Chapter 2 - The Address Vanessa Never Wanted Luca to See

The gala ended without music.

No second toast.

No anniversary dance.

Guests left quietly.

June Keller stayed.

Richard Hale did too.

Luca stood beside the long windows.

Wedding ring still on his finger.

"For now."

That was what he had said.

Vanessa sat alone near the fireplace.

Dark red gown.

Hands folded.

No one spoke to her.

I stood near June.

Luca finally turned.

"Address."

June opened her worn folder.

"Charleston."

She gave him a card.

One street.

One apartment number.

Luca stared at it.

"How long has she lived there?"

"Almost four years."

Vanessa whispered:

"Five."

Luca looked at her.

"You've been there."

"Yes."

"Four months ago."

"Yes."

"What did you tell her?"

Vanessa closed her eyes.

Luca waited.

She answered:

"That you had moved on."

His face hardened.

"Moved on from my mother?"

"I said reopening everything would hurt you."

"Who told you that?"

"My father."

Luca looked at Richard.

Richard remained calm.

"I believed it."

Luca stepped closer.

"You believed my mother seeing me would hurt me more than twenty years of thinking she was gone?"

Richard said:

"You don't know what she was involved in."

June looked at him.

"You keep saying that."

Richard ignored her.

Luca asked:

"What was she involved in?"

Richard hesitated.

Then:

"David."

Vanessa looked at her father.

"My uncle."

Richard nodded.

Luca crossed his arms.

"My mother was married to him."

"Yes."

"He hurt her."

Richard looked down.

"Yes."

"And you helped him leave the country."

Silence.

Luca stepped closer.

"Did you?"

Richard said:

"I helped him disappear."

Vanessa stared.

"Dad."

He looked at her.

"I thought it would end the violence."

June whispered:

"No."

Richard turned.

June continued:

"You thought it would end the scandal."

His expression changed.

Luca noticed.

"What scandal?"

June opened another envelope.

Old court filing.

Not a marriage record.

A restraining order.

Maria Romano.

Against David Hale.

Denied.

Judge's signature.

Luca frowned.

"Why denied?"

June answered:

"Because the judge had represented the Hale family before taking the bench."

Richard said:

"That proves nothing."

June looked at him.

"The clerk who processed it wrote a complaint."

She pulled another page.

The clerk's name.

Eleanor Shaw.

I froze.

Luca noticed.

"Emma."

I stared at the page.

"That's my grandmother."

Silence.

June looked at me.

"I wondered."

I stepped closer.

My grandmother had died when I was fourteen.

She had worked at the courthouse.

She never spoke about the Hales.

June handed me the copy.

Eleanor had written:

REQUEST DENIED AFTER PRIVATE CALL FROM RICHARD HALE.

Vanessa stared at her father.

Luca read it twice.

"You called the judge."

Richard said nothing.

"You blocked my mother's restraining order."

"I was twenty-eight."

"That is not an answer."

Richard's voice tightened.

"David was my brother."

Luca laughed once.

"So you protected him."

"I thought I could control him."

Maria had tried to leave.

Richard helped stop the legal protection.

Then Antonio helped her escape.

Luca's face went cold.

"And when she escaped your brother?"

Richard replied:

"I helped David leave."

"Why?"

"Because he threatened to kill her."

Vanessa whispered:

"So you sent him away."

"Yes."

June shook her head.

"But you kept his death certificate active long enough for Maria to believe he was dead."

Richard looked at her.

Luca turned.

"You knew she would marry my father."

"No."

"You knew she believed David was dead."

Richard did not answer.

Luca looked at Vanessa.

"Did you know this?"

"No."

June said:

"Not then."

Vanessa looked at her.

June continued:

"But she knew something else."

Luca's jaw tightened.

"What?"

Vanessa began crying.

"My father told me David came back."

Luca stared.

"When?"

"Six years after your mother disappeared."

The same year Antonio and Maria filed the second marriage license.

Luca understood.

"They found out because he came back."

Vanessa nodded.

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Savannah."

Richard said:

"David contacted me first."

Luca looked at him.

"What did he want?"

"Money."

"For what?"

"Silence."

June closed her folder slowly.

Richard continued:

"He knew Maria and Antonio were together."

Luca's face changed.

"He was blackmailing them."

"Yes."

Vanessa whispered:

"That's why they filed again."

Richard nodded.

"They wanted proof that Maria had finally ended the first marriage."

Luca asked:

"Did she divorce David?"

Richard looked away.

June answered.

"No."

Luca stared.

"Why not?"

"Because David disappeared again before the hearing."

Silence.

Luca looked at Richard.

"Did you help him disappear twice?"

Richard did not answer.

Vanessa stood.

"Dad?"

He looked at his daughter.

Then said:

"Yes."

Her face collapsed.

Luca removed his ring again.

This time he put it in his pocket.

Vanessa whispered:

"Luca."

He looked at her.

"Not because of him."

She went still.

"Because you met my mother."

Tears filled her eyes.

"And then you came home and let me celebrate our marriage in a room full of people while she believed I didn't want her."

Vanessa looked down.

"I was afraid she would tell you about David."

"You mean about your father."

She said nothing.

Luca looked at June.

"How soon can we leave?"

"Leave?"

"For Charleston."

June smiled sadly.

"Now."

Richard stepped forward.

"Luca."

He turned.

Richard said:

"If you go there, ask Maria why Antonio really died."

The room went silent.

Luca stared.

"My father had cancer."

Richard shook his head.

"No."

Vanessa looked at him.

"Dad."

Richard continued:

"That is what Maria told everyone."

Luca's eyes narrowed.

"What are you saying?"

Richard took out his phone.

Opened an old photograph.

Antonio Romano.

Older.

Thin.

Standing beside a hospital bed.

The date was four years ago.

Luca stared.

"Three years before he died."

Richard shook his head.

"No."

"That photo was taken six weeks before he died."

Luca looked at him.

"What happened?"

Richard answered:

"Ask your mother why Antonio was using another man's name at the hospital."

Luca froze.

June whispered:

"Richard."

He ignored her.

Luca stepped forward.

"What name?"

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Richard looked directly at him.

"David Hale."