Chapter 3 - THE BROTHER WHO KNEW BEFORE I DID
My brother Luca knew about Alina's medical scare.
I didn't.
That alone nearly broke something inside me.
“Why Luca?”
Alina looked uncomfortable.
“Because he found me.”
“Found you where?”
“At the gala.”
My mind returned to that night.
Three hundred guests.
Political donors.
Business executives.
Family.
I had been pulled into a private conversation with two investors when Alina disappeared.
Luca had returned fifteen minutes later and told me she'd gone upstairs to rest.
I had believed him.
“What happened?”
Alina rubbed her arms.
“I became dizzy after the tea. I went toward the powder room, but I barely made it into the hallway.”
“And Luca found you?”
“Yes.”
“He called a doctor?”
“He called Dr. Brennan personally.”
I frowned.
“How did he have her number?”
“He said she'd treated one of his friends.”
That didn't feel right.
Luca never remembered doctors' names.
He barely remembered his own dentist appointments.
“Why didn't he call me?”
“I asked him not to.”
My anger broke through.
“Why?”
“Because you were closing the Tokyo merger.”
I stared at her.
“You collapsed and thought a merger mattered more?”
Her eyes flashed.
“This is exactly why I didn't tell you.”
“What?”
“You're angry.”
“Of course I'm angry.”
“At me.”
“No.”
“You're looking at me like I betrayed you.”
I stepped closer.
“I'm looking at you like I almost lost you and nobody thought I deserved to know.”
Her expression softened.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I said the thing that had lived inside me for three years.
“You are the first person I want to know about.”
Her breath caught.
I continued before fear could stop me.
“When something happens, you're the person I look for.”
“Dante…”
“When I travel, I hate hotel rooms because you're not in them.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“When you fall asleep reading, I take your glasses off because you're impossible to wake.”
A shaky laugh escaped her.
“And every Sunday, I put brown sugar in my coffee because the first Sunday after our wedding, you accidentally handed me yours.”
Her lips parted.
I had never told her that.
“I thought you liked it.”
“I hate sweet coffee.”
She actually laughed.
Then cried immediately afterward.
I reached for her.
Stopped.
For three years, I had never assumed I had the right to touch her.
Alina noticed.
Slowly, she took my hand herself.
The contact nearly undid me.
Then my phone rang.
Luca.
Of course.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Dante, listen carefully.”
His voice was tense.
“What happened?”
“Do not bring Alina to the main house tomorrow.”
My grip tightened.
“Why?”
A pause.
Then:
“I found something in Mother's safe.”
“What?”
“Medical invoices.”
My heartbeat changed.
“What kind?”
“Private laboratory testing.”
I looked at Alina.
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
The week of the gala.
I closed my eyes.
“Whose name?”
Luca answered:
“Alina's.”
May you like
Then he whispered the part that made my blood run cold.
“Dante, Mother had your wife tested before Alina even knew she was sick.”
