Chapter 5 - THE WITNESS IN MILWAUKEE
Diane Hayes lived in a brick assisted-living residence outside Milwaukee, two hours from Lake Geneva.
Caroline had expected him to send her back to Chicago after the chapel.
Instead, he waited beside the car until Teresa helped her settle in the rear seat.
Caroline adjusted the boot.
“You keep saying that before taking me somewhere worse.”
Teresa laughed for the first time all day.
Luca almost did.
Then he looked toward Vittorio’s car.
“Vanessa is staying at Lake Geneva.”
Caroline glanced behind them.
“She agreed?”
“No.”
That answer was enough.
Daniel remained with the blue box while another security vehicle followed Luca north.
At the residence, a receptionist led them to a private sunroom overlooking a frozen garden.
Diane Hayes sat beside the window in a lavender cardigan.
She was eighty-three.
Her silver hair was cut short.
A small cross hung at her throat.
Luca recognized it immediately.
The same silver cross from the edge of the childhood memory he had never trusted.
Diane looked at him for a long time.
Then she smiled.
“You still frown before asking questions.”
Luca stopped.
Teresa covered her mouth.
“Diane.”
The old women crossed the room toward each other.
No one spoke while they embraced.
Caroline looked away, suddenly feeling like an intruder.
Diane noticed.
“You’re Caroline.”
Caroline’s head lifted.
“How do you know my name?”
Diane’s smile disappeared.
“Because Vanessa told me.”
Luca became completely still.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
The room changed.
Teresa sat beside Diane.
“She came here?”
“Twice.”
Luca’s voice lowered.
“She told me she had never seen you.”
Diane gave a tired laugh.
“Then she lies more easily than her grandfather did.”
Caroline felt the hairs rise along her arms.
“What did she want?”
Diane looked at Caroline’s boot.
“First, she wanted to know whether Lucia’s declaration still existed.”
“And the second time?” Luca asked.
“She wanted to know what Caroline Miller had found at the estate.”
Caroline stared.
“I hadn’t found anything three weeks ago.”
“No.”
Diane touched the cross at her throat.
“But apparently Vanessa expected you might.”
Before Luca could answer, voices sounded in the corridor.
Daniel stepped into the doorway.
His expression was grim.
“Boss.”
Luca turned.
Vanessa appeared behind him.
White coat.
Perfect hair.
No apology.
“I told security I’m your fiancée.”
Luca stared at her.
“I told you to stay at Lake Geneva.”
“And I decided not to be excluded from a conversation about my family.”
Diane looked at her.
“Which family?”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
Caroline could almost feel the question strike.
She entered the sunroom.
“Mrs. Hayes.”
“Miss Bellini.”
“You look well.”
“You look worried.”
Teresa murmured, “I have missed you.”
Vanessa ignored her.
Then her eyes moved to Caroline.
“You again.”
Caroline did not answer.
Vanessa turned to Luca.
“Surely she doesn’t need to be present for this.”
Diane spoke before he could.
“She does.”
Vanessa looked at the old woman.
“She is an employee.”
“So was I.”
The words landed cleanly.
Diane leaned back.
“People like your family have always mistaken payroll for ownership.”
Caroline felt something inside her straighten.
Vanessa smiled.
“Very dramatic.”
“No. Dramatic is injuring a housekeeper because she found a photograph you failed to destroy.”
Luca looked at Diane.
“How do you know about Caroline’s heel?”
Diane’s expression changed.
“Vanessa told me she would make sure the girl stopped asking questions.”
Vanessa laughed.
“That is not what I said.”
“You said, ‘She won’t be a problem after the wedding.’”
Silence.
Caroline looked at Luca.
His face had gone cold.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You are twisting a private conversation.”
“Then untwist it.”
Diane’s voice remained calm.
“What did you mean?”
Vanessa did not answer.
Luca stepped closer.
“You visited Diane three weeks ago. You knew her name. You knew about the declaration. You knew Caroline might find something. Yet last night you told me you recognized nobody in the photograph.”
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From this.”
She gestured at the room.
“Old scandals. Sick people. Family shame.”
Diane’s face tightened.
Caroline saw Luca notice the words.
Family shame.
He glanced toward Teresa.
Then back at Diane.
“My aunt said Rachel’s birth certificate does not tell the truth.”
Diane closed her eyes.
Vanessa went very still.
Luca saw that too.
“You knew.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
Diane opened her eyes.
“Yes, she did.”
Vanessa turned on her.
“You promised.”
Diane’s expression sharpened.
“I promised a frightened twenty-three-year-old man thirty-one years ago. I promised Lucia. I promised Antonio. I never promised you.”
Caroline’s heartbeat accelerated.
Luca sat opposite Diane.
“Tell me.”
Teresa reached for Diane’s hand.
The old nurse looked at Vittorio’s empty chair as though he were present anyway.
“I loved Antonio Moretti.”
Luca blinked.
Diane continued.
“Not wisely. Not at the right time. But I loved him.”
Teresa whispered, “Diane.”
“You never knew.”
“No.”
“No one was supposed to.”
Vanessa’s face had lost color.
Diane touched the silver cross.
“Antonio was already married to Lucia when I learned I was pregnant. I wanted to leave Chicago before the Morettis could turn me into a scandal. Lucia came to me first.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“My mother knew?”
“She knew everything.”
“And Rachel?”
Diane’s eyes filled.
“She was born eight months later.”
Caroline stopped breathing.
Luca stared.
“My father was Rachel’s father.”
“Yes.”
“Did Lucia hate you?”
Diane gave a broken little laugh.
“Lucia brought me soup. She found a doctor outside the neighborhood. She told me a baby was not responsible for the mistakes adults made.”
Teresa began to cry.
Diane continued.
“Antonio wanted Rachel acknowledged. His father threatened to destroy Diane’s family and cut Antonio out of Moretti Holdings if he did. So Antonio created a private trust instead.”
Luca walked to the window.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Rachel.
The frightened woman in his guesthouse.
The woman Elena had called sister.
The mother of the little girl wearing Elena’s necklace.
His father’s daughter.
His half-sister.
He turned.
“Did Elena know?”
“Eventually. She found the trust papers twelve years ago. That is why she found Rachel. That is why the two of them became sisters before you ever knew Rachel existed.”
Vanessa stood suddenly.
“That proves nothing about me.”
Everyone looked at her.
Diane’s sadness became almost pity.
“It proves why your family was afraid of Rachel.”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Luca’s voice was quiet.
“Because of the trust.”
Diane nodded.
“Antonio protected Rachel with voting shares. If Rachel had a child, those rights passed to the child unless Rachel chose otherwise.”
Caroline thought of Lucy hiding in the bathroom.
Not a child Vanessa had wanted to protect.
A child whose existence changed ownership.
Diane looked at Vanessa.
“You came here because you already knew.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I came because my father said you were blackmailing him.”
“I asked him to stop hunting Antonio’s daughter.”
“You threatened our family.”
“I tried to return a stolen history.”
Luca stepped closer.
“What did Vanessa want from you three weeks ago?”
Diane hesitated.
“Rachel’s original birth certificate and Antonio’s trust letter.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward her.
Luca looked at his fiancée.
“Why?”
“I didn’t take them.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Luca sat again.
“What did Vanessa want from you three weeks ago?”
Diane hesitated.
“Rachel’s original birth certificate.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward her.
Luca looked at his fiancée.
“Why?”
“I didn’t take it.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Diane reached into a drawer beside her chair.
It was empty.
Her face changed.
Teresa leaned forward.
“What?”
“The certificate.”
Diane searched another drawer.
Then a small document case.
Nothing.
Vanessa moved toward the door.
Daniel blocked it.
Luca watched her.
“You said you didn’t take it.”
“I didn’t.”
Diane’s hands began to shake.
“I kept it here.”
“When did you last see it?”
“This morning.”
Caroline looked toward the corridor.
A nurse had passed twice since they arrived.
Daniel immediately called the front desk and requested security footage.
Diane looked at Luca. “Rachel called me an hour ago. Vanessa sent her messages saying you planned to take Lucy away unless Rachel brought the original papers to the airport.”
Luca’s face hardened. “She believed them?”
“She has spent twelve years being taught to run before powerful families can decide for her.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Of course. Search everyone. Perhaps Caroline stole this too.”
The words hit harder because they returned to the same old weapon.
Poor girl.
Employee.
Convenient suspect.
Caroline stood. “You don’t get to do that again.”
Vanessa blinked.
“I was afraid yesterday,” Caroline said. “I’m not now.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
He checked the hallway footage.
At 9:17 that morning, Vittorio Bellini had entered Diane’s room alone.
Eleven minutes later, he left carrying her document case.
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Where is your father?”
Daniel checked another alert.
“Airport security stopped his car.”
Vanessa exhaled.
Daniel shook his head.
“Vittorio wasn’t inside.”
He turned the screen around.
Rachel Hayes sat in the passenger seat.
May you like
And Diane’s missing document case rested on her lap.
Nobody in the room spoke afterward.
