Chapter 2 - West Addison
Vanessa caught my wrist before I reached the hallway.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Her fingers dug into my skin.
Luca looked back.
She let go.
Within minutes, the engagement dinner was over.
Guests collected their coats without meeting anyone’s eyes.
The house manager stood by the front door, saying the same careful sentence to everyone.
“There’s been a family matter.”
Chicago had other names for Luca Moretti’s family.
Nobody used them in his house.
Tonight, though, he looked less like a man people feared and more like someone trying to understand where the floor had gone.
He held open the sedan’s rear door.
“Emma.
Come with us.”
“Why?”
“Because you listened when someone should have.”
Vanessa climbed in beside him before he could object.
Sal settled behind the wheel.
His hands shook until they touched the steering wheel.
Then they became steady.
Nobody spoke during the drive.
The house on West Addison had peeling blue paint, a crooked porch railing, and one upstairs window glowing yellow.
A woman in a gray cardigan opened the door before we reached it.
She looked at Vanessa.
“You said tomorrow.”
“Claire—”
“Where’s the car seat?”
Luca stopped on the bottom step.
“What car seat?”
The woman’s face changed.
Behind her, a boy appeared in striped pajamas.
He was small, maybe seven, with dark curls flattened on one side from sleep.
“Mom?”
Vanessa made a sound I had never heard from her.
Not the soft laugh she used at dinner.
Not the clipped voice she used with staff.
Something broke on the way out.
The boy ran to her.
She caught him and dropped to her knees on the porch.
Luca watched without speaking.
Claire wrapped her cardigan tighter.
“I’m her sister,” she told him.
“I’m beginning to understand how much I don’t know.”
Inside, the house smelled like toast and laundry detergent.
A suitcase stood beside the stairs.
A blue backpack rested on top.
The boy spotted the mitten in Luca’s hand.
“You found it.”
Luca crouched.
“Does it belong to you?”
The boy nodded.
“Mom said we had to hurry, and I dropped it.”
“What’s your name?”
“Noah.”
Luca handed it back.
Noah slipped it on, although the house was warm.
Then he looked past Luca toward the street.
“Is Grandpa taking me now?”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Claire put a hand on his shoulder.
“No, sweetheart.”
Noah frowned.
“But Mom said after the party, I had to go away where nobody would ask about me.”
May you like
Luca slowly stood.
This time, when he looked at Vanessa, she couldn’t look back.
