Chapter 7 - MY FATHER'S SECRET
My father had been dead for four years.
Which made Marcus's accusation impossible.
Or I wanted it to be.
“What are you talking about?”
Luca moved toward me.
I turned away.
Marcus continued through the phone.
“The number used to send the message is connected to an account created under Carter Mechanical Services.”
My father's old company.
“That company closed after he died.”
“Yes.”
“The account could've been stolen.”
“Possibly.”
“Then why are you saying my father was involved?”
“Because we found older payments.”
My mouth went dry.
“What payments?”
“From Shaw Capital.”
I sat down.
Luca crouched beside me.
“What happened?”
I put Marcus on speaker.
My mother entered the room.
When Marcus repeated the information, her face changed.
I saw it.
That tiny expression.
Recognition.
“Mom?”
She looked away.
Oh God.
“Mom.”
She sat slowly.
“Denise,” Luca said. “What do you know?”
She glared at him.
“Don't interrogate me.”
“Mom.”
Her eyes filled.
“Your father took money.”
I couldn't breathe.
“How much?”
“Not what you think.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
I stood so fast the chair fell.
“For what?”
“To leave Chicago.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“After you got pregnant.”
My whole childhood seemed to tilt.
“Dad knew?”
“Yes.”
“He knew Luca didn't know?”
“No.”
“Then what did he know?”
Mom wiped her eyes.
“Isabella came to us.”
Of course.
“She said you were pregnant and Luca wanted distance. She said the media would eventually discover it.”
“And Dad took money.”
“She offered to help us relocate.”
“We didn't relocate.”
“We refused.”
“Then why did he take money?”
My mother's face crumpled.
“Your father's business was failing.”
I remembered.
The late bills.
The phone calls.
How exhausted he had looked.
“He told himself it wasn't a bribe.”
“What was it?”
“A loan.”
“From the woman who was destroying my family?”
“He didn't know that.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
I wanted to believe her.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he was ashamed.”
“And after he died?”
“Because I was ashamed too.”
I walked toward the window.
The betrayal felt different from Isabella's.
This one came with memories of scraped knees and Sunday breakfasts.
My father had taught me to ride a bicycle.
He had cried at my wedding.
Now money from Shaw Capital sat somewhere in his history.
“Did he do anything for them?”
My mother shook her head quickly.
“No.”
Marcus interrupted.
“We haven't found evidence he actively helped conceal the children.”
“Then what did the money buy?”
“Silence, perhaps.”
I closed my eyes.
Luca said, “About what?”
Marcus answered.
“Possibly about the paternity.”
I turned.
“What does that mean?”
“We found correspondence indicating Isabella feared Mr. Carter might contact Luca directly.”
My mother whispered, “He wanted to.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Your dad didn't believe the document.”
“The fake acknowledgment?”
“Yes.”
“He wanted to confront Luca?”
“He drove to Moretti Global twice.”
My chest tightened.
“Did he see him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Security turned him away.”
Raymond again.
Or someone under orders.
“Then Isabella offered money?”
“Afterward.”
I sat.
“So Dad took it and stopped trying.”
My mother's silence answered.
I cried for the first time since the restaurant.
Not pretty tears.
Not dramatic tears.
The kind that made breathing difficult.
Luca stayed several feet away.
He knew better than to touch me.
Afterward, my mother went upstairs.
I sat in the dark dining room.
Luca remained.
“He loved you,” he said.
I laughed bitterly.
“You didn't know him.”
“I did.”
“You saw him twice a year.”
“I remember our wedding.”
“So do I.”
“He pulled me aside.”
I looked at Luca.
“What did he say?”
“That if I ever made you feel small, he'd forget how expensive my suit was before hitting me.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
Luca smiled sadly.
“He didn't like me much.”
“He loved you at first.”
“Then I became exactly what he worried I'd become.”
The honesty exhausted me.
“What now?”
“Now we find out who is still using his old company.”
Marcus answered that within a day.
A former employee named Peter Walsh.
My father's business partner.
He had access to old accounts.
And he was still alive.
Police brought him in for questioning.
He admitted sending the photograph.
But not the threat.
According to Peter, Isabella's private investigator hired him to photograph the children and gather information about my routines.
The text had been added by someone else.
That someone had access to Peter's images.
Moretti security traced the data transfer.
Shaw Capital.
Again.
Evelyn's father.
Charles Shaw.
By then, Luca had enough.
He called a board meeting.
I learned about it from the news.
MORETTI CEO SUSPENDS SHAW PARTNERSHIP AMID INTERNAL INVESTIGATION.
Billions moved within hours.
Stock prices fell.
Reporters screamed outside Moretti Global.
Then Luca did something no one expected.
He stepped down temporarily as CEO.
He appeared before the press at noon.
“My family is involved in serious allegations concerning misuse of company resources and unlawful interference in private medical and legal matters.”
Cameras flashed.
“I will not oversee an investigation involving my own relatives while acting as chief executive.”
A reporter shouted, “Is this about your secret children?”
Luca's expression sharpened.
“My children are not secrets.”
I watched from the Lake Forest house.
Ava sat beside me eating crackers.
“That's Dad.”
I looked at her.
The word hit hard.
She hadn't called him that to his face yet.
But privately?
Dad.
“Yes.”
“Why are all those people yelling at him?”
“Because grown-ups like yelling questions at famous people.”
“That's weird.”
“Very.”
Luca continued on television.
“The mother of my children did not hide them from me out of malice.”
I sat straighter.
“She attempted to inform me of the pregnancy.”
My mother entered from the kitchen.
“The failure was mine.”
The reporters went silent.
“I trusted false information instead of my wife.”
My throat closed.
“I allowed pride and anger to replace communication. Whatever criminal acts may have occurred afterward do not erase my own responsibility.”
Ava looked at me.
“Mom, are you crying?”
“No.”
“You are.”
“Eat your crackers.”
She handed me one.
On television, Luca finished.
“I intend to spend the rest of my life becoming someone my children can be proud to know.”
Then he walked away from the podium.
That night he arrived without a suit.
Jeans.
Sweater.
Noah opened the door.
“Dad!”
We all froze.
Luca froze most of all.
Noah apparently didn't notice.
“Come see the Lego car.”
Luca swallowed hard.
“Okay.”
He followed Noah upstairs.
I stayed in the foyer.
Mom touched my shoulder.
“He's trying.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't mean you have to forgive him.”
“I know.”
“It also doesn't mean you're forbidden from forgiving him.”
I looked at her.
“I know.”
Later, after the children slept, Luca and I sat in the kitchen.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“The press conference.”
“I told the truth.”
“Rich men don't always do that when the truth costs billions.”
He smiled faintly.
“I've had an educational week.”
I smiled before I could stop myself.
His eyes lingered.
Danger.
I stood.
“You should go.”
“Nia.”
“What?”
“Evelyn filed for divorce.”
I looked at him.
“When?”
“Today.”
“How do you feel?”
He thought.
“Sad.”
I appreciated the answer.
“I cared about her.”
“Love isn't always simple.”
“No.”
He stood.
“But this isn't me asking for anything.”
“Good.”
“I need you to know that.”
“Okay.”
As he reached the door, I asked, “Luca?”
He turned.
“Did you really never stop loving me?”
He stared.
Then spoke quietly.
“I taught myself how to live without you.”
That wasn't an answer.
Then he added, “It didn't work.”
My heart betrayed me.
Before I could respond, his phone rang.
Marcus.
Luca answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“When?”
My stomach tightened.
Luca disconnected.
“What happened?”
He went pale.
“My mother was arrested.”
“For the medical records?”
“No.”
“What then?”
He stared at me.
“Attempted kidnapping.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Whose?”
May you like
His voice barely came out.
“Ava and Noah.”
