Chapter 3 - HIS MOTHER WANTED AN HEIR
Bianca Moretti did not apologize when confronted.
That told me almost everything.
We met that afternoon in Rachel’s conference room.
Neutral location.
No Moretti security inside.
My condition.
Bianca arrived wearing black cashmere and enough composure for a state funeral.
Adrian came separately.
He sat across from his mother.
I sat beside Rachel.
“Did you file a waiver using my signature?” I asked.
Bianca looked at me.
“I facilitated what needed to happen.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s chair moved.
“Mother.”
She turned toward him.
“You should be thanking me.”
“For forging my wife’s signature?”
“For protecting your child.”
The word child changed the room.
Bianca folded her hands.
“When Sofia called me three weeks ago, she suspected she was pregnant.”
Adrian stared.
“She called you before me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was frightened.”
I looked at Bianca.
“Frightened of what?”
“The family.”
She meant the Morettis.
Maybe also the Russos.
Sofia’s father, Salvatore Russo, controlled a smaller but dangerous Chicago network that had alternated between alliance and hostility with the Morettis for decades.
Bianca continued.
“The moment a direct Moretti heir exists, the succession structure changes.”
“So you forged my waiver.”
“You were going to leave Adrian once you learned about the affair.”
I leaned forward.
“You decided my answer before asking me.”
“You would never agree to protect Sofia’s child.”
“Maybe not.”
I kept my voice calm.
“But the signature was still mine.”
Bianca looked genuinely confused by the distinction.
That explained Adrian more than I wanted it to.
He stood.
“Why didn’t you tell me Sofia called?”
“Because you would panic.”
“I am thirty-two.”
“You are still my son.”
“Not an excuse.”
Good.
Then Rachel asked:
“Why specifically place protector authority with Sofia?”
Bianca answered:
“Because she is the child’s mother.”
“That gives her access to an eighteen-percent voting block.”
Silence.
Bianca knew.
Of course she knew.
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Did Luca ask you to do this?”
“No.”
Too fast.
I noticed.
Rachel noticed.
Adrian definitely noticed.
He leaned forward.
“Mother.”
Bianca looked away.
That was enough.
“He told me the waiver would keep the pregnancy from becoming public litigation.”
My stomach tightened.
Luca had sold it as family protection.
“And you believed him?”
“I believed avoiding scandal mattered.”
I laughed without humor.
“Apparently more than avoiding fraud.”
Then Rachel introduced bank records she had obtained through trust counsel.
Over the previous three months, the Moretti Family Office had transferred money to Sofia.
$250,000.
Then $500,000.
Then another $500,000.
Total:
$1.25 million.
Adrian looked at his mother.
“You paid her?”
“For discretion.”
I stared.
“You knew she was sleeping with your married son, and instead of telling me, you paid her to keep it quiet.”
Bianca’s face hardened.
“I protected my family.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You protected the appearance of your family.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Then Rachel continued.
“There’s more.”
Another $2.8 million had moved from the Moretti Family Office to a consulting company named Russo Strategic Advisory.
Sofia’s father’s company.
Bianca looked genuinely confused.
“I didn’t authorize that.”
Adrian turned toward Luca’s signature block.
He wasn’t present.
But his electronic approval was.
Now the shape changed.
Bianca had committed forgery.
Sofia had accepted hush money.
Adrian had committed adultery.
But Luca was moving millions behind all of them.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One message.
Claire, if you want to know why I got pregnant, don’t trust anyone in that room. Not even Adrian. — Sofia
Below it was an audio file.
I pressed play.
May you like
Luca Moretti’s voice filled the conference room.
“Once Claire signs away protector status, the baby gives us the board.”
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