Chapter 2
I held the photograph so tightly the edges bent.
Luke.
The name hit me like a bullet that had waited fifteen years to fire.
The boy stared at me with the same guarded expression Isabella used when she was trying not to cry.
Milena tried to pull her wrist free.
I did not release her.
“Who is he?” I asked.
She lifted her chin.
“A beggar.”
Grace stepped forward.
“No.”
Milena snapped, “Shut your mouth.”
I looked at Grace.
“Speak.”
Her eyes filled.
“His mother was Isabella Romano.”
The courtyard erupted.
My cousin Rocco stood from the table.
My sister Lucia covered her mouth.
One of the older women crossed herself.
Milena laughed too loudly.
“Absurd. Isabella left New York years ago.”
Grace’s voice shook.
“She left because you paid her. Then your brother threatened her.”
My blood went cold.
Milena’s brother, Carlo, sat at the end of the table.
His fork stopped halfway to his mouth.
I looked at him.
He smiled.
Thin.
Careful.
“Housekeepers hear stories,” he said.
Luke’s small voice cut through the air.
“My mom said if I ever found the man in the picture, I should tell him she didn’t leave because she wanted to.”
I let go of Milena.
She stumbled back.
I crouched in front of Luke.
Up close, I saw bruises fading along his jaw.
Old ones.
New ones.
“Where is your mother?”
His eyes filled.
“She died last month.”
Everything inside me went still.
“How?”
Grace answered for him.
“She got sick. She worked until she collapsed. No doctor would treat her without money.”
Milena whispered, “This is not our problem.”
I stood.
The courtyard turned colder.
“Not our problem?”
She swallowed.
I looked at Carlo.
Then back at Milena.
“You told me Isabella took money and vanished.”
“She did.”
Grace shook her head.
“She took money because Carlo told her Angelo would die if she stayed.”
Carlo stood.
“That is a lie.”
Luke reached into his jacket.
Milena shouted, “Stop him!”
But the boy only pulled out a small envelope.
“My mom said this was proof.”
He handed it to me.
Inside was a hospital birth record.
Father: Angelo Torrisi.
Mother: Isabella Romano.
Child: Luca Romano.
May you like
My knees nearly failed.
Luke was my son.
