Chapter 5 - The Mistress's Bargain|
Alessia agreed to meet Damian in a private office above a restaurant in River North.
She arrived wearing a black dress and no jewelry. Without the confidence she usually carried, she looked younger and considerably less certain of herself.
Damian remained standing.
“Start talking.”
Alessia lowered her eyes.
“Victor told me your marriage was already over.”
“That isn't an explanation.”
“He said you were waiting for Claire to give birth before filing for divorce. He said you had agreed to marry me afterward.”
Damian laughed once, without humor.
“I never promised to marry you.”
“He showed me messages.”
“Forged messages?”
“I didn't know they were forged.”
“You didn't know, or you didn't care?”
She flinched.
“I cared about you.”
“No. You cared about the life you thought I could give you.”
Alessia's eyes filled with tears.
For a moment, she looked genuinely hurt.
Then she took a breath.
“Victor said Claire's pregnancy was dangerous for the organization. If you had a legitimate heir, your mother would push you to transfer voting control of the family companies into a trust. Victor thought that would weaken your authority.”
Damian's expression changed.
“My son had nothing to do with the organization.”
“Victor didn't see it that way.”
“What did he want?”
“Your mother had been discussing a restructuring. The Moretti shipping companies would be separated from the criminal operations, and several outside investors would gain influence. Victor wanted to control the board before that happened.”
Damian stared at her.
“Why involve Claire?”
Alessia began to cry.
“Because she was the one person who could make you change your mind.”
The admission landed with terrible clarity.
Claire had never been a threat because she wanted power.
She had been a threat because Damian loved her enough to become a different man.
Alessia continued.
“Victor said that if Claire became too unstable to manage the family trust, your mother could appoint an independent guardian. He told me that all we had to do was make sure Claire left the estate before the birth.”
“You knew they were monitoring her?”
“I knew Vivian had been hired to keep track of her appointments. I thought it was to protect the baby.”
“Did you know about the anonymous messages?”
“No.”
“Did you know Victor was using my name?”
She shook her head.
Damian studied her carefully.
He couldn't determine whether every word was true, but he could see that fear had replaced her usual arrogance.
“Why didn't you tell me when Gabriel was born?”
Alessia looked away.
“Because Victor told me that if you came home, everything would collapse. He said Claire would blame you, and you would become unpredictable. He said the board would remove you.”
“So you stayed in Capri.”
She began sobbing.
“I thought there would be time.”
Damian turned toward the window.
There had been twelve hours and six minutes.
He could not afford to pretend that Alessia's fear excused her choices.
“You're going to give this statement to my attorney. Then you'll cooperate with the investigators.”
“What happens to me?”
“That depends on what the evidence shows.”
“Damian, please. I didn't want the baby to die.”
He closed his eyes.
“Neither did I.”
The words were so quiet that she almost missed them.
He left the room without offering forgiveness.
Outside, Dante was waiting beside the car.
“Do you believe her?”
“Some of it.”
“And the rest?”
“We prove it.”
That night, investigators recovered financial correspondence from Victor's office. Several messages showed that he had arranged for Northbridge to monitor Claire's pregnancy and had used forged accounts to create the appearance that Damian had approved the surveillance.
But one message was different.
It had been sent to Victor from an account belonging to Isabella Moretti.
The child must not become the center of the succession dispute. Make sure the situation is resolved before February.
Damian read it twice.
The wording was chilling.
It did not explicitly order anyone to harm Claire or Gabriel. It could have referred to legal arrangements, financial planning, or the removal of the baby from the family's public affairs.
But it had been sent shortly before Claire's premature labor.
Damian called his mother.
She refused to answer.
He drove to her house.
Isabella opened the door and immediately knew why he had come.
“You've been reading my correspondence.”
“Did you tell Victor to resolve the situation before February?”
She turned pale.
“That's not what you think.”
“Then explain it.”
Isabella stepped aside.
In her study, she opened a locked cabinet and removed a folder containing board resolutions, trust documents, and a proposal to separate the family's legitimate businesses from its criminal operations.
“The child was never in danger because of his inheritance,” she said. “The dispute was about control of the companies. Victor wanted the baby used as leverage, and I wanted to prevent that.”
“By hiring Northbridge?”
“By ensuring Claire's medical care was monitored.”
“Without her knowledge.”
“I was trying to protect the family.”
Damian stared at her.
“You keep saying family when you mean control.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“No. You were trying to protect the empire.”
He took the folder.
“Until the investigation is over, you will have no contact with Claire. You will not access her medical records, her accounts, or any document concerning our son.”
Isabella looked at him as though he had struck her.
“After everything I've done for you?”
Damian paused at the door.
“That's exactly the problem, Mother. You think love means I owe you obedience.”
He left.
Before he reached the car, his phone rang.
It was Nora.
“Damian, Claire received the letter.”
“Did she read it?”
“Yes.”
“Will she speak to me?”
Nora hesitated.
“She's considering it.”
Then her voice changed.
“But she just received a message from someone claiming to have evidence that Gabriel's final medical treatment was deliberately delayed.”
Damian froze.
“Who sent it?”
“The message came with a photograph of a hospital medication chart.”
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And beside the timestamp of Gabriel's final treatment was a handwritten note.
Wait until the father arrives.
