Chapter 2

Matteo had traded his expensive suit for the faded jacket Leah knew.

As though the ballroom had never happened.

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

She placed the documents on the table.

“I need your signature in a few places.”

He frowned and opened the first page.

His phone rang.

“Nico won’t sleep until you get here,” Bianca said. “You promised to watch the meteor shower with him.”

Matteo’s voice softened.

“I’m on my way.”

He picked up the pen.

For years, Leah had handled the rent, utilities, and bills. He was used to signing wherever she pointed.

Tonight, he didn’t read closely, either.

He slid the papers back and grabbed his keys.

“Get some sleep if that’s everything.”

After the door closed, Leah answered.

“That’s everything, Matteo.”

“Except the divorce.”

“Can we leave now?” Finn asked, pointing at his father’s signature.

She put the papers away and crouched to button his pajamas.

“There’s more paperwork. Once the lawyer confirms everything, we’ll move.”

“Far away?”

“Far enough that you won’t have to worry about anyone knocking on the door for money.”

He finally smiled.

Matteo didn’t return for weeks.

Leah still saw him on Bianca’s public account.

On a yacht, he fastened Nico’s life jacket. At a private restaurant, he carefully cut the boy’s steak.

In another photograph, Bianca held his arm between relatives from both families.

The caption read:

*Finally back where we belong.*

Leah saved the pictures relevant to their finances and family circumstances and sent them to her attorney.

Then she closed the page.

She stopped studying his face.

Instead, she dropped extra shifts, gathered their documents, and contacted laundries in another city.

Finn deserved more than promises that his father would come home.

He deserved more than a childhood spent helping pay his father’s supposed debts.

Matteo returned one weekend morning.

“Get Finn dressed. I’m taking him out.”

Leah stopped packing a box.

“Where?”

“Food. Maybe shopping.” He glanced at Finn. “You’re always asking to ride in my car.”

Finn didn’t run to him.

He moved closer to Leah.

Matteo frowned.

A knock interrupted them. Martha, the landlord, wanted to discuss the deposit and their move.

“You’re leaving?” Matteo looked at the boxes. “What’s wrong with this place?”

“It’s damp. Finn keeps coughing at night.”

He set his keys down without another question.

“Go talk. I’ll watch him.”

Leah looked at Finn.

Matteo bent down and picked up the chipped toy car on his desk.

“Come on. Dad’ll play with you.”

She followed Martha into the stairwell.

They were gone barely fifteen minutes.

When Martha heard about the divorce, she went quiet. Then she offered to return the entire deposit.

“I thought you’d keep waiting forever.”

“So did I,” Leah said, turning her key between her fingers. “I thought if I waited long enough and worked hard enough, he’d love me.”

She looked up.

“I don’t need to wait anymore.”

Back inside, the toy car lay on the floor.

Matteo and Finn were gone.

Leah called immediately.

The first call rang out. The second was rejected.

She ran downstairs.

The convenience store owner had seen a black sedan collect them. The driver had called Matteo “Don.”

“I heard them mention St. Adrian Medical Center.”

The private hospital funded by the Vitale family.

By the time Leah reached the top floor, two guards stood outside the doors.

She recognized one from the banquet.

As visitors stepped out of the elevator, she slipped into a side corridor.

Near the surgical wing, Bianca held Matteo’s hand.

“The doctors say Nico can’t wait. Thank God the tests showed Finn was a match.”

Leah stopped.

The tests.

Two months earlier, Matteo had come home with news of free children’s health screenings. He’d told her a charity was offering them.

She’d taken Finn to have blood drawn.

He’d been planning this even then.

“What if Leah refuses?” Bianca asked.

“She doesn’t know yet. I’ll tell her after the collection.”

“And the doctor?”

“The paperwork’s been handled. He just needs to do his job.”

Leah braced herself against the wall.

Matteo hadn’t come home to spend time with his son.

He’d come to collect a donor.

She ran into the waiting area.

“Give me back my son!”

Matteo spun around.

“How did you find us?”

“You promised him lunch and took him into surgery?”

She grabbed his collar, tears spilling.

“He’s terrified of needles. Last time, he kept asking if you’d stay with him. Were you lying to us then, too?”

Matteo caught her wrists.

“It’s a bone marrow collection. The doctors are managing the risks.”

“Then why didn’t you ask me? Why did you lie to him?”

Bianca stood, her eyes wet.

“Nico’s seriously ill. We had no other choice.”

“So Finn doesn’t get a choice?”

Leah pulled free and ran toward the surgical doors.

The guards blocked her.