Vanessa’s Father
Chapter 09 - Vanessa’s Father
Dominic Bellini invited us to breakfast.
That was what powerful cowards did. They put crimes on linen napkins and called them meetings.
By seven in the morning, Nico was asleep in Luca’s guest room with both red mittens on the table beside him. Sal sat in a chair outside the door and refused to move. My father slept on the sofa in Luca’s private study under a wool blanket worth more than our monthly rent. Vanessa sat by the window, still in last night’s gown, mascara gone, diamonds removed.
Without the jewelry, she looked younger.
Not softer. Just more tired.
Luca had not slept. Neither had I.
I stood near the study door because I had not yet learned where a housekeeper stands after she becomes evidence.
Dominic Bellini arrived at eight with two attorneys, one priestly smile, and a camel coat draped over his shoulders.
He kissed Vanessa on the forehead.
She did not move.
“My poor girl,” he said. “What have they dragged you into?”
She looked at him. “You knew Enzo took Nico.”
Dominic sighed. “Children are often safer away from panic.”
Luca stood behind his father’s desk. “Sit down.”
Dominic’s smile thinned. “I remember when Giuseppe used to say that to me.”
“I am not my father.”
“No. He understood compromise.”
“He understood family.”
Dominic removed his gloves finger by finger. “He understood that families are expensive.”
One attorney placed a folder on the desk.
Dominic tapped it. “Nico’s guardianship status is complicated. His mother is dead. His father is dead. His paternal family concealed him. His care has been funded irregularly through private channels, some of them under fraudulent names.”
His eyes flicked toward Sal.
Sal lifted his chin.
Dominic continued. “A court may not look kindly on men with your reputation attempting sudden custody.”
Luca smiled slightly.
It was the kind of smile that explained why people feared him.
“You came here to threaten me with family court?”
“I came to offer stability.”
“For Nico?”
“For everyone.”
Dominic opened the folder.
Inside lay a contract.
Marriage settlement. Property consolidation. Discretionary trust modification. Words like silk ribbons around a knife.
“If the engagement proceeds,” Dominic said, “Vanessa and you become the most suitable family unit. Nico’s share can be folded into a managed trust. He will be educated, protected, and kept far away from men who confuse sentiment with leadership.”
Vanessa whispered, “You were going to use my marriage to take his inheritance.”
Dominic looked at her with mild disappointment. “I was going to save you from irrelevance.”
She flinched.
I hated him then more than I hated Enzo. Enzo had at least looked like a snake. Dominic wore fatherhood like a tailored coat.
Luca picked up the contract and dropped it in the trash.
Dominic sighed. “Dramatic.”
Luca leaned forward. “Where are the original trust documents?”
“With counsel.”
“Which counsel?”
“The kind who bills more than your maid will earn in a lifetime.”
The room went still.
Luca’s eyes hardened.
Before he could speak, I did.
“Probably still less than your daughter’s conscience cost.”
Every face turned to me.
My father, half-awake on the sofa, muttered, “That’s my girl.”
Dominic’s smile disappeared.
“Careful, Miss Reed. Servants who wander into family matters often find themselves unemployed.”
“I was unemployed the moment your daughter called Sal disposable.”
Vanessa looked at me then. Something unreadable passed between us. Not friendship. Never that. Recognition, maybe, between two women who had both spent years obeying men and paying different prices for it.
Dominic turned back to Luca. “Control your staff.”
Luca’s voice was quiet. “Emma is not staff in this conversation.”
The words struck me in a place I had not protected.
Dominic noticed.
Men like him always noticed the soft places.
“How sweet,” he said. “The maid has been promoted to moral compass.”
Vanessa stood.
“No.”
Her father turned.
She walked to the desk and picked up his folder. Her hands shook, but her voice did not.
“You told me Nico was being hidden from Luca because Luca would kill him.”
Dominic stared.
“You told me Marco betrayed the family. You told me Grace sold information. You told me if I married Luca, I could protect the boy quietly afterward.”
“Vanessa.”
“No.” Her face crumpled, but she held the folder tighter. “You made me cruel and called it training.”
Dominic’s expression chilled. “Do not confuse regret with courage.”
She opened the folder and removed a small flash drive taped inside the back cover.
Dominic went perfectly still.
Luca saw it.
So did I.
Vanessa looked at the drive as if she had not known it was there.
“What is this?” she whispered.
Dominic moved toward her.
Marco stepped between them.
Luca held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
But before Vanessa could, her phone lit on the desk.
May you like
A message appeared from an unknown number.
ASK YOUR MAID WHAT HER MOTHER SIGNED.
