“No. She understands boundaries. You should try it.”

Then he looked at me.

“Daniel will take you home when we’re done.”

Daniel shook his head.

“No.”

All three of us stared at him.

He reached for his coat.

“I’m taking her now.”

“Daniel,” Luca said.

“If Marina Hart is my mother, then I’m not standing here while Vanessa decides which parts of my life I’m permitted to hear.”

Vanessa’s face tightened.

“I was trying to protect you.”

“From my own name?”

“You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“Then tell me.”

She looked at him for a long moment.

Finally she said, “Marina Hart wasn’t the name she was born with.”

Daniel went completely still.

Vanessa’s next words were almost a whisper.

“Her name was Marina Bellini.”

I felt the room change.

Daniel stared at her.

Luca did too.

Vanessa’s eyes filled, but she did not look away.

“She was my father’s sister.”

Daniel’s hand tightened around the back of the chair.

That made Vanessa his cousin.

It still did not explain the photograph.

It did not explain the baby’s birthmark.

And judging by Luca’s face, it did not explain why Vanessa believed the truth would stop the wedding.

Luca asked the question I had been afraid to ask.

“Who was Daniel’s father?”

Vanessa looked at him.

Then she looked at the locked desk drawer.

“I don’t know.”

Luca’s expression said he did not believe her.

Neither did I.

Vanessa opened the study door.

“But my father does.”

She walked out before anyone stopped her.

Daniel stood motionless.

Then Luca’s phone rang.

He glanced at the screen.

His face changed.

“What?”

He listened for several seconds.

Then he looked at Daniel.

“The antiques dealer in Philadelphia just called security.”

“What happened?”

“The shipment wasn’t the only thing Vanessa arranged.”

Luca’s gaze moved to me.

“Someone is at the carriage house right now.”

I felt cold.

“What are they doing?”

“Removing the rest of the crate.”

Daniel was already moving.

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Luca reached for the locked drawer.

“And whatever was hidden behind that portrait, they came back for it.”