Chapter 4 - The Father Who Never Trusted Him|
Marcus Moretti woke just after noon.
His first words were not about the men who had attacked him or the bullet lodged dangerously close to his shoulder.
"Where is my grandson?"
Luca stood beside the hospital bed.
"At home. Security has doubled."
"That wasn't my question."
"He's safe."
Marcus studied his son with the suspicion of a man who had spent forty years surviving by assuming everyone was lying.
"Is Sophie with him?"
"Yes."
"Good. She's the only person in that house who still seems to remember what family means."
Luca stiffened.
"Father, this isn't the time."
"Then when is it? After your wife leaves? After your son becomes a bargaining chip? After Carlo Rinaldi puts his hands on the company you were supposed to inherit?"
Luca looked toward the closed door.
"You know about Carlo's plan?"
"I know he has been trying to control this family for months. I know he wants access to our private accounts, our shipping routes, and our political contacts. And I know he believes you are weak enough to give him all three if he threatens the people you love."
"Bianca says the merger is legitimate."
Marcus gave a humorless laugh.
"Bianca says whatever her father pays her to say."
"She works for the acquisition team."
"She was removed from our financial division six months ago."
Luca stared at him.
"Removed for what?"
"Unauthorized transfers. She was moving money through shell companies connected to Carlo's associates. We caught the transactions, but before we could investigate, the records disappeared."
Luca felt the room tilt.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did. You were too busy believing that keeping secrets made you a better leader."
The words hit harder than Luca expected.
Marcus reached for the water beside his bed, wincing as he moved.
"Listen carefully. Carlo doesn't want a partnership. He wants control. If you marry Bianca, he gains a legal and social path into the family. If Theo is named under a revised succession agreement, he gains influence over the next generation."
"There is no revised agreement."
"There shouldn't be. Yet someone has been circulating one."
Luca's mind returned to the papers Bianca had carried from his study. He had assumed they were financial documents. He had never examined them closely enough to understand what they contained.
"Where is the original succession agreement?" he asked.
"Your study safe."
Luca's phone rang before he could respond.
It was his head of security.
"We checked the bedroom cameras," the man said. "Someone entered Mrs. Moretti's room last night while the family was downstairs."
"Who?"
"We're reviewing the footage."
"Send it now."
A video appeared on Luca's phone. A figure in a dark uniform moved through the corridor, stopped outside Sophie's bedroom, and used a key to enter.
The figure emerged less than three minutes later.
Luca zoomed in.
The person was wearing the uniform of his private security team.
But the face was Bianca Rinaldi's.
Marcus saw the screen.
"Now you understand," he said.
Luca's jaw tightened.
"Understand what?"
May you like
His father looked directly at him.
"Your problem isn't that Bianca wants your wife gone. It's that someone inside your own family has already helped her get close enough to do it."
