Chapter 2 - The Letter Beneath the Papers
Luciano caught the door before it shut.
He pulled it open.
The hallway was empty.
“Stay here,” he told the midwife.
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Luciano.”
He looked at her hand.
She released him.
“Kate needs you calm.”
“Someone was inside this room.”
“And Kate is upstairs trying not to deliver a baby eleven weeks early.”
That stopped him.
Luciano looked toward the staircase.
The midwife was right.
For most of his adult life, Luciano had solved problems by moving toward them harder than anyone else.
Kate had once loved that about him.
Later, she had hated it.
Because eventually every problem became something Luciano could defeat except the one thing Kate actually needed from him.
Presence.
He looked at the photograph again.
The man beside Kate was Adrian Vale.
Luciano’s longtime legal adviser.
More importantly, Adrian had been the person who told Luciano that Kate wanted all future communication handled through attorneys.
Luciano turned toward the midwife.
“What do you know about this?”
“Less than you think.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
“My name is Margaret Hale.”
“I know who you are.”
“No, you know I’m Kate’s midwife. You don’t know why.”
Luciano waited.
Margaret looked upstairs before lowering her voice.
“Kate hired me privately because she was afraid.”
“Of me?”
Margaret’s expression softened.
“No.”
That single word struck him harder than accusation would have.
“Then who?”
“She never gave me a name.”
“Did she mention Adrian Vale?”
Margaret looked at the photograph.
“I saw him here yesterday.”
Luciano’s fingers tightened around the paper.
“Why?”
“He said he was handling legal arrangements for Kate.”
“What arrangements?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Luciano unfolded Kate’s letter again.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
He began reading.
Luciano,
I don’t know whether you will answer this one either, but I have to keep trying. I found out three days after you left.
I’m pregnant.
He stopped.
Three days.
Kate had known almost immediately after he left.
The next paragraph blurred before his eyes.
I called you. I emailed. I contacted your office. Adrian told me you had asked him to handle communication because you needed distance. I don’t know if that is true anymore.
Luciano looked up.
“I never told Adrian that.”
Margaret said nothing.
He continued.
I know our last argument was terrible. I know I said things I regret. But I never said I wanted our marriage over.
Luciano closed his eyes.
He remembered their final night.
Kate had stood in the library with tears on her face.
I cannot keep living like this, Luciano.
He had heard: I cannot keep living with you.
Maybe that was never what she had said.
He continued reading.
If you truly want a divorce, I will not use this baby to stop you. But you deserve to know you are going to be a father.
Luciano lowered the page.
For seven months, he had believed Kate had cut him out.
For seven months, Kate had believed he knew about their child and chose not to come home.
“Where was this letter?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“It appeared in my case.”
“Then someone wanted you to see it now.”
“Or someone failed to destroy it.”
Margaret looked uneasy.
Luciano checked the envelope.
No postage.
No stamp.
Meaning Kate might have handed it directly to someone.
“Why would Adrian interfere?”
“I don’t know.”
Luciano stared at the photograph.
Adrian was more than an attorney.
They had known each other for fifteen years.
Adrian knew the structure of Luciano’s companies, his properties, his travel schedules.
He knew his marriage.
He knew exactly how much Luciano loved Kate.
And exactly how fragile things had become before Europe.
Luciano took out his phone.
He called Adrian.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
He sent one message.
Come to Hawthorne Ridge.
Then another.
Now.
Margaret studied him.
“What are you going to do?”
“Ask questions.”
“Like you asked Kate whether the baby was yours?”
Luciano looked at her sharply.
Margaret did not retreat.
“She spent months believing you knew.”
“I didn’t.”
“She doesn’t know that yet.”
“I just proved our calls were being blocked.”
“You proved something interfered with the calls. You haven’t proved who did it.”
Luciano hated cautious language.
Tonight he needed it.
He put the letter back into the envelope.
“Does Kate know you know about this?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way until she’s stable.”
Margaret nodded.
A cry came from upstairs.
Luciano was already moving.
He reached the bedroom but stopped outside.
One attendant hurried toward Margaret.
“Contractions are closer.”
Margaret entered immediately.
Luciano remained at the threshold.
Kate saw him.
For one second, fear disappeared from her face.
Something else replaced it.
Relief.
Then she remembered herself.
“What are you doing?”
“Standing here.”
“Why?”
“Because you told me not to come closer.”
Despite everything, Kate almost smiled.
Almost.
Another contraction hit.
Luciano’s hand closed around the doorframe.
He wanted to cross the room.
He wanted to take her hand.
He wanted to tell her he had found the letter.
But Margaret’s warning remained in his mind.
Kate needed calm.
So he stayed exactly where she had told him to stay.
Minutes stretched.
Then twenty.
Then forty.
The contractions eased slightly.
Margaret finally nodded to him.
“Better.”
Luciano exhaled.
Kate watched him.
“You look terrible.”
He almost laughed.
“You’re criticizing my appearance right now?”
“It gives me something to do.”
There she was.
For one tiny second, there was the Kate he remembered.
Luciano lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
He had too many answers.
“For asking if the baby was mine.”
Kate looked away.
“I would have wondered too.”
“No.”
Her eyes returned.
“I shouldn’t have.”
Silence.
Luciano stepped half a pace into the room.
“I didn’t know.”
Kate’s face changed.
He continued.
“I didn’t know you were pregnant.”
She stared at him.
“I told you.”
“I know.”
“I sent you the ultrasound.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Luciano took the envelope from inside his shirt.
Kate recognized it instantly.
Her lips parted.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was inside my case.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You wrote it?”
“Yes.”
“How did you send it?”
Kate’s breathing became shallow.
“I gave it to Adrian.”
There it was.
Luciano’s expression did not change, but something inside him went cold.
“When?”
“Twenty-eight weeks ago.”
“Personally?”
“Yes.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That he would deliver it to you in Paris.”
Luciano looked toward Margaret.
Kate followed his gaze.
“Why are you looking at her?”
Margaret approached the bed.
“Kate, stay calm.”
“What is happening?”
Luciano crouched several feet from the bed, keeping his promise not to touch her.
“Adrian never gave it to me.”
Kate stared.
“He said you read it.”
“I never saw it.”
“No.”
“He lied.”
“No.”
“Kate.”
“No, because after that I sent another one.”
“I didn’t get it.”
“And the photograph.”
“I didn’t get it.”
“The doctor’s report.”
“Nothing.”
Her face crumpled.
For months, Kate had survived one brutal belief: Luciano knew.
He knew she was carrying his child.
He knew she was alone.
He knew she was frightened.
And he stayed away.
Now that certainty was breaking apart.
“If you didn’t know,” she whispered, “why did you send the divorce papers?”
Luciano looked down.
“Because Adrian told me you wanted them.”
Kate went completely still.
“He told you what?”
“He said you wanted the marriage dissolved before the end of the year.”
“I never said that.”
“I know that now.”
“No, Luciano. You don’t understand.”
Her eyes filled with fear.
“He came here yesterday.”
“I know.”
“He brought documents.”
“What documents?”
“He said they came from you.”
Luciano stood.
“What did you sign?”
“Nothing.”
Relief flashed across his face.
Kate continued.
“He got angry.”
“How angry?”
“Not violent. Just… different.”
“What did he say?”
Kate hesitated.
“He said if I refused to sign, you would come yourself.”
Luciano looked toward the leather case downstairs.
That was exactly what had happened.
Adrian had predicted it because he had arranged it.
Kate’s hand moved protectively across her abdomen.
“There’s more.”
Luciano waited.
“After Adrian left, I found something in the nursery.”
“What?”
“A phone.”
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is it?”
Kate looked toward the wardrobe.
“Behind the bottom drawer.”
Luciano moved.
Margaret stopped him.
“I’ll get it.”
She crossed the room and opened the wardrobe.
The bottom drawer came free after several pulls.
Behind it lay a small black phone.
Margaret picked it up with a towel and handed it to Luciano.
The screen was dead.
Luciano pressed the power button.
Nothing.
“Charger?”
Kate shook her head.
Luciano studied the device.
It was inexpensive.
Disposable.
Not the kind of phone anyone in the household normally used.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I didn’t know who to trust.”
That sentence hurt him more than he expected.
Once, Luciano had been the first person she called when she was frightened.
Now he had become someone she had been told not to call.
He put the phone into his pocket.
“Rest.”
Kate watched him.
“Where are you going?”
“Downstairs.”
“To do what?”
“Charge a phone.”
“That’s all?”
He understood what she was really asking.
“That's all.”
He reached the doorway.
“Luciano.”
He turned.
“If Adrian comes here…”
“He won’t get near you.”
Kate looked at him for several seconds.
“I remember when that used to make me feel safe.”
Luciano had no answer.
He went downstairs.
One of the household staff found a compatible cable.
The phone came alive after several minutes.
No passcode.
No contacts.
No photographs.
Only messages.
Luciano opened them.
Most were deleted.
One thread remained.
The messages had been sent to a number without a name.
He read the first.
She still believes he knows about the pregnancy.
Another:
L. believes she wants the divorce.
Another:
Keep their calls separated until the transfer is complete.
Luciano’s eyes narrowed.
Transfer?
He scrolled.
The final message had been sent yesterday.
She refused to sign.
The response arrived one minute later.
Then bring him home. The shock should finish what the silence started.
Luciano stared at the words.
A new message suddenly appeared.
He had not typed anything.
Whoever was on the other end believed the phone still belonged to its original owner.
The message contained only five words.
Is Aruri reading this now?
Luciano did not move.
Then another message appeared.
Tell him to check the nursery.
Luciano looked toward the staircase.
The nursery.
He climbed quickly but quietly.
Kate’s room remained closed.
He passed it.
At the end of the hallway stood the nursery door.
He opened it.
The room was dim.
An unfinished crib stood against one wall.
Boxes of baby clothes sat unopened.
Luciano switched on the lamp.
Something had been placed in the crib.
A folder.
On top was a photograph of himself and Kate taken on their wedding day.
Someone had drawn a line between them.
Beneath it lay a financial document.
Luciano picked it up.
At the bottom was Adrian Vale’s signature.
But Adrian’s was not the signature that made Luciano stop breathing.
There was another name beside it.
May you like
A member of Luciano’s own family.
And footsteps had just stopped outside the nursery door.
