Chapter 3: The Initials in the Wax
Mr.
Bruno placed the envelope beneath the brass lamp.
“V.R.,” he said.
“Vincent Romano.”
Isabella descended the remaining steps.
Her hand gripped the railing, but her voice stayed cold.
“My father has used that seal on hundreds of letters.”
“This is the Moretti seal,” Alessandro said.
“How did Vincent get it?”
“You are asking the wrong person.”
“No.” Rosa rose with Lily in her arms.
“He is asking the woman who knew the letter was forged before anyone said so.”
Isabella’s eyes moved to Rosa.
“Be careful, maid.”
Alessandro stepped between them.
“Her name is Rosa.”
“And she slept with you while she worked beneath your roof.”
Rosa flinched, and Lily stirred against her shoulder.
Alessandro lowered his voice.
“You will not speak to her that way again.”
“Why?
Because you suddenly decided the servant’s child belongs to you?”
“Because you frightened a 3-year-old girl in my home.”
Isabella lifted her chin.
“Your home was meant to become mine.”
Mr.
Bruno turned the envelope over again.
“This wax came from the old Moretti seal kept in Don Giuseppe’s study.
It disappeared shortly before his passing.”
“Then your own father may have written it,” Isabella said.
“He was unable to hold a pen by that date,” Mr.
Bruno replied.
“I wrote his correspondence for him.”
Isabella’s smile vanished.
Rosa shifted Lily higher.
“How did Vincent know about me?”
No one answered until Alessandro looked at Isabella.
“Did you know Lily existed before you came here?”
“I knew there were rumors.”
“She was not a rumor,” Rosa said.
“She was a baby who woke every night while I wondered whether someone would come through our door.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“You looked at her the first day you arrived as if you already hated her.”
Isabella crossed the marble floor until only the table separated them.
“My father spent years arranging peace between our families.
Do you imagine he would let one careless affair destroy it?”
Alessandro’s palm came down on the table.
“So Vincent did know.”
“I said no such thing.”
“You said exactly enough.”
A small voice rose from Rosa’s shoulder.
“Mama?”
Rosa kissed Lily’s hair.
“I’m here.”
Lily opened her eyes and saw Alessandro.
Her fingers tightened around the gold button.
“Pretty,” she murmured.
Alessandro looked at the button.
“Where did she find that?”
“Under the console,” Rosa said.
Mr.
Bruno held out his hand.
“May I?”
Lily hid it against her chest.
“It is all right,” Rosa whispered.
The child reluctantly placed it in Mr.
Bruno’s palm.
He examined the raised pattern, then looked toward Isabella’s white robe.
One fastening near her waist was missing.
“This came from Miss Romano’s robe,” he said.
Isabella reached for it.
“Then give it back.”
Mr.
Bruno closed his fingers.
“There is something caught beneath the rim.”
He carried the button to the lamp and removed a folded sliver of paper.
Isabella moved so quickly that her coffee cup struck the floor.
“Do not open that.”
Alessandro blocked her hand.
Mr.
Bruno unfolded the paper.
A telephone number and two words had been written across it.
Hudson Genetics.
Rosa’s lips parted.
“That is a testing laboratory.”
Alessandro faced Isabella.
“Why were you carrying its number?”
“I was arranging a test.”
“For whom?”
Isabella’s gaze dropped to Lily.
Before she could answer, tires crushed the gravel outside.
Three black cars stopped beyond the front steps.
The young bodyguard entered the hallway.
“Boss, Vincent Romano is at the gate.”
Alessandro looked at Isabella.
Her fear disappeared, and a slow smile replaced it.
May you like
“Let him in,” she said.
“My father has come to take back what belongs to him.”
