Chapter 8 – THE NEW SEAT AT THE TABLE

Two weeks later, the Moretti mansion looked entirely different.

The heavy, oppressive curtains that Vanessa had always kept drawn were pulled wide open, flooding the dining room with warm afternoon sunlight.

The house was quiet, but it was a peaceful quiet.

I walked into the dining room, but I wasn’t wearing a maid’s uniform. I was wearing a soft blue dress.

At the head of the long mahogany table sat Isabella Moretti. She looked frail, but the color had returned to her cheeks. She was drinking tea, smiling as she watched the garden through the window.

Luca sat beside her, reviewing some paperwork.

And at the other end of the table sat Antonio.

I walked over to Antonio and tapped his shoulder. He looked up, his eyes lighting up with joy.

I signed to him. My mother is coming home tomorrow.

Antonio clapped his hands together, a massive, toothy grin spreading across his face.

The confession Antonio had found in the vault had changed everything. Robert Bellini was sitting in a federal penitentiary without bail. Vanessa had been stripped of her assets and kicked out of the city.

And Luca had paid every single one of my mother’s medical bills.

Not just the past ones. He had set up a trust to cover her care for the rest of her life.

“Emily,” Luca called out from the head of the table.

I walked over. “Yes, Mr. Moretti?”

He frowned slightly. “I told you, it’s Luca.”

I smiled. “Yes, Luca.”

He slid a heavy, embossed folder across the table toward me.

“I had my lawyers look into your brother’s school,” Luca said. “The deaf academy he wanted to attend in Boston?”

My breath caught. “Yes?”

“His tuition is paid in full. Room and board, travel expenses, everything. He starts in the fall.”

Tears sprang to my eyes. I looked at Luca, completely overwhelmed.

“I can’t accept this,” I whispered. “It’s too much.”

Isabella reached out and gently covered my hand with hers.

“Emily,” Isabella said, her voice stronger now. “You gave me my son back. You gave my father-in-law his voice back. There is nothing in this world we could give you that would equal what you’ve done for this family.”

I looked at Antonio. He was watching us, nodding proudly.

Luca stood up. He pulled out the chair next to his grandfather.

“Sit down, Emily,” Luca said softly. “You’re family now.”

I looked at the empty chair. The seat that Vanessa used to occupy, sneering at me while I poured champagne.

I walked over and sat down.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t serving the dinner. I was sharing it.

But just as the staff brought out the food, the heavy wooden doors of the dining room swung open.

One of Luca’s guards stepped inside, looking nervous.

“Boss,” the guard said. “We have a problem at the front gate.”

Luca’s demeanor instantly shifted back to the cold, calculating man who ran Chicago. “What is it?”

“It’s a woman,” the guard said. “She says she’s Vanessa’s mother. And she’s holding a child.”