Chapter 1 - The Belly That Fell Off
“That lady’s belly fell off upstairs.”
Three-year-old Lily DeLuca said it loudly enough for half the ballroom to hear.
The orchestra kept playing for another three seconds.
Then even the violinist nearest the stage seemed to notice the silence spreading across the room.
Lily stood beside her mother, Elena, in a pale pink dress with one hand wrapped around a stuffed rabbit. With the other, she pointed straight across the ballroom.
Vanessa was impossible to miss.
Emerald gown. Diamond earrings. Perfect dark hair. One hand resting protectively over a very pregnant stomach.
For six months, the DeLuca family had treated that stomach like a sacred object.
Vanessa carried the last child of Marcello DeLuca’s late brother, Luca.
At least that was what everyone believed.
Vanessa laughed too quickly.
“Children say the strangest things.”
Marcello looked down at his daughter.
“What did you say, sweetheart?”
“Her belly fell off.”
Elena crouched beside her.
“Upstairs?”
Vanessa’s smile tightened.
“She probably saw a pillow.”
“No. Her baby belly.”
Several guests turned away, pretending not to listen.
“Where did you see it?”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Marcello, please. She’s three.”
“I know how old my daughter is.”
Lily tugged his sleeve.
“I can show you.”
Vanessa’s hand left her stomach.
For one tiny second, panic flashed across her face.
Lily turned toward the grand staircase.
“Where?” Marcello asked.
She whispered something even stranger.
“Where she hid it.”
The ballroom seemed to shrink around them.
Vanessa stepped into Lily’s path.
“No one is going upstairs.”
Marcello’s expression changed.
“Move.”
“Don’t embarrass me over something a toddler imagined.”
Lily looked around Vanessa and pointed toward the second-floor gallery.
“Blue room.”
Vanessa went white.
Marcello had not heard that room called blue in years.
It was his grandfather’s old dressing room.
May you like
Locked since Luca died.
And Vanessa was the only person in the family who still carried a key.
