Chapter 4 - THE PRICE OF SILENCE
Luca came to see me the next evening.
This time, he called first.
I almost refused.
Then I remembered Evelyn’s face in the restaurant.
I told him to meet me at a coffee shop two blocks from my apartment.
Public.
Neutral.
No children.
Luca was already there when I arrived.
He looked like a man who had aged five years in forty-eight hours.
I sat across from him.
“What did you find?”
He slid a folder toward me.
I opened it.
Bank records.
Delivery documentation.
Old corporate security logs.
A photograph of a man I recognized immediately.
Graham Pike.
“He signed for my letter.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He was paid shortly afterward.”
“By Evelyn?”
“Through her brother’s company.”
I sat back.
The room suddenly felt cold.
“Are you saying your wife paid someone to hide my pregnancy?”
“I’m saying the evidence suggests she paid someone around the same time your letter disappeared.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
Luca looked exhausted.
“And I refuse to accuse anyone without proof again.”
That sentence hit both of us.
He lowered his eyes.
“I did that once.”
I said nothing.
Luca continued.
“I let suspicion replace facts.”
“You let silence replace a marriage.”
“I know.”
“No, Luca.”
My voice sharpened.
“You don’t know.”
People at nearby tables glanced toward us.
I lowered my voice.
“I spent years believing my body was defective.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“You don’t.”
I leaned forward.
“I watched you look at me like I had become a disappointment.”
“Nia.”
“You never called me broken.”
“No.”
“You didn’t have to.”
His eyes closed.
I hated that seeing him hurt still affected me.
I hated that part of me remembered the man who used to bring me coffee in bed.
“I was wrong.”
He opened his eyes.
“I was a coward.”
I did not expect the word.
“I loved you.”
He spoke slowly.
“But every failed appointment made me feel powerless.”
“That happened to both of us.”
“I know.”
“No, you ran.”
He accepted the accusation.
“Yes.”
The anger in me weakened because he did not fight back.
Then Luca pushed another document across the table.
“What is this?”
“A fertility report from one of the doctors we used.”
I read it.
My stomach twisted.
The report said my results had been inconclusive.
Not infertile.
Not incapable of pregnancy.
Inconclusive.
I looked at Luca.
“The report we received said there was strong evidence the difficulty was on my side.”
“Yes.”
“Why are they different?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca’s voice turned cold.
“But I’m going to find out.”
My fingers tightened around the page.
There had been more than a missing letter.
Someone had manipulated information before our marriage ended.
Someone had pushed Luca toward the conclusion he was already emotionally vulnerable enough to believe.
“Evelyn?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was she involved with you before the divorce?”
“No.”
I studied him.
“I need the truth.”
“I never touched Evelyn while we were married.”
“Did she want you?”
He did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“I suspected she had feelings for me.”
“And you kept her close.”
“I was arrogant enough to believe I could control boundaries.”
I almost smiled.
“That sounds like you.”
A shadow of the old Luca appeared.
Then disappeared.
His phone vibrated.
He looked down.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward me.
A private investigator had located Graham Pike.
Graham had been living under his middle name in Arizona.
May you like
And when Luca’s investigator contacted him, Graham said only one sentence.
“I wondered how long it would take Mr. Moretti to learn what we did.”
