Chapter 5 – The Signature I Never Gave

“I didn’t sign that.”

My voice came out much smaller than I intended.

Pryce held the document between two fingers.

“Miss Miller, I suggest you think carefully.”

“I don’t need to think. I’ve never seen that paper.”

Vanessa moved toward me.

“Grace, perhaps you signed something without reading it.”

I looked at her.

Something about the way she said it made my stomach tighten.

“On Thursday,” she continued, “you signed several employment forms.”

I remembered immediately.

She’d come into the mansion’s breakfast room while I was polishing silver.

She’d handed me a sheet explaining that my overtime hours were being corrected.

“Just sign at the bottom,” she’d said.

I’d thanked her.

I’d been worried about my paycheck that week.

My rent had increased, and I was trying to save enough money to finish the bookkeeping course I’d started at community college.

I’d signed without asking questions.

Because when someone controls your paycheck, you learn not to make unnecessary trouble.

Now I stared at the document in Pryce’s hand.

“Mrs. Bellini, what did you give me on Thursday?”

Vanessa didn’t answer.

Luca turned toward her.

“Vanessa?”

“It was a payroll adjustment.”

“Then why does Grace’s signature appear on a restaurant ownership agreement?”

“I don’t know.”

Pryce interrupted.

“Signing a document creates responsibilities, regardless of whether somebody later regrets it.”

I felt my face burn.

“I didn’t witness anything.”

He regarded me calmly.

“Then somebody has made a serious allegation of fraud.”

Luca stepped between us.

“Don’t try to frighten her.”

Pryce closed his briefcase.

“I’m explaining the implications.”

“No,” Luca said. “You’re trying to make a twenty-six-year-old employee afraid to contradict you.”

I nearly cried.

Not because Luca had raised his voice.

He hadn’t.

But because he understood exactly what Pryce was doing.

Rosa reached for my hand.

“Grace was at your house Thursday afternoon, wasn’t she, Luca?”

I nodded quickly.

“From seven in the morning until almost ten that night.”

Vanessa looked away.

Luca glanced at the timestamp on the agreement.

“Three ten in the afternoon.”

He turned toward me.

“Where were you at three ten?”

“In the mansion’s pantry. I remember because Mrs. Bellini asked me to prepare the silver tea service for her mother’s visit.”

Vanessa’s face tightened.

Rosa looked toward her.

“Your mother was there?”

“Yes,” Vanessa whispered.

Luca returned his attention to Pryce.

“Grace couldn’t have witnessed Rosie sign this in her apartment if she was working forty minutes away.”

“Perhaps she signed afterward.”

“Then the witness declaration is false.”

Pryce said nothing.

I suddenly remembered something else.

“Mr. Moretti, there should be a copy of my Thursday payroll form.”

“Where?”

“The household office keeps a duplicate whenever hours are corrected.”

Luca nodded.

“We’ll get it.”

Vanessa looked toward the fireplace.

“Luca, this is becoming ridiculous.”

He faced her.

“What’s ridiculous is that two women are telling me their names were used without permission, and you’re more concerned about the inconvenience.”

Her eyes filled.

“You have no idea what I’ve been trying to handle.”

“Then tell me.”

For a moment, I thought she might.

Instead, she whispered, “Not here.”

Rosa slowly removed her apron.

She folded it across her lap.

“I signed a paper Tuesday,” she said.

We all looked at her.

“Vanessa brought it to my apartment. She told me an inspector needed permission to examine the old kitchen equipment.”

Pryce adjusted his glasses.

“And did you read it?”

“Yes.”

“What did it say?”

“Permission to inspect equipment.”

“Are you certain?”

Rosa looked straight at him.

“I may be seventy-two, young man, but I can still read.”

Pryce didn’t respond.

Rosa continued.

“I signed because she said the refrigerator might not pass inspection. I wasn’t about to let anyone get sick from food I prepared.”

She looked toward Vanessa.

“You knew I’d sign that.”

Vanessa’s mouth trembled.

“Rosa—”

“You came to my home. You sat at Sal’s old kitchen table. You drank the coffee I made you.”

A tear slid down Rosa’s cheek.

“And then you told me Luca didn’t want me at his father’s funeral because I’d become a burden.”

Luca went completely still.

“What?”

Rosa turned toward him.

“She said your father wanted a private family service.”

I saw the pain cross Luca’s face.

“Rosie, I asked where you were. I waited for you.”

“I know that now.”

He knelt beside her chair.

His tattooed hands gently covered hers.

“You should have been beside me.”

Rosa began crying.

“I wanted to say goodbye to Frank.”

Luca lowered his forehead against her hands.

For several seconds, he couldn’t speak.

Then he stood.

“Vanessa, why?”

She wiped beneath one eye.

“I thought bringing Rosa would upset things. Your father had been gone for months before the memorial arrangements were completed, and everyone was already arguing about the restaurant.”

Luca shook his head.

“You made her believe she wasn’t family.”

Vanessa looked away.

Pryce checked his watch again.

“I have another appointment.”

Luca stopped him.

“Before you leave, give us the purchaser’s legal name.”

Pryce hesitated.

Then he placed a copy of the transfer summary on the table.

“The proposed assignment was arranged through a private holding account.”

I looked at the page.

There were several company names.

Most meant nothing to me.

But Rosa suddenly pointed toward the bottom.

“Grace, read that.”

I leaned closer.

Under Proposed Purchaser, a name appeared.

Not Elliot Pryce.

Not his development company.

A woman’s name.

I read it aloud.

“Celia Bellini.”

Vanessa grabbed the edge of the table.

Luca looked at her.

“That’s your mother.”

Her face drained of color.

Then she whispered something that made the whole room fall silent.

“My mother doesn’t even know she’s buying this restaurant.”