“The bracelet your daughter wears,” Luca said, “I need to see it.”
I stared at him across the kitchen table.
“Lily’s bracelet?”
“The one with the silver star.”
My hand moved automatically toward my apron pocket.
Inside was a photograph of Lily wearing that bracelet on her seventh birthday.
She’d smiled so proudly.
I’d told her it was a gift from someone who cared about her.
Because that was exactly what Evelyn had written in the card.
“It’s at home,” I said.
Luca studied my face.
“Sarah, I know this is frightening.”
“No,” I interrupted. “You don’t.”
He grew quiet.
“Your family has secrets. Your family has money. Your family can hire investigators and accountants.”
My voice trembled.
“I have a little girl who cries when she tries to climb stairs.”
Luca lowered his eyes.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
He didn’t answer.
I took a breath.
“Then please stop treating my daughter like another piece of evidence.”
For a moment, the only sound was the refrigerator humming.
Then Luca nodded.
“You’re right.”
He pushed the photograph back toward me.
“I’m sorry.”
His apology surprised me.
But what he said next surprised me more.
“Lily’s medical care will not depend on whether you help me investigate anything. You have my word.”
That afternoon, I went home to my small apartment on Chicago’s South Side.
Lily was sitting at the kitchen table with Mrs. Jenkins, our neighbor.
She was drawing a purple house with a yellow roof.
When she saw me, her face brightened.
“Mommy!”
She climbed down carefully, favoring her right leg.
I crossed the room and gathered her into my arms.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
“You smell like the hospital.”
I laughed softly.
“That’s because I went to one.”
“Is Grandma Evelyn okay?”
My throat tightened.
Lily had called Evelyn Grandma for months.
Evelyn never corrected her.
“She hurt her shoulder, honey. But the doctors are taking care of her.”
Lily considered that.
“Can I make her a card?”
“She’d love that.”
Mrs. Jenkins gave me a concerned look.
After Lily returned to her drawing, she followed me into the hallway.
“Sarah, the hospital called yesterday.”
My stomach dropped.
“What did they say?”
“They need confirmation about the surgery deposit.”
I closed my eyes.
The deadline was approaching.
Even after Luca’s promise, I had trouble believing everything could change so quickly.
For months, every good possibility had disappeared behind another bill.
“It’s being handled,” I said.
Mrs. Jenkins touched my arm.
“I hope so, honey.”
When I returned to the kitchen, Lily held up her drawing.
“Look, Mommy.”
The purple house had four people standing outside.
One was Lily.
One was me.
One was Evelyn.
The fourth was a tall man wearing a blue coat.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
Lily looked surprised.
“The man who gave me my bracelet.”
My heart stopped.
“What man?”
“The nice man with the brown hat.”
I sat beside her.
“Sweetheart, when did you meet him?”
“At Grandma Evelyn’s birthday.”
I remembered that afternoon.
Evelyn had invited Lily to the mansion garden.
There had been cake and balloons.
I’d been helping in the kitchen when an elderly gardener brought Lily inside.
I hadn’t seen any stranger.
“Did he tell you his name?”
Lily shook her head.
“He said I could call him Uncle Matt.”
I called Luca immediately.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at my apartment.
He wore a dark coat over his black shirt.
Without the mansion around him, he seemed less intimidating.
He crouched beside Lily’s chair.
“Hi, Lily.”
She looked at his tattooed hands.
“Did those hurt?”
“A little.”
“Why’d you get so many?”
Luca smiled faintly.
“Made some questionable decisions when I was younger.”
Lily considered that answer.
Then returned to her coloring.
I showed him the drawing.
He stared at the figure in the blue coat.
“Matteo,” he whispered.
“Your brother met my daughter.”
Luca nodded slowly.
“Apparently.”
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“I wish I knew.”
Lily suddenly reached for her bracelet.
“Uncle Matt said the star means somebody’s looking out for me.”
Luca’s expression softened.
“Did he?”
She nodded.
“He said Grandma Evelyn knew his mommy.”
For the first time, Luca actually laughed.
“She did.”
Lily looked pleased.
Then she held out the bracelet.
“See?”
Luca examined it without removing it from her wrist.
A small engraving appeared beneath the star.
A.M. — ALWAYS REMEMBER.
His smile faded.
“Those are my father’s initials,” he said.
I stared at him.
“Antonio Moretti?”
He nodded.
“My father gave Matteo a bracelet like this when we were boys.”
He looked at Lily again.
“Would you mind if I took a photograph of it?”
She agreed after he explained why.
But as Luca raised his phone, Lily said something neither of us expected.
“Uncle Matt said not to let the angry lady see it.”
