Chapter 2 - THE LETTER FOR THE BRIDE“Take it.”
Luca’s voice was quiet.
Vanessa finally reached for the envelope.
Her fingers trembled.
Barely.
But I saw it.
So did Luca.
She broke the seal.
Inside was a single folded page.
Vanessa read silently.
Her expression hardened.
“What does it say?” Luca asked.
“Nothing important.”
Viktor’s eyebrows lifted.
Luca held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“It was addressed to me.”
“To the woman I choose. I’m the reason it exists.”
Vanessa folded it.
“Your mother wrote this twenty-six years ago. Whatever she thought marriage should look like has nothing to do with us.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“Give me the letter.”
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Vanessa handed it over.
Luca unfolded the page.
He read aloud.
To the woman my son loves,
I do not know your name.
I hope I would have liked you.
More importantly, I hope you understand something about Luca that he may spend his life pretending is not true.
He will appear strong long before he actually feels strong.
He will mistake control for safety.
He will believe he must protect everyone and need no protection himself.
Please do not love him for the name he carries.
Do not love him for what his father leaves him.
Do not love him because other people fear him.
Love the boy who still leaves food beneath the garden bench for stray cats when he thinks nobody is looking.
Luca stopped reading.
His eyes closed briefly.
Viktor looked away.
Vanessa folded her arms.
Luca continued.
And if you cannot love that boy, please leave him before you teach him that love must be purchased.
The greenhouse fell silent.
Luca lowered the page.
Vanessa spoke first.
“Beautiful.”
The word sounded almost sarcastic.
Luca looked at her.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What would you like me to say?”
“I don’t know.”
He studied her.
“Maybe something human.”
Her face changed.
“I have spent two years proving my loyalty to you.”
“This isn’t about loyalty.”
“Of course it is.”
“No. It’s about kindness.”
She laughed bitterly.
“And suddenly Emma Reed gets to determine whether I’m kind?”
My stomach tightened.
“I never said anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Vanessa stepped toward me.
“You disobeyed a direct instruction in my home.”
Luca’s head turned.
“Your home?”
She froze.
Luca waited.
Vanessa corrected herself.
“Our future home.”
“No.”
His voice remained calm.
“It is currently my home.”
The temperature in the greenhouse seemed to drop.
Vanessa looked wounded.
“Are you seriously doing this?”
“I’m asking questions.”
“Because of a dead woman’s letter?”
“Because twenty minutes ago you ordered an eighty-year-old man who practically raised me to be hidden in the kitchen.”
“I didn’t know who he was.”
“Yes, you did.”
Vanessa stopped.
Luca’s eyes sharpened.
“You told Emma he worked for my family for thirty years.”
She said nothing.
“You knew exactly who he was.”
Vanessa turned toward Viktor.
“He was a gardener.”
Luca stared at her.
The silence afterward was devastating.
Not because of what she had said.
Because she still didn’t understand why it mattered.
Then Viktor spoke.
“Luca.”
He reached into the wooden box.
“There is more.”
He removed three photographs.
The first showed Luca’s mother inside the greenhouse.
Young.
Smiling.
Holding a toddler.
Luca.
The second showed Viktor beside her.
The third showed another man.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Wearing a gray suit.
Luca frowned.
“Who is that?”
Viktor didn’t answer.
Luca looked closer.
Then his face changed.
“My father.”
Viktor nodded.
But the photograph had been torn.
Someone had ripped away the person standing beside Luca’s father.
Only a woman’s hand remained.
On her finger was a distinctive emerald ring.
Vanessa made a sound.
Tiny.
Almost nothing.
I turned toward her.
She was staring at that ring.
Luca noticed.
“You recognize it.”
“No.”
“You do.”
Vanessa stepped backward.
“I said no.”
Viktor looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said something none of us expected.
“Your mother wore that ring.”
Vanessa’s face drained completely.
Luca stared at her.
“What?”
Viktor pointed toward the torn photograph.
“The woman beside Luca’s father was your mother, Vanessa.”
Nobody moved.
Vanessa shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
Viktor’s expression remained calm.
“No.”
He looked at Luca.
“It is why your mother locked this greenhouse.”
Luca stared at the photograph.
Then at Vanessa.
“What happened here?”
Viktor sighed.
“Your father had an affair.”
Vanessa whispered:
“No.”
“With Vanessa’s mother.”
The old greenhouse seemed suddenly too small for all of us.
Luca’s voice became almost inaudible.
“How long?”
“Years.”
“And my mother knew?”
“Yes.”
Luca looked at the box.
“Is that why she died?”
Viktor didn’t answer.
That silence was enough.
Luca stepped closer.
“Viktor.”
The old man’s eyes filled with something I could not identify.
Regret.
Fear.
Perhaps both.
“Was my mother’s death an accident?”
Viktor slowly shook his head.
May you like
“No.”
And somewhere behind us, glass shattered.
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