Chapter 3 - THE COST OF KEEPING SECRETS
"You still lied to me."
"I did," Dominic said.
"You left me alone when I needed you."
His expression changed.
"I know."
"Do you?"
Elena's voice rose despite herself.
"Because when I was eight months pregnant and frightened something was wrong, you disappeared for an entire night."
"I was at the hospital with Matteo."
The admission silenced her.
"What happened?"
"He had trouble breathing. It wasn't serious in the end, but they admitted him overnight for observation."
Elena looked toward Valentina.
"You were there?"
She nodded.
"And Dominic?"
"He stayed until the doctor said Matteo was safe."
Elena looked down at Luca.
She remembered that night.
She had called Dominic four times.
He had sent one message.
Family problem. I'll explain when I can.
The cruelty of those words had never been obvious until now.
Not intentional cruelty.
Something perhaps more complicated.
Cowardice disguised as protection.
"You had one child in a hospital," Elena said, "and a pregnant wife at home."
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
"Yes."
"And you decided one of us deserved the truth and the other didn't."
"I decided the fewer people who knew about Gabriel's son, the safer Matteo would be."
"Don't turn this into security."
"I'm not."
"You are. You always do."
Elena wiped tears from her cheeks.
"When you don't know how to explain yourself, you call something protection."
That struck him.
She saw it.
For years, Dominic had built his identity around protecting people.
His mother.
His younger brother.
His employees.
Elena.
Now she wondered whether protection had simply become the word he used whenever he made decisions for everyone else.
Valentina rose.
"I should go."
Elena stopped her.
"No."
Valentina looked surprised.
"I have questions for you too."
She sat again.
Elena studied her.
"Why did you come here today?"
Valentina looked at Dominic.
He answered.
"She didn't know I was here."
"Then why?"
Valentina swallowed.
"I came to see you."
"Me?"
"I've tried three times."
Elena frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"After Luca was born."
Valentina opened her handbag and pulled out three sealed envelopes.
Each bore Elena's name.
"The first time, your security wouldn't let me upstairs. The second time, Dominic found out I was coming and asked me to wait. Yesterday I made it to the maternity floor, but you were sleeping."
Dominic stared at her.
"You didn't tell me that."
"No."
"Why were you trying to see me?" Elena asked.
Valentina placed the envelopes on the bedside table.
"Because I couldn't continue this."
"What?"
"Living like I'm waiting for permission to exist."
Her voice remained calm, but there was pain beneath it.
"Gabriel loved his family. He wanted Matteo to know all of you. Instead, I've spent six months entering buildings through side doors because someone might photograph us. I've pretended Dominic and I barely know each other in public. I've watched people assume things about me because no one can explain why he pays for Matteo's security."
Elena absorbed that.
"I thought if I told you myself, at least one lie would end."
Dominic looked frustrated.
"Valentina, we discussed—"
"No," Elena said.
He stopped.
She looked at her husband.
"You don't get to manage the room anymore."
For once, Don Moretti obeyed.
A nurse entered several minutes later to check Elena's blood pressure.
The three adults fell silent while she worked.
Luca stirred.
His face scrunched.
A small cry escaped him.
Elena immediately reached toward the bassinet.
Before she could lift him, Dominic took one involuntary step forward.
Then stopped himself.
Elena noticed.
"You can pick him up."
Dominic seemed startled.
"Are you sure?"
"He's your son."
He washed his hands at the sink, then approached the bassinet.
When he lifted Luca, his movements were stiff.
Too careful.
Luca continued fussing.
Dominic looked uncomfortable.
"You have to support his head."
"I am."
"Not like he's made of glass."
"He practically is."
Despite everything, Elena nearly smiled.
Then Luca settled against Dominic's chest.
Dominic froze.
The baby's tiny hand curled around the edge of his shirt.
Something changed in Dominic's face.
It was subtle.
But Elena saw it.
Fear.
Not disinterest.
Fear.
"Why haven't you held him?" she asked.
Dominic stared at Luca.
"I have."
"For thirty seconds at a time."
He didn't answer.
Valentina looked away, as if she knew something Elena didn't.
Elena's stomach tightened.
"What is it?"
Dominic shook his head.
"Nothing."
"Dominic."
His expression became guarded.
Again.
The wall.
Elena was suddenly exhausted by it.
"Give me Luca."
He returned the baby carefully.
"You should rest."
"No. You should finally answer every question I ask."
Her eyes moved toward Valentina.
"What else don't I know?"
Valentina looked at Dominic.
He gave a small shake of his head.
Elena laughed once.
It contained no humor.
"There. That. You just did it again."
"Elena—"
"Either she tells me, or both of you leave."
Valentina's hands tightened around the strap of her handbag.
Then she said quietly, "Dominic believes he failed Gabriel."
Elena looked at him.
"Failed him how?"
Dominic stood.
"That's enough."
"No," Valentina replied. "It isn't."
He faced her.
"That has nothing to do with Elena."
"It has everything to do with her if you're using it to avoid your own son."
Silence.
Elena's heart began beating faster.
"Dominic?"
For several seconds, he stared out the window.
Then he said, "The morning Gabriel died, he called me."
Elena waited.
"I didn't answer."
His voice had changed.
Gone was the authority that made rooms fall silent.
He simply sounded like a man remembering the worst call he never took.
"We'd argued the previous evening. He wanted to show me the financial records he'd found. I told him I was tired of him seeing conspiracies everywhere."
"You argued?"
"He said I had become like our father. That I believed keeping control mattered more than trusting anyone."
Elena felt the irony settle heavily between them.
"What happened next?"
"He left me a voicemail."
Dominic swallowed.
"I didn't listen until after the accident."
"What did it say?"
"He apologized. He said he'd overreacted. He said he was driving to meet someone who could explain the accounts."
"Did he say who?"
"No."
Elena understood then.
"You think if you'd answered..."
"I might have stopped him."
"You don't know that."
"No."
"But you believe it."
He stared at Luca.
"I was his older brother."
Valentina spoke gently.
"Gabriel made his own decision that morning."
Dominic didn't respond.
Elena finally saw something she'd been too hurt to notice over the previous twelve days.
Dominic wasn't uncomfortable with Luca because he didn't care.
He was terrified of loving another child he might fail.
It did not excuse the lies.
But it explained the distance.
And explanations mattered.
May you like
Not because they erased pain.
Because they told you where it came from.
