Chapter 5 - The Sunday Dinner Lucia Never Finished

No one spoke while Luca cried.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

Just a man reading the last words of his mother twenty-six years too late.

Teresa moved first.

She sat beside him.

Not touching.

Waiting.

Luca wiped his face.

Then looked at Anthony.

"Did she die there?"

Anthony nodded.

"Before the ambulance arrived."

Luca closed his eyes.

"Did my father see her alive?"

"No."

That mattered.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Luca folded the letter carefully.

Then asked:

"What was Sunday dinner?"

Teresa smiled through tears.

"You don't remember?"

"Pieces."

"You were thirteen."

"I remember pasta."

"You hated peas."

"I still do."

Teresa laughed softly.

Then pointed at the plate.

"Lucia always gave you that one."

"Why?"

"Because you chipped it."

Luca looked surprised.

"When?"

"Age six."

"You dropped it."

"She refused to throw it away."

Luca looked at the missing corner.

Teresa continued:

"She said if a thing still worked, it still belonged at the table."

Vanessa looked down.

The sentence landed on everyone.

Luca asked:

"Why did she hide the note under it?"

Teresa answered:

"Because the week before the crash, Lucia told me she planned to leave Marco."

"Did you help her?"

"No."

Luca stared.

Teresa's face broke.

"I told her to stay."

Silence.

"Why?"

"I thought Marco would change."

"Did he?"

"No."

"Did you know he hit her?"

Teresa looked down.

"I knew once."

"Once?"

"I saw bruises."

"And?"

"She said she fell."

Luca laughed bitterly.

Teresa cried.

"I chose to believe her because the truth required me to do something."

That sentence changed the room.

Luca looked at his aunt.

"You failed her too."

"Yes."

No excuse.

Then Teresa continued:

"That is why I kept the plate."

"Not because it was sentimental."

"Because it accused me."

Luca stared.

"For twenty-six years?"

"Every Sunday."

She had set the plate at his place every year on the anniversary of Lucia's death.

Luca had thought it was tradition.

It was confession.

Vanessa whispered:

"Teresa."

The old woman looked at her.

"That is why I would not take your money."

Vanessa cried.

Teresa continued:

"I already accepted silence once."

"I wasn't doing it again."

Luca looked at Vanessa.

"Why did you offer fifty thousand?"

She wiped her face.

"Because my father begged me."

Anthony closed his eyes.

Vanessa continued:

"He knew Teresa had the old bank statements."

"I thought if she stayed home, we could tell you after the engagement."

Luca almost laughed.

"After."

"Yes."

"Why after?"

"Because I was terrified you would think I only wanted to marry you because our families were connected."

Luca stared.

"Were they?"

Vanessa hesitated.

Wrong.

Luca saw.

"Vanessa."

She cried harder.

"My father has business with Moretti Holdings."

"How much?"

"Three companies."

"How much?"

"About fourteen million a year."

Silence.

Luca leaned back.

"There it is."

"No."

She stepped closer.

"I loved you before I knew any of this."

"When did our companies start working together?"

"Four years ago."

"When did we start dating?"

"Three years ago."

Luca stared.

Vanessa understood.

"It wasn't arranged."

"Did your father introduce us?"

She said nothing.

Anthony whispered:

"Yes."

Luca closed his eyes.

Vanessa turned.

"Dad."

Anthony looked ashamed.

Luca opened his eyes.

"So the first meeting."

"At the charity auction."

Anthony nodded.

"I knew you would be there."

"Did Vanessa know?"

Anthony looked at his daughter.

"No."

Vanessa stared at him.

"You told me it was random."

"I lied."

Luca looked at Vanessa.

She looked genuinely shocked.

That mattered.

Again.

Anthony continued:

"I hoped you would like each other."

Luca laughed softly.

"A business strategy with champagne."

Vanessa cried.

"I didn't know."

"I believe you."

She looked at him.

He continued:

"But later you knew enough to hide the worst truth of my life."

Her face fell.

"Yes."

Luca looked at the engagement ring on her hand.

He did not ask for it.

Not yet.

Instead he asked Anthony:

"Why did you want the engagement before telling me?"

Anthony answered:

"Because one of our contracts renews next month."

Silence.

Vanessa went pale.

"What contract?"

Anthony looked at her.

"The Lakeshore development."

She stared.

"You said that was unrelated."

"It isn't."

Luca looked between them.

"What happens if we marry?"

Anthony said nothing.

Teresa whispered:

"Say it."

Anthony closed his eyes.

"The companies merge their land rights."

Vanessa stepped backward.

"You used me."

Anthony whispered:

"I thought it would protect the deal."

She laughed through tears.

"Everyone keeps calling ownership protection."

Luca looked at her.

For the first time that night, she sounded like his mother's note.

Then my phone vibrated.

I looked down.

Unknown number.

One message.

A photograph.

My father.

In his rehabilitation center.

Sitting in a wheelchair.

Beside him stood a man I recognized from the dinner.

Anthony Bellini's driver.

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Under the photo:

TELL LUCA TO STOP ASKING QUESTIONS.