Chapter 4
Vanessa couldn't stop thinking about the gold folder.
Villa Serafina.
Positano, Italy.
She had spent two years planning what she believed would be the most glamorous wedding in the family.
Now...
She wasn't so sure.
That evening, she walked into her parents' living room carrying her tablet.
"I looked them up."
Helen glanced over.
"Who?"
"The Romanos."
Richard slowly lowered his coffee cup.
Vanessa opened an article.
Luxury resorts.
International charities.
Private vineyards along the Amalfi Coast.
A foundation that funded children's hospitals across Europe and the United States.
Another article appeared.
Luca Romano named one of the country's youngest CEOs.
Another.
The Romano family listed among America's wealthiest private families.
Vanessa stared at the screen in disbelief.
"No..."
Helen grabbed the tablet.
Her face turned pale.
Richard closed his eyes.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The quiet confidence.
The expensive engagement photo overlooking Positano.
The fact that Luca never tried to impress anyone.
He had never needed to.
Helen whispered,
"Mara never told us."
Richard answered quietly.
"She didn't have to."
Vanessa slammed the tablet onto the table.
"This isn't fair."
Richard looked at her.
"What isn't?"
"She gets everything!"
Richard stared at his daughter.
"You mean the daughter we threw aside?"
Vanessa folded her arms.
"She knew we'd be embarrassed."
Richard stood up.
"No."
"We embarrassed ourselves."
Vanessa refused to listen.
"I'm fixing this."
Before either parent could stop her, she grabbed her phone.
She called Mara.
After several rings...
Mara answered.
"Hello?"
Vanessa forced a cheerful voice.
"Hey."
"I've been thinking."
"I overreacted."
"I'd love for you to come to the wedding."
Silence.
Then Mara quietly asked,
"Why now?"
Vanessa laughed nervously.
"Because you're my sister."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Finally Mara spoke.
"No."
Vanessa blinked.
"...No?"
"I won't come."
"But I invited you."
"You invited Luca."
"You rejected me."
"Those aren't the same thing."
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
"Come on."
"Let's forget everything."
Mara's voice remained calm.
"I spent thirty years trying to be part of this family."
"You spent thirty years showing me I wasn't."
"You don't erase that with one phone call."
Vanessa's patience cracked.
"So that's it?"
"You're choosing them over us?"
Mara looked across the room at Luca, who was arranging seating cards for Italy.
Then she smiled softly.
"No."
"I'm choosing the people who already chose me."
Click.
The call ended.
Vanessa stared at her phone.
Helen whispered,
"What did she say?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"She isn't coming."
Richard nodded slowly.
"I don't blame her."
Two days later...
The Bennett family attended Vanessa's lavish wedding.
Everything looked perfect.
Crystal chandeliers.
White roses.
A live orchestra.
Hundreds of guests.
Yet something felt strangely empty.
People kept asking the same question.
"Wasn't Vanessa's sister supposed to be here?"
"I heard she's engaged."
"Someone said the groom's family owns resorts in Italy."
"Why didn't they come?"
Vanessa forced smile after smile.
Each question felt like another crack in the perfect image she had tried to build.
At the reception, Grant—one of the groom's business associates—approached Richard.
"I was hoping to meet Luca Romano."
Richard forced a smile.
"He couldn't make it."
Grant looked surprised.
"He declined?"
Richard nodded.
Grant sighed.
"That's unfortunate."
"I've spent six months trying to arrange a meeting with him."
Richard felt his stomach twist.
Six months...
To get a meeting with the man his daughter was going to marry.
Across the Atlantic...
As the sun began setting over Positano...
Mara and Luca stood on the balcony of Villa Serafina.
Workers arranged white flowers along the cliffside.
Candles lined the stone pathway.
The Mediterranean shimmered beneath them.
Luca slipped an arm around her shoulders.
"Any regrets?"
Mara watched the waves below.
Then smiled.
"Only one."
"What is it?"
"I wish I'd stopped begging people to love me much sooner."
Luca kissed her forehead.
"You'll never have to beg again."
Behind them, Luca's grandmother stepped onto the terrace holding an elegant envelope.
"It just arrived from America."
Mara took it.
The sender's name made her freeze.
Richard Bennett.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
May you like
And one sentence that made her hands tremble.
I know I don't deserve to stand at your wedding... but if there's any chance you'll let your father watch from the last row, I'll spend the rest of my life proving I earned that seat.
