Chapter 2 - THE SISTER MY MOTHER HID FROM THE WORLD
Luca Moretti stared at me as though I'd just brought someone back from the dead.
"Your sister?"
I nodded slowly.
"That's what my mother told me."
His eyes moved toward Leo.
The baby rested peacefully against my shoulder, one tiny hand still gripping my necklace.
"Elena never mentioned having a sister."
I swallowed.
"She never mentioned having a husband."
Silence spread across the table.
Then Luca spoke quietly.
"She was my wife."
My hands tightened around Leo.
A strange coldness moved through my chest.
"Was?"
Luca looked down.
"She died five months ago."
The restaurant seemed to disappear around me.
Five months.
That explained the grief in his eyes.
The exhaustion.
The way his men watched the baby as if protecting him from something nobody understood.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
Luca nodded.
"Thank you."
I looked down at Leo.
He was ten months old.
His mother had died when he was only five months old.
Suddenly, the way he'd reached for me felt heartbreaking.
"How did she die?"
Luca hesitated.
"An accident."
The older man beside him shifted.
Luca noticed.
"What, Dominic?"
Dominic Russo, his security chief, looked uncomfortable.
"Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere private."
I looked toward the dining room.
People were staring.
Greg appeared beside us.
"Avery, you're needed in the kitchen."
Luca looked up.
"She's speaking with me."
Greg immediately stiffened.
"Of course, Mr. Moretti."
Then Luca turned toward me.
"Would you allow us to speak after your shift?"
I hesitated.
Every instinct told me to walk away.
Men like Luca Moretti were dangerous.
My mother had raised me to avoid men who believed their money made them untouchable.
But Leo had fallen asleep in my arms.
And somewhere in my mother's past was a sister I'd never truly known.
"I finish at eleven."
Luca nodded.
"I'll wait."
For the next two hours, I worked mechanically.
Poured water.
Delivered desserts.
Apologized to customers.
But my mind kept returning to the photograph.
Elena.
My sister.
Married to a mafia boss.
Dead at twenty-nine.
And mother to the child who had somehow recognized my necklace.
At eleven, Luca was waiting outside.
No dramatic entourage.
Just a dark SUV and Dominic standing beside it.
I refused the offer of a ride.
Instead, we spoke in the restaurant's empty private dining room.
Luca placed several photographs on the table.
Elena laughing on a beach.
Elena holding newborn Leo.
Elena wearing the silver pendant.
Then one photograph made my breath catch.
Elena stood beside my mother.
Both smiling.
I touched the image.
"Mom."
Luca watched me.
"When was this taken?"
He turned it over.
Eight years earlier.
I swallowed.
"My mother told me Elena moved overseas when I was nineteen."
"Elena told me she had no living family."
I stared.
"Why would she say that?"
Luca shook his head.
"I don't know."
Then Dominic stepped forward.
"There's something you should see."
He opened a folder.
Inside was a copy of Elena's death certificate.
I studied it.
Then noticed something.
The place of death was listed as a private medical facility.
Not a highway.
Not an accident scene.
I looked toward Luca.
"You said she died in an accident."
His face changed.
"She did."
I pointed toward the document.
"Then why does this say she died at a clinic?"
Luca went completely still.
Dominic looked away.
I slowly raised my eyes.
And asked the question that would eventually destroy everything Luca believed.
"Mr. Moretti, did you actually see your wife's body?"
For several seconds, he couldn't answer.
May you like
Then he whispered:
"No."
