Chapter 6: He Comes Home
I let it ring.
It rang again.
Then a third time.
Then a text appeared.
*"I'm at the house.
Where are you?
Where are the kids?
Jessi, answer me."*
I showed the screen to Wendy.
She read it and said nothing.
I typed back: *"The kids are safe.
Don't call again tonight."*
His reply came in under ten seconds.
*"We need to talk.
You don't understand the full situation.
Come home."*
I put my phone in my bag.
"He's going to go to Marcus next," I said.
"He's going to find out Marcus came to see me."
"Let him," Wendy said.
"Marcus is a grown man.
He made his choices.
Now he can make better ones."
I drove home an hour later.
Luca's car was in the driveway.
He was sitting at the kitchen table when I walked in.
He had changed his clothes.
His hair was combed.
He had made an effort, which told me everything about what kind of conversation he had planned.
"Where are the kids?" he asked.
"With Paula."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want them here for this."
He stood up.
"Jessi, listen to me.
What you saw — it's not what it looks like.
Chloe and I — it was a mistake.
It meant nothing.
I know that sounds—"
"Sit down, Luca."
He stopped.
"Sit down."
He sat.
I set my bag on the counter.
I did not sit across from him.
I stood.
"I know about the apartment on Delaney Street," I said.
"I know you've been paying rent since March.
I know you told Chloe we were already separated.
I know about the loan you gave Marcus and what you put in that paperwork.
I know about the text you sent her — *try it and see what happens to your father's business.*"
His face had gone the same color it was in the motel room.
"I also know that while you were paying rent on a second apartment, I was working extra shifts because you told me we were behind on property taxes." I kept my voice level.
"I ironed your jacket that morning, Luca.
The same jacket that had the receipt in the pocket."
He opened his mouth.
"Don't," I said.
"Don't tell me it's not what it looks like.
Don't tell me it meant nothing.
Don't tell me you were going to end it.
I don't want any of those sentences."
He closed his mouth.
"The joint accounts are frozen as of this afternoon," I said.
"My lawyer filed this morning."
That landed.
His jaw tightened.
"You went to a lawyer before you even talked to me?"
"You went to a motel before you came home for lunch."
Silence.
"Luca, I'm going to ask you one question and I want a straight answer.
Is there anything else I don't know?
Any other account, any other arrangement, anything else you've been hiding?"
He looked at the table.
His hands were on his knees.
"There's a savings account," he said quietly.
"In my name only.
I opened it fourteen months ago."
The number he gave me, when I asked, was not small.
I picked up my bag.
"My lawyer will be in touch," I said.
"I'd suggest you get one too."
"Jessi." His voice cracked on my name.
"I don't want to lose my family."
I stopped at the kitchen doorway.
"You didn't lose your family today," I said.
"You lost your family the day you decided they were worth less than what you were hiding."
I walked out.
Behind me, I heard his chair scrape back.
Then nothing.
He didn't follow.
But when I reached my car and checked my phone, there was a new message.
Not from Luca.
It was from Chloe.
*"He just called me.
He told me you went to a lawyer.
He said if I talk to you or your lawyer, he'll destroy my father.
Jessi, I'm scared."*
May you like
I sat in the dark car and read the message twice.
Then I called Diane.
