Chapter 6 - The Offer

Luca asked to meet on Sunday afternoon.

Priya advised against a private conversation, so we met in a conference room at his attorney’s office with both lawyers present.

Luca looked like he had not slept.

I did not care.

He sat across from me and placed both hands flat on the table.

“Kelly won’t answer my calls.”

“She doesn’t have to.”

“I’m her father.”

“And you are the adult who signed a petition describing her mother as unstable without ever telling her you were trying to change where she lives.”

His jaw tightened.

“I wasn’t trying to take her from you.”

“You wanted four school nights.”

“My work schedule is flexible.”

“That does not answer me.”

His attorney, Robert Kane, intervened.

“We are here to discuss a temporary resolution.”

Priya smiled politely. “Then resolve.”

Robert slid a document across the table.

“The refinance will be withdrawn. Mr. Rossi agrees that no further borrowing secured by the marital residence will occur without Jessica’s written approval.”

“Already required,” Priya said.

“He also agrees to restore thirty-four thousand dollars to the children’s accounts immediately.”

I looked at Luca. “Why thirty-four?”

“That’s what I can liquidate without damaging the business.”

“The children lost more than a hundred twenty thousand.”

“I didn’t take it.”

“You benefited from it.”

His eyebrows drew together. “How?”

“Your wedding.”

“My wedding didn’t happen.”

“Vendors were still paid.”

Luca looked away.

Robert continued. “The funds were controlled by Wendy. Mr. Rossi had no access to those accounts.”

Priya said, “Mr. Rossi signed a refinance application that would have extracted equity from property primarily controlled by my client.”

“He believed her signature was genuine.”

“That may limit one issue. It does not make his conduct responsible.”

Luca leaned forward.

“Can we talk like people for five minutes?”

Priya looked at me.

I nodded once.

Luca exhaled.

“Jessi, I handled this badly.”

I stared at him.

“Badly?”

“I know that sounds weak.”

“It sounds like you misplaced a birthday reservation.”

“I cheated. I lied. I hurt you. I know.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

“Then explain the custody petition.”

His mouth tightened.

“I wanted stability.”

“For whom?”

“The kids.”

“They had stability until you slept with their aunt.”

His face flushed.

“I’m not pretending I didn’t cause damage.”

“You keep saying that while avoiding the damage you caused.”

Luca glanced at his lawyer.

Robert stayed silent.

I pushed the petition toward Luca.

“You signed this. Read the third paragraph aloud.”

“Jessi.”

“Read it.”

He looked down.

“I know what it says.”

“Then read it.”

His voice hardened. “No.”

“Because it says I displayed ‘prolonged emotional dysregulation’ after losing our baby.”

He closed his eyes.

I continued. “You let a lawyer turn the worst weeks of my life into a strategy.”

“I was angry.”

“At me?”

“At everything.”

“You were the one who left.”

“I know.”

“You were the one who cheated.”

“I know.”

“You were the one marrying my sister.”

“I know.”

“Then what were you angry at me for?”

He looked at me finally.

“For not falling apart the way I expected.”

The room became silent.

Even Priya stopped moving her pen.

Luca rubbed his face.

“I thought you would beg me to stay.”

I stared at him.

“I thought we’d fight for months. I thought you’d hate Chloe. I thought you’d make it impossible. Instead, you filed for divorce in three days.”

“You wanted me to beg?”

“I don’t know what I wanted.”

“Yes, you do.”

His eyes filled.

“I wanted to feel important.”

The answer was ugly enough to sound true.

He continued. “When you stopped calling except about the kids, I told myself you had never really loved me. Then after the miscarriage, you shut everyone out.”

“I was grieving.”

“I know that now.”

“You knew it then.”

He looked down.

“Yes.”

The same word Chloe had used.

It did not heal anything.

But at least it stopped insulting me with excuses.

I asked, “Why did you want primary school nights?”

“Chloe wanted us to have a normal family.”

I almost laughed.

“With my children.”

“She said if we only had weekends, she would always feel like a visitor in their lives.”

“So you decided I should become the visitor.”

“No.”

“That is exactly what your petition would have done.”

He had no answer.

Priya finally spoke. “Mr. Rossi, did Wendy participate in discussions about this petition?”

Luca nodded.

“How extensively?”

“She sent notes to Robert.”

His attorney shifted uncomfortably.

Priya looked at him. “Directly?”

Robert said, “She communicated family-history information at Mr. Rossi’s request.”

“What information?”

Luca said, “School pickups. The days Mara stayed over. Your therapy appointments.”

My stomach turned.

“You gave my mother permission to build a file on me?”

“I didn’t think of it like that.”

“How did you think of it?”

“Documentation.”

I laughed.

“Of course.”

Luca reached across the table.

I pulled my hands back.

He stopped.

“I’m withdrawing the petition.”

“Because you changed your mind or because Kelly exposed it?”

“Both.”

“Which one came first?”

He said nothing.

I nodded.

“Thank you.”

He flinched at the coldness in my voice.

Robert slid another page forward.

“There is also a confidentiality provision.”

Priya did not even look at it.

“No.”

“It protects the children from publicity.”

“It protects the adults from consequences.”

“Those goals are not mutually exclusive.”

Priya finally read the clause.

“This would prohibit Jessica from discussing the misuse of education funds with financial institutions, extended family, school personnel, therapists, or law enforcement without prior written notice. Absolutely not.”

Luca looked surprised. “Law enforcement?”

I watched him.

“You didn’t know Mom used a fake ID?”

“I knew the picture was Chloe. I didn’t know how it was used.”

Priya said, “We have reason to believe remote identity verification may have been manipulated.”

Luca turned toward Robert. “Can that become criminal?”

Robert answered carefully. “Potentially.”

Luca looked at me.

“You’re going to have your mother arrested?”

The question was so absurd that I almost smiled.

“I don’t arrest people.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No. I report facts. Other people decide what those facts mean.”

“Jessi, she’s still your mother.”

“And you’re still my husband.”

He went quiet.

“Technicality,” he said softly.

“Exactly.”

The divorce would be final in weeks.

For a moment, we both seemed to feel the strange weight of that.

Thirteen years reduced to signatures waiting for a judge.

Luca said, “I loved you.”

I looked at him.

“Maybe you did.”

His eyes lifted.

“That’s all?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know.”

“You keep not knowing when the answer makes you look bad.”

He winced.

I continued. “Maybe you loved me. But you also lied to me for almost a year, mocked me to Chloe, let her into our marriage, let my mother build a custody case, and signed a refinance without calling me. Love is not an eraser.”

He stared at the table.

“No.”

“It is not even the most important fact anymore.”

“What is?”

“Whether the children can trust you.”

His face broke slightly.

“What do I do?”

“That is not my job to teach you.”

He nodded.

After a long pause, he pushed the settlement document away.

“Take out the confidentiality clause.”

Robert looked at him. “Luca—”

“Take it out.”

“And the parenting schedule?”

He looked at me.

“Keep the current schedule until an evaluator says otherwise.”

Priya said, “We will agree to that temporarily if there is no attempt to involve Chloe in exchanges or overnight care while the children are uncomfortable.”

Luca swallowed. “Chloe and I aren’t together.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“She moved out of the apartment we rented.”

“When?”

“Yesterday.”

I felt nothing close to satisfaction.

Only exhaustion.

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

Priya’s eyes narrowed. “She gave us her phone two days ago for preservation.”

“She has another one.”

I looked at Luca. “Did you threaten her?”

His head snapped up. “No.”

“Did you argue?”

“Yes.”

“About what?”

“Everything.”

“Specifics.”

He clenched his jaw.

“She accused me of using her.”

“Did you?”

“I cared about her.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

His expression hardened.

“She knew what we were doing.”

“So did you.”

“I know.”

Again that word.

I stood.

“I’m done.”

Robert said, “We have not finalized the terms.”

“Priya can.”

Luca stood too.

“Jessi.”

I turned.

His voice was quieter.

“Kelly told me at the wedding that I make promises and then change what they mean. I haven’t stopped thinking about that.”

I waited.

“I don’t want her to think I’m a monster.”

“Then stop asking what you want her to think.”

He looked confused.

“Ask what you need to do so she can feel safe deciding for herself.”

I left before he could answer.

Outside, Priya caught up with me.

“That went better than I expected.”

“You have strange expectations.”

“He admitted motive, withdrew the parenting petition, agreed to restore money, and abandoned a damaging confidentiality clause.”

“He also said he wanted me to beg him not to leave.”

“Yes.”

“I think I preferred when I thought he was just selfish.”

Priya gave me a tired smile.

“Selfish people are rarely just one kind of selfish.”

My phone rang.

It was Evan.

I answered.

“Hey.”

His voice sounded tense. “Jess, I found something in Mom’s old emails.”

“What?”

“She sent me a scanned document when I borrowed the money. I never opened the attachment because I didn’t need it.”

“What document?”

“A ledger.”

I stopped walking.

“What kind of ledger?”

“She labeled it family advances.”

Priya turned toward me.

Evan continued. “Your kids aren’t the only names on it.”

“Whose else?”

“Yours. Mine. Chloe’s. Dad’s.”

My skin went cold.

“And Grandma’s estate.”

Priya held out her hand for the phone.

I put Evan on speaker.

He said, “Jess, there are entries going back almost fifteen years.”

I looked at Priya.

May you like

[COMPLETED] She waited ten years for her fiancé, but the night she marri...

[COMPLETED] Five Years After My Mafia Husband Chose Another Woman, He Me...

[COMPLETED] I CALLED MY HUSBAND 18 TIMES WHILE OUR SON WAS DYING. EIGHT...

The wedding had stopped three days earlier.

But whatever my daughter had uncovered had started long before Luca ever walked into a hotel room with Chloe.