Chapter 9 – THE MOTHERS’ SECRET ALLIANCE

I looked at Luca, completely overwhelmed.

“Mr. Moretti, I… I have to take care of my mother. She’s sick. Her surgery recovery is taking so long, and her medical bills—”

“Are paid,” Teresa interrupted.

I turned to the old woman, stunned. “What?”

Teresa smiled softly. She reached into her navy coat pocket—the coat she had finally taken off—and pulled out a folded bank receipt. She handed it to me.

I opened it. It was a receipt for a wire transfer. Every single one of my mother’s outstanding hospital bills had been paid in full. Over forty thousand dollars. Paid yesterday.

“Mrs. Moretti,” I gasped, tears instantly springing to my eyes. “I can’t accept this. This is too much.”

“You accepted me, Hannah,” Teresa said, stepping forward and taking my hands in hers. “When everyone else treated me like a broken, useless old woman, you sat by my window with me. You listened to me. You treated me with dignity.”

Teresa looked over at Sofia, who managed a small, watery smile.

“Sofia and I planned this night for weeks,” Teresa revealed. “When she finally contacted me and told me she found Elena, we knew we had to trap Vanessa publicly. If we went to the police quietly, David would have covered his tracks and Vanessa would have bought her way out. We needed her to confess in front of forty witnesses.”

“And you needed a distraction,” I realized.

Teresa nodded. “I needed to push her to the edge. Wearing the coat. Waiting by the window. I knew it was driving her mad. But I couldn’t have done it without you standing by my side, making her believe she was losing control of the house.”

I wiped my eyes, looking at the receipt in my hand. The weight of my mother’s debt, a crushing burden I had carried for a year, was suddenly gone.

“Thank you,” I whispered, hugging the old woman tightly.

Elena, the nurse, cleared her throat.

“I must go as well,” Elena said, picking up her worn purse. “I have a flight back to Boston in the morning. I am sorry it took me three years to find my courage, Mr. Moretti.”

Luca walked over to the older woman. He took her hand and kissed the back of it respectfully.

“You came back, Elena. That’s all that matters. You gave my wife justice.”

As Elena walked out the front door, the heavy silence of the massive house returned. But it didn’t feel oppressive anymore. It felt clean. The poison had been drawn out.

Mia yawned, rubbing her eyes against her father’s shoulder.

“Daddy? Can I sleep in your bed tonight?”

Luca smiled, a genuine, soft smile that I hadn’t seen on his face since I started working there.

“Of course, sweetheart. Every night if you want.”

Sofia picked up her coat. “I’ll stay in the guest room tonight, Luca. If you’ll have me.”

“You’re family, Sofia,” Luca said firmly. “You never should have left. This is your home.”

As they started walking up the grand staircase, Teresa turned to me.

“Hannah? Would you help an old woman up the stairs?”

I smiled, offering her my arm.

“It would be my pleasure, Mrs. Moretti.”

We walked up the stairs together. When we reached her bedroom door, Teresa stopped. She reached into her pocket one last time.

She pulled out the yellow knitted glove. The one Sofia had dropped.

“She really did come back,” Teresa whispered, looking at the glove.

“She did,” I agreed. “And she’s staying.”

Teresa looked at me. Her eyes were sharp, bright, and full of life.

“Tomorrow, we will clean out the master bedroom,” Teresa said firmly. “Every trace of Vanessa Bellini will be thrown into the garbage where it belongs. And then, we are going to plant a new garden for Catherine.”

I nodded. “I’ll help you.”

“I know you will, sweetheart.”

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