Todos los capítulos de He Married My Sister. I Stopped Waiting: Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

Viola POVThe adviser replied that evening.The photograph had been found. He would bring it to dinner. The practice piece I had restored was still hanging in the North Harbor office, undamaged.The people who had taken over my father’s office had inventoried and handed over the contents of his study. The final signature acknowledging receipt was Nicholas’s.I saved the reply, printed the meeting records I had checked the night before, and placed them with Camilla’s messages.Alessandro messaged me, too.“I received the invitation for tonight. Does seven work for you? I’ll pick you up.”“Yes. Tonight, I’ll ask them to correct their statements in person. I’ll also ask about what my father left.”“All right.”At seven, I took the documents downstairs.Alessandro was already waiting beside the car. He noticed the folder in my hand but didn’t reach for it. He simply opened the car door for me.Once we left the hotel, he said, “Your grandfather will probably ask about our engagement first.”

Viola POVAlessandro set down his wineglass.“What do you want to know?”“She never asks anyone for help when she’s unwell,” Nicholas said. “Can you tell when she’s really fine and when she’s just saying she can manage?”My hand stilled on my napkin.“Do you know what frightens her? What she hates to eat?”Camilla lowered her head and spread her napkin across her lap.Alessandro glanced at me, then turned back to him.“There’s a lot I don’t know yet.”Nicholas’s jaw tightened.“But I know she works as an art conservator in Paris. Next year, she has a project involving seventeenth-century oil paintings waiting for her. She doesn’t need to get married and have someone else arrange her life.”“You think that’s enough?”“Yesterday, she didn’t want to marry Lorenzo. You knew that, too.”Alessandro’s voice didn’t rise.“You remember all her habits. But when she asked you to tell the truth, you told her to wait in the car.”“So what, exactly, are you so proud of?”The table fell silent.I loo

Viola POVMother’s quiet voice drifted in from the hallway. She was still comforting Camilla.This time, the conversation inside hadn’t ended just because they left.The adviser put the corrected summary into his folder and confirmed my contact details. Nicholas also told him to arrange a time for me to review the papers directly with me.I picked up the paper bag holding the framed photograph and said goodbye.Alessandro accompanied me out of the estate.As the car reached the road along the river, my phone vibrated.A message from Nicholas.“I’m sorry.”I looked at it for a moment without replying.Today, he had finally told everyone that I had never agreed. But the transfer inventory bearing his signature also proved he had kept other things from me for three years.Another message soon followed.“Before you trust De Luca, ask him why he went to Paris three years ago.”“He was looking for something your father left behind.”My grip on the phone slowly tightened.“Something wrong?” A

Nicholas POVThe next morning, I called the North Harbor office first to confirm the arrangements for Viola to review the papers.“Tomorrow morning at nine. It’s all arranged,” the man said. “Should we wait for you to arrive?”I looked at the platinum ring on my desk.“No. See her as arranged.”After hanging up, I opened the photograph she had sent to the adviser.She had circled the photograph on Marco’s desk and the restored practice piece on the wall. She hadn’t asked me to choose for her. She hadn’t asked whether she could take them.I enlarged the image, then closed it.Our conversation on my phone hadn’t moved beyond last night.I had told her I went to Paris to look for her.She hadn’t replied.I wanted to see her once more before she went back. Perhaps I could pick her up at the hotel on the day she left and take her to the airport. In the past, driving her somewhere had never required this much thought.But I didn’t know which day she was leaving.At dinner, she had mentioned

Viola POVAt nine the next morning, I walked into the North Harbor office.After checking my appointment, the receptionist led me to a reading room with glass partitions. On the table lay the restored practice piece I had given my father, two document boxes, and an inventory waiting to be checked.No one asked me to call Nicholas first.The adviser receiving me said, “You may take photographs. We’ll make a separate record of anything you decide to take with you.”I set the inventory beside me and opened the paper bag bearing my name.Inside was an envelope that had been returned to the sender.The Paris address. The apartment I had once planned to move into.The envelope had already been opened.I turned it over and found an internal receipt attached to the back. Nicholas’s name was at the bottom. The date was two months after I left Italy.He had received it.While I was dragging my suitcases around, looking for another hotel, this letter had already made its way back into his hands.