By the following day, Matteo had stopped pretending he was curious.
He wanted answers.
He called Rafael into his office and told him to find out everything he could about Liana.
Rafael had been with Matteo long enough to understand the difference between a request and an order.
He nodded.
"How far back?"
"Far enough."
Rafael paused at the door.
"And if there's nothing?"
Matteo looked at him.
"Then you come back and tell me there's nothing."
Rafael left without another word.
I stayed behind.
Matteo stood beside his desk, turning a small object between his fingers.
It was a photograph.
I could not see the picture from where I stood, but I noticed the way he held it.
Carefully.
Like something that could cut him if he gripped it too tightly.
"Do you think she knows who I am?" he asked.
"Everyone knows who you are."
"That's not what I meant."
I understood.
He wanted to know whether Liana knew the man behind the reputation.
Whether she had seen something in him that the rest of us had learned to ignore.
"I don't know," I said.
He slipped the photograph into a drawer.
"Find out."
I almost reminded him that Rafael was already doing exactly that.
Instead, I left him alone.
The house felt different that afternoon.
Nobody said anything openly, but everyone had noticed the change in Matteo.
He no longer watched Noah alone.
He watched Liana, too.
If she entered a room, his attention followed her.
If she left, he noticed.
He even began asking questions about ordinary things.
Where had she worked before?
Who had recommended her?
How long had she been in the area?
Liana answered what she could.
She never argued.
She never offered more than necessary.
That made Matteo more suspicious, not less.
I watched the two of them from a distance and wondered how long it would take before one of them finally said what they were both avoiding.
Then something happened that changed the atmosphere completely.
Noah became upset while Matteo was holding him.
It started with a small whimper.
Matteo shifted him higher against his chest.
The baby turned his face away.
A second later, the crying began.
Matteo tried to soothe him.
He walked slowly across the nursery.
He spoke in a low voice.
He offered the toy Noah usually liked.
Nothing helped.
Liana appeared at the doorway.
She stopped when she saw them.
For a moment, she did not move.
Matteo looked at her.
"Come here."
She approached carefully.
He held Noah out.
The baby reached toward her before Matteo had even finished moving his arms.
That was the part I remembered.
Not the crying.
Not Matteo's expression.
The reach.
A tiny child making a choice without understanding the consequences.
Liana took Noah.
He settled almost immediately.
Matteo lowered his hands.
They hung at his sides for a moment before he curled them into fists.
"Why?" he asked.
Liana looked at him.
"Why what?"
"Why does he do that?"
She glanced down at Noah.
"I don't know."
"Don't do that."
Her eyes lifted.
"Do what?"
"Give me an answer you don't believe."
She went very still.
Noah rested his head beneath her chin.
Matteo took one step closer.
"Tell me the truth."
For several seconds, Liana seemed to consider it.
Then she said, "Some children need time to trust people."
Matteo's face hardened.
"He's my son."
"I know."
"Then why won't he settle with me?"
She swallowed.
"I can't answer that for you."
It was an honest answer.
It was also the wrong one for a man who had spent his life expecting every question to have a useful answer.
Matteo turned away.
He told her to take Noah upstairs.
She obeyed.
I followed him into the corridor after she had gone.
"You can't force a child to trust you," I said.
He stopped.
"I didn't ask for advice."
"No. You asked why."
He looked at me with the kind of anger that was really frustration wearing a different face.
I should have stopped there.
Instead, I added something I regretted almost immediately.
"Maybe the baby isn't the only one who needs to feel safe."
Matteo said nothing.
But his eyes changed.
I knew I had reached something he did not want touched.
That evening, he called me back to his office.
The photograph was on his desk.
This time, he turned it around.
It showed a woman standing outside a building.
Her hair was darker than I remembered, and the picture was old enough that the edges had begun to curl.
I recognized her anyway.
Alessia.
For a moment, I could not speak.
She had been part of Matteo's life before she disappeared.
Not an employee.
Not a distant acquaintance.
His wife.
The woman everyone had believed was gone for good.
Matteo watched my face.
"You remember her."
It was not a question.
"Of course."
He tapped the photograph.
"Look at it properly."
I did.
There was nothing unusual about the picture itself.
Alessia stood with one hand at her side and her head slightly turned, as though someone had called to her just before the camera took the photograph.
But there was something about her expression.
She looked worried.
Not frightened of the camera.
Frightened of whoever stood beyond it.
"Where did you get this?" I asked.
"It was among the things I kept."
"Why are you showing me now?"
He leaned back in his chair.
"Because Liana reminds me of someone."
I looked at the photograph again.
"Alessia."
He nodded once.
The name sat between us like an accusation.
I had heard many stories about what happened when Alessia vanished.
Some said she had betrayed Matteo.
Others believed she had run because she could no longer live with his enemies circling their family.
Nobody had ever produced an explanation that satisfied everyone.
Matteo had never spoken about her for long.
Whenever her name came up, he closed the subject.
I had assumed he was protecting his pride.
Now I wondered if he had been protecting himself from a question he could not answer.
"Do you think Liana knew her?" I asked.
"I think Liana knows more than she's telling us."
He returned the photograph to the drawer.
Then he locked it.
I remember the sound of the key turning.
It was small.
Ordinary.
But it made me think of all the things Matteo believed he could keep safe by locking them away.
The next morning, Rafael returned.
He had found some information about Liana, but nothing that explained her connection to Alessia.
Her history appeared incomplete.
There were gaps.
Names that led nowhere.
Details that could not be confirmed.
Rafael placed his notes on the desk.
"She hasn't been living under the same name for very long," he said.
Matteo read the page without speaking.
"Who was she before?"
"I haven't established that."
"Then keep going."
Rafael nodded.
Before he left, he looked toward the closed office door.
"There's something else."
Matteo raised his eyes.
"What?"
"She reacts whenever anyone mentions the chapel."
The room fell silent.
I looked at Matteo.
He looked at Rafael.
Nobody asked him to explain.
We all knew the chapel had become a place Matteo avoided whenever he could.
It was connected to his marriage.
To Alessia.
To the last time anyone remembered seeing her before she vanished.
Matteo pushed the notes aside.
"Find out why."
Rafael left.
I stayed where I was, trying to make sense of what we had learned.
Liana knew how to calm Noah.
She seemed to recognize the fear behind his crying.
She reacted to Alessia's name.
And she was frightened of the chapel.
One clue could have meant nothing.
Together, they were becoming difficult to ignore.
Later that afternoon, I found Liana in the nursery.
Noah was asleep in her arms.
She sat beside the crib, looking at him as if she were memorizing his face.
I stood in the doorway.
She noticed me but did not move.
"Has Matteo asked you about Alessia?" she said.
I had not expected the question.
"Why do you ask?"
Her eyes stayed on the baby.
"Because I know he has been looking at me."
I could have lied.
I could have told her that Matteo was only being cautious.
Instead, I said, "He wants to know who you are."
Liana closed her eyes briefly.
"And if he finds out?"
I looked at Noah.
His little hand rested against her chest.
"That depends on what the truth is."
She finally turned toward me.
For the first time since I had met her, her calm expression completely disappeared.
What remained was a woman who had been carrying something heavy for a very long time.
"I never wanted to hurt him," she whispered.
I did not know whether she meant Matteo or Noah.
Perhaps she meant both.
Before I could ask, the baby stirred.
Liana adjusted him gently, and he settled again.
Then she looked at me.
"Please don't let Matteo bring everyone to the chapel."
I felt a chill move through me.
"Why?"
She looked down at Noah.
"Because some things should have stayed buried."
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: The Chapel Door Opened in the Rain, and the Man Who Controlled Everything Finally Learned What Fear Felt Like
The Baby Who Rejected Every Pair of Arms Except One, and the Secret His Father Was Too Afraid to Face
Part 2 of 10
