Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO REMEMBERED
His name was Daniel Reeves.
I remembered him immediately.
Eight years ago, Daniel had been Luca’s executive assistant.
Now he looked twenty years older.
We met at a coffee shop three blocks from Celeste’s house because he refused to go inside.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.
Luca leaned forward.
“You should have done it eight years ago.”
Daniel flinched.
That told me everything.
“You knew,” I said.
He stared into his coffee.
“I knew part of it.”
“What part?”
“The day you came to the office.”
My throat tightened.
Daniel continued.
“You were crying. Mrs. Moretti came down. She took you into Conference Room B.”
“I remember.”
“I heard her tell security to clear the floor.”
Luca’s face went dark.
“And you said nothing?”
“She was chairwoman at the time. Your father had just died. She controlled the board.”
“I controlled the company.”
“Not like you do now.”
Luca’s fist tightened on the table.
Daniel looked at me.
“After you left, Mrs. Moretti gave me an envelope.”
“What was inside?” I asked.
“A letter addressed to Luca.”
I stared at him.
“I wrote that letter.”
He nodded.
Luca looked at me.
“What letter?”
“I told you I was pregnant.”
His eyes closed.
I remembered every word.
I had written it in the lobby because my hands were shaking too hard to drive.
Luca, I know you don’t want me anymore, but this changes things. I’m pregnant. I don’t know what happens next. I only know you deserve to know.
Daniel swallowed.
“She told me to destroy it.”
Luca stood so suddenly his chair scraped across the floor.
Several people looked over.
“You destroyed a letter from my pregnant wife?”
“I was scared.”
“You were paid.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
Luca had always known how to smell weakness.
“How much?”
“Luca,” I said.
He ignored me.
“How much did she pay you?”
Daniel stared at the table.
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
I felt sick.
Luca laughed once.
It was a terrible sound.
“My children cost fifty thousand dollars.”
“No,” Daniel said quickly. “That wasn’t all.”
Luca leaned toward him.
“What else?”
“A week later, your mother had me meet someone from the fertility clinic.”
My hands began shaking.
“Who?”
“A records administrator. Paula Vance.”
“Why?”
“She changed something in your file.”
The fake donor document.
I knew before he said it.
“Celeste had her create that report?”
Daniel nodded.
“I think so.”
Luca pulled out his phone.
“Where is Paula Vance now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
“I tried.”
Daniel finally looked frightened.
“She disappeared.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean disappeared?”
“After the clinic closed, she moved to Arizona. About four years ago she vanished. No social media. No forwarding address.”
“People don’t vanish.”
“This one did.”
I watched Luca become the man business magazines wrote about.
Cold.
Precise.
Focused.
“I want every bank record, property transfer, court filing, tax record, and passport entry connected to Paula Vance.”
Daniel blinked.
“I don’t work for you anymore.”
“You do for the next twenty-four hours.”
“I don’t want money.”
“Good. Then do it because you stole eight years from two children.”
Daniel looked away.
Then he whispered, “There’s something else.”
I almost didn’t want to ask.
“What?”
“The night after Nia came to the office, someone accessed Luca’s frozen fertility samples.”
Luca went completely still.
I frowned.
“What samples?”
He looked at me.
During our fertility treatments years ago, we had both provided genetic material for testing and possible assisted reproduction.
“There shouldn’t have been any samples left,” Luca said.
Daniel nodded slowly.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Who accessed them?”
Daniel stared at us.
“According to the security log…”
May you like
He swallowed.
“Evelyn Shaw.”
