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Chapter 9
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He Gave Her My Place. I Gave Back His Ring. Chapter 10
The label withdrew its offer after reviewing the photographer's correspondence. Valentina had requested my mother's portrait in the background and approved the description of herself as Gabriella Bellandi's daughter. Her grief hadn't written that caption. She had.She came to the atelier before flying home.“You got what you wanted,” she said from the doorway. “Matteo barely speaks to me. Luca won't take my calls. Mom's rented an apartment and says we're moving out.”I set down my shears. “I wanted my belongings back and the campaign corrected.”“You knew what would happen.”“No. I knew what would keep happening if I said nothing.”She looked at the racks behind me. “They used to give me everything. Now every time I ask for something, they look at me like I'm setting a trap.”“That sounds like something to discuss with them.”“What am I supposed to do with how much it hurts?”I thought of the attic room and the cake I hadn't tasted in nine years.“Find someone who'll help you without a
He Gave Her My Place. I Gave Back His Ring. Chapter 9
The show brought appointments, deposits, and enough serious orders to postpone the sale. Adrienne was careful about the distinction. A crowded fitting calendar meant work we had to deliver, not a miraculous escape from debt.Henri asked me to lead the next collection. I asked for written authority over its designs and a production budget Colette could actually use. We spent two hours arguing over schedules before we shook hands.That evening, Valentina went live on social media.She sat in the Moretti drawing room, wearing plain black, and admitted that trying on the coat had been wrong. Then she explained how difficult it was to grow up in another woman's house, surrounded by another daughter's memories.“I'm not trying to replace anybody,” she said. “I just wanted to belong.”She held up a letter my mother had written to Claudia before she died.Please let Valentina know there will always be a place for her in this family.By morning, clips were circulating beneath photographs of my
He Gave Her My Place. I Gave Back His Ring. Chapter 8
Luca and Matteo arrived two hours before the anniversary show. Adrienne let them into the fitting room after I agreed to ten minutes.My brother carried the coat. Luca held the pendant box and the negative folio. His gaze traveled over me, taking in the pins at my cuff, the shadows beneath my eyes, the sandwich untouched beside the sewing machine.“Have you eaten?”“I will.”He started to reach for the plate, then stopped. I signed the handover inventory while Adrienne checked each item against the list.Matteo watched me open the garment bag.“They say it can be repaired.”The shortened train would need a new border. Along the waist, repeated stitching had left a row of pinholes. I folded it carefully, resisting the impulse to hold it against my face.“Thank you for bringing it.”“Emilia, don't talk to us like couriers.”“What would you like me to say?”He looked at Luca, then down at the bag.Luca placed the Donna ring on the desk. The dark stone caught the light.“I didn't come to o
He Gave Her My Place. I Gave Back His Ring. Chapter 7
Luca called immediately. I answered because I was tired of wondering whether one more explanation would finally reach him.“Emilia.” He sounded as though he'd been holding his breath. “Thank God. Please don't hang up.”“Then listen.”“I am. Tell me what you need.”“My mother's belongings returned. All of them.”“Done. I'll bring them. And the coat—there are restorers who can repair it. If they can't, I'll commission whatever you want.”I leaned against the cutting table. “You know that isn't the same.”“I know. I just need something I can do.”For a moment, his helplessness broke through the anger I'd been carrying. I knew this man. If I told him someone had threatened me, he'd be at my door before I'd finished speaking. I had never worked out how to make him understand a hurt that didn't come with someone he could punish.“Why do you think I left?”“Because I let her wear it.”“And before that?”Silence, followed by a breath.“I kept asking you to wait.”“You kept deciding she couldn'
He Gave Her My Place. I Gave Back His Ring. Chapter 6
Luca ordered the DeLuca jet readied for Paris, then stood in the hall while Matteo demanded to know where he intended to look.“Her mother's atelier.”“And if she doesn't want to see you?”That stopped him longer than the question should have.Dad poured himself a drink. “She wants us to panic. Don't reward it.”Claudia had been quiet since the photograph session. Now she looked at him.“When has Emilia ever made us panic? You gave her room away and she asked where she should put her books.”Dad set down the glass.“She could have spoken up.”“She did,” Luca said. “Yesterday, about the cake. The day before, about the ceremony. I was there. She wasn't unclear.”Valentina folded her arms. “So now I did all of this? Matteo gave me the pendant. You told me I could wear the coat.”“We did,” my brother said. “That doesn't mean you didn't know whose they were.”Her face crumpled. “My father died for this family. I wasn't even allowed to remember him without someone saying he was a loyal soldi
He Gave Her My Place. I Gave Back His Ring. Chapter 5
Adrienne waited beyond arrivals with a paper cup of coffee and a coat over her arm. She had been my mother's closest friend and business partner long before Gabriella Bellandi married a Moretti.“Is this everything?” she asked, looking at my suitcase.“Everything I brought.”She nodded and handed me the coffee.In the car, she laid the atelier's financial reports on my knees. Bellandi Paris occupied two floors above a quiet courtyard. It had survived my mother by eleven years, but survival had become an expensive habit. Her will had kept its shares out of Dad's hands. None of his men could settle an argument here just by standing in the doorway. Several senior clients had gone elsewhere, and an investor wanted to sell the name to a bridal conglomerate.“You inherited her shares,” Adrienne said. “That doesn't automatically make you creative director. They'll want to know what you can do.”“So will I.”She gave me a quick sideways smile. “Good. Your mother distrusted anybody who arrived
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