The woman in the gown tried to laugh.

“She’s confused.”

But Matteo’s mother shook her head.

“She knew my name the moment I arrived.”

Matteo stared at her.

“Mom… why are you working here?”

She looked down at her stained apron.

“Because I wanted to see you.”

His expression softened.

“You could have called me.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“I tried.”

The woman in the gown suddenly looked toward the door.

Matteo noticed.

His voice hardened.

“What did you do?”

Silence.

His mother reached into her apron and pulled out a bundle of unopened letters.

Every envelope had Matteo’s name on it.

“I sent these for years.”

He took them with shaking hands.

None had ever reached him.

Then he recognized the address.

They had all been sent to the mansion where the woman in the rose-gold gown had lived with his family.

Matteo looked at her.

“You told me my mother chose to disappear.”

She backed away.

His mother started crying again.

“She told me you hated me.”

Matteo’s eyes filled with rage.

For twenty years, two people had been mourning each other from opposite sides of the same lie.

He took his mother’s hand.

Then looked at the woman who had just struck her.

“You didn’t humiliate a chef tonight.”

His voice dropped.

“You put your hands on the woman I spent half my life believing didn’t love me.”