Chapter 2 - THE ENVELOPE WITH MY NAME ON IT
—
For three full seconds, nobody moved.
Isabella held the envelope between two manicured fingers as if it were evidence in a trial.
My name was written across the front in black ink.
Jessica Hale.
Not Mrs. Fierro.
Not Nurse Hale.
Just my name.
I looked at Giovanni.
"You said you didn't know me before tonight."
"I said you needed an ally."
"That is not the same answer."
Isabella's smile was elegant and cruel.
"No, it certainly isn't."
Giovanni's father stood several feet behind her.
He looked satisfied.
That frightened me more than anger would have.
"Open it," Isabella said.
Giovanni reached for the envelope.
I pulled my hand away from his and took it myself.
The paper was heavy.
Expensive.
The kind of stationery that felt like it had opinions about my department-store dress.
Inside was a single photograph.
I stared at it.
My stomach dropped.
It was me.
I was walking out of Children's Memorial after a night shift three weeks earlier.
My hair was tied badly at the base of my neck.
A canvas grocery bag hung from one shoulder.
Lily was asleep against my chest while I struggled to hold her backpack and my keys.
The photograph had been taken from across the street.
I turned it over.
A date and time were printed on the back.
"What the hell is this?"
Giovanni's expression hardened.
He took the photograph from me.
The moment he saw it, something colder than surprise crossed his face.
He looked at his father.
"Where did you get this?"
His father answered calmly.
"My investigators are thorough."
"You investigated her?"
"I investigated you."
Isabella folded her arms.
"You disappeared from the private dining room for twenty minutes last month after receiving a call from the pediatric wing at Children's Memorial."
My confusion deepened.
"What does that have to do with me?"
Giovanni said nothing.
His father did.
"Apparently more than my son intended anyone to know."
The guests closest to us had started pretending not to listen again.
They were failing badly.
Giovanni stepped toward his father.
"This conversation is over."
"On the contrary."
The older man's eyes moved to me.
"It has finally become interesting."
I hated the way he said it.
I hated being examined by people who spoke about my life as if I were a problem on a balance sheet.
I shoved the photograph back into the envelope.
"You can all continue without me."
I turned.
Giovanni caught up with me before I reached my table.
"Jessica."
"No."
"Listen to me."
"I met you ten minutes ago and your family already has photographs of my daughter."
My voice shook despite my effort to control it.
"Do you understand how insane that sounds?"
"Yes."
"Then get out of my way."
He did.
That surprised me enough to stop for half a second.
He did not touch me.
He did not order me to stay.
He simply stepped aside.
"Go check on Lily," he said.
I froze.
Lily was upstairs in the bridal suite with Sophia's babysitter and two other children from the wedding party.
My heart kicked painfully.
"How did you know she's upstairs?"
"Because I asked where she was before I approached you."
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't going to pull you into a public lie without knowing whether your child was safe."
That answer was either reassuring or terrifying.
I could not decide which.
I hurried toward the elevators.
Behind me, I heard Tyler call my name.
I ignored him.
The elevator doors closed before anyone could follow.
I pressed the button for the twenty-third floor and watched the numbers climb.
My reflection in the mirrored wall looked like someone else's.
Flushed cheeks.
Wide eyes.
A cheap dress that suddenly felt too tight around my ribs.
I had walked into my sister's wedding expecting to survive a few hours of family discomfort.
Instead, I had apparently become the fake wife of one of Chicago's most powerful men and discovered that his family had been photographing me weeks before we met.
The elevator opened.
I ran to the bridal suite.
The babysitter opened the door before I knocked twice.
"Jessica?"
"Where's Lily?"
My voice made her step back.
"She's fine."
Lily appeared from behind the sofa wearing the pale blue flower-girl dress Sophia had bought her.
She held a juice box in one hand and a plastic tiara in the other.
"Mommy?"
The panic left my body so fast my knees almost folded.
I crossed the room and hugged her.
"Hey, bug."
She laughed into my shoulder.
"You're squishing me."
"I know."
"Did Aunt Sophia get married already?"
"Yes."
"Did she cry?"
"A little."
Lily considered that.
"Happy cry or sad cry?"
"Happy cry."
"Okay."
She returned to her juice as if this distinction solved the major problem of the evening.
I stayed beside her for several minutes.
My pulse finally slowed.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
The message contained six words.
DO NOT LEAVE THROUGH THE LOBBY.
A second message arrived immediately.
TYLER IS WAITING BY YOUR CAR.
My stomach tightened.
I stepped toward the window and called Sophia.
She answered on the first ring.
"Jess, what is happening?"
"Is Tyler still downstairs?"
"He just left the ballroom."
"With Vanessa?"
"No."
I closed my eyes.
"Of course not."
Sophia lowered her voice.
"Jess, who is that man?"
"Apparently a walking disaster."
"Nathan says Giovanni Fierro is worth something obscene."
"That really isn't my biggest concern right now."
"Dad says the Fierros are dangerous."
"Dad also seated me beside the kitchen doors so Tyler wouldn't feel awkward."
There was silence.
Sophia's voice softened.
"I didn't approve that seating chart."
I looked at the carpet.
"What?"
"I put you at table four with Aunt June and the Harrisons."
I gripped the phone.
"Then who moved me?"
"I don't know."
A pause.
"But Vanessa had access to the final chart yesterday because Mom asked her to help with place cards."
For a moment, the entire evening rearranged itself in my head.
The kitchen doors.
The single chair.
Tyler knowing exactly where to find me.
Vanessa's satisfied smile.
"Jess?"
"I'm here."
"I'm sorry."
"This is your wedding."
"You're my sister."
My throat tightened.
Sophia continued.
"Nathan is sending hotel security upstairs."
"Don't."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want this turning into something bigger."
The bridal suite door opened behind me.
I spun around.
Giovanni stood in the doorway.
The babysitter looked as though she had just been informed royalty had arrived.
I ended the call.
"How did you get up here?"
"Elevator."
"Very funny."
"I wasn't joking."
His gaze moved to Lily.
He did not approach her.
That mattered.
"Is she all right?"
"She's fine."
Lily looked at him curiously.
"Are you a prince?"
Giovanni blinked.
I almost laughed.
"No," he said.
Lily pointed at his tuxedo.
"You look like one."
"I've been accused of worse."
"Mommy says people who wear ties too tight make bad choices."
I covered my face.
"Lily."
Giovanni looked down at his tie.
Then he loosened it slightly.
"Your mother may have a point."
Lily seemed satisfied.
She returned to the other children.
I faced Giovanni.
"Did you send the text about Tyler?"
"Yes."
"Why is he at my car?"
"I don't know."
"You seem to know everything else."
His expression tightened.
"Not everything."
He held out the photograph Isabella had given me.
"For example, I didn't know my father had this."
I refused to take it.
"Then explain why it exists."
Giovanni glanced toward the children.
"Not here."
"You have thirty seconds."
"Three weeks ago, a foundation connected to my company approved emergency funding for a child on your floor."
I stared at him.
"Which child?"
"Evan Morales."
The name hit me immediately.
Seven years old.
Acute leukemia.
His mother's insurance had denied part of an experimental treatment protocol while the appeal was pending.
Someone had covered the gap anonymously.
"That was you?"
"The foundation."
"That was you."
He did not deny it.
"Why?"
"Because his mother asked."
"Hundreds of parents ask foundations for help."
"She also said a nurse had spent forty minutes after her shift calling every assistance program she could find because the boy was afraid his treatment would stop."
My anger faltered.
I remembered that night.
Evan had been sleeping.
His mother had been crying in the family room.
I had missed my bus because of those calls and had taken Lily home in freezing rain.
I had never told anyone.
"How did you know it was me?"
"I asked for the nurse's name."
"Why?"
His eyes held mine.
"Because people show you who they are when there is nothing to gain."
I did not know what to say.
He continued.
"I was curious."
"So you had me followed?"
"No."
His voice sharpened.
"I had my office confirm you worked there because I wanted the foundation to send a letter of thanks through the hospital."
"Then why was someone taking pictures?"
"That is what I intend to find out."
The anger in his face was no longer directed at me.
It was directed inward, toward his own family.
"My father says his investigators were watching me."
"Do you believe him?"
"No."
That answer came too quickly.
"Why not?"
"Because I wasn't anywhere near the hospital that night."
A chill ran over my arms.
"So the photographer was watching me."
"Yes."
The word landed heavily.
I looked toward Lily.
"Why would your family care about me?"
Giovanni was silent.
"You know something."
"I know my father has spent six months trying to force a merger between Fierro Holdings and Bellandi International."
"Isabella's family."
"Yes."
"And?"
"And someone began interfering with the negotiations three weeks ago."
I stared at him.
"What does that have to do with me?"
"I don't know yet."
His phone buzzed.
He checked the screen.
Whatever he saw erased the remaining calm from his face.
"What?"
"We need to leave."
"You just said we shouldn't use the lobby."
"We're not."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
He turned the phone toward me.
It displayed a photograph taken minutes earlier in the underground parking garage.
Tyler stood beside my eight-year-old Honda.
The driver's door was open.
A man in a hotel security jacket was beside him.
On the concrete floor near the rear tire lay a small black pouch.
I frowned.
"What am I looking at?"
"The security officer found Tyler trying to get into your car."
My breath stopped.
"Why?"
Giovanni swiped to the next photograph.
The black pouch was open now.
Inside were several prescription bottles.
The labels had my name on them.
I stared at the screen.
"Those aren't mine."
"I know."
"How do you know?"
"Because one of them is oxycodone, one is diazepam, and one was filled yesterday at a pharmacy in Evanston."
He looked directly at me.
"You worked a twelve-hour shift in Chicago yesterday and never left the city."
My blood went cold.
"Why does Tyler have prescription bottles with my name on them?"
Giovanni's answer was almost too quiet to hear.
"I think someone was planning to make sure you lost more than your dignity tonight."
I looked toward my daughter.
Then back at the photograph.
The room suddenly felt much smaller.
"Lost what?"
May you like
Giovanni slipped his phone into his pocket.
"Lily."
