Chapter 1
“But something else is.”
Luca’s voice was so quiet that it frightened me more than if he had shouted.
Vanessa stared at him.
Sophie sat in the chair beside his desk, small hands folded around the edge of the DVD case.
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” Vanessa asked.
Luca did not answer her.
He looked at his daughter.
“Sweetheart, go choose the snacks you want.”
Sophie blinked. “For movie night?”
“For movie night.”
Her eyes moved to me. “Can Mia come?”
Luca’s jaw tightened when he looked at my leg. “If Mia wants to.”
“I do,” I said.
The lie came easily. Not because I didn’t want to sit with Sophie. Because I wasn’t sure I could make it across the hallway without my knee buckling.
Luca saw the hesitation. He saw everything now.
That was the problem.
Vanessa folded her arms. “This is ridiculous. We have guests arriving in forty minutes.”
“No,” Luca said. “We have guests arriving in forty minutes. You don’t.”
Vanessa’s face changed. Only for a second. Then the polished smile returned.
“Luca.”
“Upstairs, Sophie.”
Sophie got out of the chair. I reached for her hand automatically.
Pain shot through my thigh. My breath caught.
Luca was beside me before I could hide it. His hand closed lightly around my elbow.
“Don’t.”
I froze. “Sir?”
“Don’t pretend that didn’t hurt.”
Vanessa laughed. “She loves attention.”
Luca turned his head toward her.
The laugh stopped.
He looked back at me. “Sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
There was steel in his voice. But not anger at me.
I lowered myself carefully into the chair.
Sophie leaned close and whispered, “I’ll get the popcorn.”
Then she ran from the room.
The door shut behind her.
The study suddenly felt smaller.
Luca walked to the far side of the desk. Vanessa remained near the door.
I wished she would leave.
I also wished she would stay.
Because the moment she left, I knew Luca would ask me things I had spent weeks trying not to answer.
He picked up Sophie’s calendar.
Six Fridays. Six lies.
His thumb moved over the crossed-out dates.
“You wrote these?”
“No, sir.”
“Sophie did?”
“Yes.”
“Who told her I was busy?”
I glanced at Vanessa.
Luca noticed.
His eyes hardened.
“Mia. Look at me.”
I did.
“Who told my daughter I didn’t want to see her?”
My throat closed.
Vanessa stepped forward. “She’s an employee, Luca. You’re interrogating her like she’s family.”
His gaze did not leave mine. “Answer me.”
I whispered, “Mrs. Bellini.”
Vanessa inhaled. “You little—”
Luca lifted one hand.
That was all.
She stopped.
“When?” he asked.
“Different times.”
“Specific.”
I gripped the side of the chair.
“The first Friday, Sophie came downstairs around seven. She had the movie. Mrs. Bellini told her you had a business call and couldn’t be disturbed.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I brought your coffee into the study at seven-fifteen.”
His face became still.
“The second Friday?”
“She said you were tired.”
“The third?”
“That you were with her.”
Vanessa scoffed. “We were together.”
“No,” Luca said. “I was at the gym until eight.”
Vanessa’s lips pressed together.
He looked at the fourth date.
“And after that?”
I hesitated.
Vanessa’s eyes locked on mine.
A warning.
A threat.
I had seen that look before. In the laundry room. In the pantry. On the back service corridor when no cameras were pointed the right way.
Luca saw it too.
“Keep talking.”
“She told Sophie you’d changed your mind about movie night.”
His eyes shifted toward the study door.
For the first time, something cracked in his expression.
Not rage.
Hurt.
It looked worse.
“My daughter believed I stopped wanting her.”
No one answered.
He set the calendar down.
Then he pointed to my leg.
“Now that.”
“I cut it.”
“On the west stairs?”
I said nothing.
Vanessa moved closer. “Mia is accident-prone. You’ve seen her drop trays.”
“Because you overloaded them,” I said before I could stop myself.
Silence.
Vanessa’s face twisted. “There. That attitude. That’s what I’ve been dealing with.”
Luca looked at me. “What happened?”
I swallowed.
Three nights earlier, Sophie had been crying outside Luca’s office. She had wanted to show him a school project. Vanessa had caught me walking her down the hall.
Later, in the service kitchen, Vanessa had shoved a broken wineglass into the trash and ordered me to take it outside.
When I bent to lift the bag, she kicked the metal bin hard into my leg.
The jagged glass tore through the bag. Through my stocking. Into my thigh.
Afterward, she made me clean the blood off the floor before I could bandage myself.
I could still hear her voice.
Next time you interfere, you won’t be walking anywhere.
I couldn’t say it.
Not with Sophie nearby.
Not with Vanessa watching.
Luca’s eyes moved from my face to the bandage. Then to the narrow cut on my chin. Then back to Vanessa.
“Did she hit you?”
“No,” Vanessa snapped.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
I stared at my hands.
“Mia.”
I closed my eyes. “She didn’t hit me.”
Vanessa relaxed.
Then I continued.
“She kicked the trash bin into my leg while I was carrying broken glass.”
Vanessa went pale.
Luca did not move.
“When?”
“Tuesday night.”
“Why?”
“She was angry.”
“About?”
I forced myself to look at him.
“Because I brought Sophie to your office.”
His face changed completely.
Vanessa took a step backward.
“You’re believing this?”
“Yes.”
One word. Flat. Immediate.
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Luca walked around the desk.
“You told my daughter I didn’t want her.”
“That is not what happened.”
“You threatened my employee.”
“She’s lying.”
“You injured her.”
“It was an accident.”
“You just called her a liar.”
Vanessa stared at him.
He stopped two feet away from her.
“I’ve known you for four years.”
“And I’ve loved you for four years.”
“You love access.”
Her eyes widened.
I didn’t understand.
Vanessa did.
“What?”
Luca’s voice lowered.
“My house. My name. My daughter. My schedule. My staff. You’ve spent months deciding who gets near me.”
Vanessa’s eyes flashed. “I manage your life because you don’t.”
“That ends tonight.”
“You’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll calm down.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
Then she smiled. Slowly. Dangerously.
“You’re going to throw away four years because a maid cried?”
“I haven’t cried.”
The words slipped out.
Vanessa looked at me.
Luca almost smiled. Almost.
Then his expression hardened again.
“This has nothing to do with Mia crying.”
“Then what?”
“My daughter.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly. “I have done more for Sophie than any woman you’ve dated.”
“That doesn’t make her yours to isolate.”
“I was protecting your time.”
“You were stealing mine.”
Vanessa’s face went blank.
Luca walked to the door and opened it.
“Leave.”
She didn’t move.
“Luca.”
“Now.”
“You’ll regret humiliating me.”
“Maybe.”
“You have investors coming tonight.”
“I’ll survive.”
“You need me.”
“No.”
The word struck harder than a shout.
Vanessa’s eyes shifted to me.
Pure hatred.
Then she walked toward the door.
As she passed my chair, she whispered, “This is your fault.”
Luca heard.
“Stop.”
Vanessa froze.
He stepped between us.
“If you speak to her again tonight, speak loudly enough for me to hear.”
Vanessa’s cheeks reddened.
Then she left.
The door slammed.
For several seconds, Luca stared at it.
Then he turned toward me.
“Who treated your leg?”
“I did.”
“You stitched it?”
“No.”
“Did a doctor see it?”
“No.”
His jaw flexed. “Why?”
“I didn’t want trouble.”
“Mia.”
“I need this job.”
“You think going to a doctor loses you your job?”
“I think upsetting Mrs. Bellini might.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he pulled out his phone.
I panicked. “Please don’t call the police.”
His eyes lifted. “I’m calling my doctor.”
“Oh.”
That should not have embarrassed me.
It did.
He made the call. Short. Direct.
Then he looked at the clock. “He’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
“Sir, that’s not necessary.”
“It is.”
“What about your guests?”
“Cancelled.”
“You don’t have to—”
“My daughter has spent six Fridays believing I didn’t want her.”
His voice roughened.
“I’m not missing a seventh because somebody thinks my dinner schedule matters more.”
The door opened.
Sophie returned carrying two bags of microwave popcorn and a box of chocolate cookies.
“Daddy?”
Luca turned. His entire face softened.
“Yes, baby?”
“Is Vanessa mad?”
He glanced at me. Then back at Sophie.
“That isn’t your problem.”
“Did I get Mia in trouble?”
“No.”
“Did Mia get Vanessa in trouble?”
A pause.
“No.”
Luca crouched in front of her.
“Vanessa got Vanessa in trouble.”
Sophie considered this. Then nodded solemnly.
“Can we watch the movie now?”
“In a little while.”
She looked at my leg. “Because Mia is hurt?”
“Yes.”
Sophie’s lower lip trembled.
Luca noticed.
“Hey. Come here.”
She stepped into his arms.
He held her.
I looked away.
That moment felt private. Too tender for an employee to witness.
Then Sophie’s muffled voice came from his shoulder.
“Are you still going to want Fridays next week?”
Luca closed his eyes.
When he opened them, there was guilt in them.
“Every Friday.”
“Even if you’re busy?”
“Especially then.”
She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.
He held her for several seconds.
Then something crashed upstairs.
Glass.
A second later, one of the housekeepers screamed.
Luca stood instantly.
He put Sophie behind him.
I pushed myself out of the chair.
Pain tore through my leg.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
Then another sound came from the hallway.
A man shouting.
“Mr. Moretti!”
The security chief appeared in the doorway.
His face was tense.
“We have a problem.”
Luca’s voice went cold. “What?”
“Mrs. Bellini tried to leave through the north gate.”
“So?”
“She had one of your locked document cases in her car.”
Luca went still.
The security chief continued.
“We stopped her.”
My stomach dropped.
“Anything else?” Luca asked.
The man hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“We opened the trunk.”
He looked at Sophie.
Then at me.
Then back to Luca.
“There were three passports inside.”
Luca’s expression sharpened.
“Whose?”
The security chief swallowed.
“Vanessa’s.”
A beat.
“Yours.”
Another.
“And Sophie’s.”
The room became silent.
Sophie’s fingers tightened around Luca’s hand.
He stared at the man.
“Bring Vanessa back inside.”
Then he looked down at his daughter.
For the first time since I had met Luca Moretti, I saw fear in his eyes.
Not fear for himself.
May you like
For Sophie.
And suddenly six cancelled movie nights felt like the smallest lie Vanessa Bellini had told.
