Chapter 2 – No One Can Promise Her Away

The words had barely left Lily’s mouth when Luca pushed back his chair.

“Promised her?” he repeated.

His daughter flinched.

Luca immediately crouched beside her.

“Look at me, sweetheart. Nobody gets to promise you away. You understand?”

Lily nodded, but her fingers tightened around her teddy bear.

“Even if you get married?”

“Even then.”

“What if Miss Vanessa doesn’t want me?”

Luca’s eyes filled again.

“Then Miss Vanessa and I have something very serious to discuss.”

Across the table, Vanessa stood perfectly still.

Thirty guests had heard everything.

“Luca,” she said, “you’re frightening everyone.”

He looked at her.

“My daughter just asked whether she’s allowed to keep calling me Daddy. And you’re worried about our guests?”

Vanessa swallowed.

“Eleanor only wanted to help.”

The name struck him like a blow.

“Eleanor Hart?”

Lily looked up.

“That’s Grandma’s name.”

Eleanor Hart was Elena’s mother.

Elena had been Luca’s wife, and her death three years earlier had nearly destroyed him.

I’d heard pieces of the story from Mrs. Carter.

There had been a terrible custody dispute afterward. Eleanor believed Lily would be safer away from Luca’s dangerous world.

Luca believed Eleanor wanted to take his daughter because she couldn’t forgive him for Elena’s death.

Neither had spoken to the other in three years.

Now Vanessa had brought Eleanor back into their lives without telling him.

“Explain exactly what you arranged,” Luca said.

Vanessa glanced toward the guests.

“Not here.”

“Here is where you humiliated my daughter.”

“Please.”

“Tell me.”

Vanessa pressed her palms against the table.

“Eleanor offered to have Lily stay with her while we settled into married life.”

“For how long?”

“A little while.”

“How long, Vanessa?”

“Perhaps a few months.”

I felt Lily’s hand searching for mine.

I caught it beneath the table.

Luca noticed.

“And why would my daughter need several months away from her own home?”

Vanessa’s expression hardened.

“Because you’ve never given our relationship a chance to become a real marriage. Everything revolves around Lily.”

Luca stared at her.

“She’s my child.”

“And I’m supposed to be your wife!”

The words echoed beneath the chandeliers.

Lily shrank against her father’s arm.

That was when Luca finally understood something I had been watching for months.

Vanessa didn’t simply resent Lily’s presence.

She considered the little girl competition.

Luca removed his engagement announcement from the evening’s agenda.

“The wedding arrangements are suspended,” he said.

Vanessa stepped backward.

“You can’t embarrass me like this.”

“I didn’t bring thirty people here to watch my daughter beg to stay home.”

He turned to Daniel, who had entered the dining room.

“Cancel tomorrow’s transportation. Nobody takes Lily anywhere without speaking to me directly.”

Daniel nodded.

“Already checking the driver’s instructions, boss.”

“Check every arrangement.”

Then Luca addressed the guests.

“I apologize for how this evening has ended. My daughter needs her father.”

No one argued.

Within minutes, people began collecting coats and leaving quietly.

Some avoided Vanessa’s eyes.

Others looked uncomfortable, as though remembering how they’d watched a little girl be humiliated without speaking.

I couldn’t forget that part either.

When the last guest departed, Lily’s dinner remained untouched.

Luca pulled a chair beside hers.

“Hungry, princess?”

“A little.”

He picked up her plate and carefully cut her chicken into smaller pieces.

It was such an ordinary thing.

Yet Lily watched him as though she hadn’t expected him to do it.

“Daddy?”

“Yes?”

“Will I still have my room?”

“Of course.”

“With my yellow curtains?”

“With your yellow curtains.”

“And Mommy’s picture?”

His voice softened.

“Especially Mommy’s picture.”

Lily considered that.

Then she looked at Vanessa.

“Grandma said I could have Mommy’s necklace if I came.”

Luca stopped cutting.

“What necklace?”

“The silver one. With the tiny heart.”

I saw Mrs. Carter turn away.

Luca noticed too.

“Elena’s locket?” he asked.

Lily nodded.

“She said Mommy wanted me to have it.”

Vanessa looked sharply at Mrs. Carter.

That single glance told me something was wrong.

Luca placed the knife down.

“My wife wore that necklace every day.”

His voice was quieter now.

“It disappeared around the time she died.”

Vanessa folded her arms.

“Eleanor has every right to keep her own daughter’s belongings.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

Lily tugged his sleeve.

“She said I could see the picture inside.”

“What picture, sweetheart?”

“Mommy holding me when I was a baby.”

Luca lowered his head.

For several seconds, he couldn’t speak.

Then he kissed Lily’s hair.

“You should never have been asked to choose between coming home and having something of your mother’s.”

Vanessa looked offended.

“Nobody asked her to choose.”

I finally found my voice.

“You told her the necklace was waiting at the new house.”

Vanessa’s expression changed.

“Sophie, I have tolerated quite enough from you tonight.”

Luca stood.

“Don’t speak to her that way.”

“She’s your employee.”

“And she’s been telling me the truth.”

Mrs. Carter approached the table carrying a folded linen napkin.

Her hands were trembling.

“Mr. Moretti,” she said, “there’s something you should know.”

Luca turned.

She looked from him to Lily.

“I’ve worked in this family for twenty-two years. I should have spoken sooner.”

“About what?”

Mrs. Carter’s eyes filled.

“The silver locket wasn’t stolen.”

Luca frowned.

“Then where did it go?”

“Your wife gave it to her mother.”

“When?”

Mrs. Carter took a shaky breath.

“At the hospital. Two days before Elena died.”

Luca went completely still.

I saw the memory hit him.

He had been at that hospital.

He had held his wife’s hand.

He had believed he knew everything about her final days.

“Why would Elena give Eleanor something that belonged to Lily?”

Mrs. Carter looked at the little girl, then back at him.

“Because she made her mother promise to do something.”

“What promise?”

The older woman began crying.

“Mr. Moretti, Elena was frightened about what might happen to Lily after she was gone.”

Luca’s face drained of color.

Mrs. Carter reached for the back of a chair.

Then she said the words none of us expected.

“Your wife asked Eleanor to take Lily if you ever stopped putting your daughter first.”