Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN I THOUGHT STOLE MY HUSBAND
Vanessa Russo walked into the room wearing sunglasses and carrying a red leather folder.
I hated that she looked exactly as polished in real life as she did in photographs.
Then she removed the sunglasses.
There was a bruise near her temple.
My anger shifted.
“What happened?”
“Salvatore doesn’t handle disagreement gracefully.”
Adrian stepped toward her.
“Who touched you?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“Please don’t become performatively homicidal. We have bigger problems.”
I almost liked her immediately.
That annoyed me.
She placed the folder on the table.
“I never slept with your husband.”
I stared.
“That is an incredibly strange opening sentence.”
“It seemed efficient.”
Adrian muttered:
“Vanessa.”
“What? Claire deserves efficiency. She apparently received very little honesty.”
Adrian actually looked chastened.
Now I definitely liked her.
Vanessa explained.
She and Adrian had dated when they were younger.
Publicly.
Their families approved.
It ended because Adrian wanted out of the family politics surrounding their relationship.
Years later, Salvatore decided bringing them back together would stabilize alliances.
“When Adrian refused, Salvatore got creative.”
Photos.
Anonymous gossip.
Strategic seating.
Manufactured sightings.
The night of the gala, Vanessa had agreed to attend because Salvatore claimed he would otherwise expose her younger brother’s gambling debts to dangerous lenders.
“He blackmailed you.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell Adrian?”
“I didn’t know who Salvatore controlled.”
Reasonable.
Painfully reasonable.
Then Vanessa looked directly at me.
“He also told me Adrian’s secret wife was temporary.”
My chest tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“That you would be gone before spring.”
Adrian became still.
“Those were his words?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa opened the red folder.
Inside were copies of messages.
Salvatore discussing succession.
Adrian had no publicly recognized wife.
No acknowledged children.
If Adrian died, control of several family trusts would shift toward Salvatore’s branch of the family.
“But if there’s a child?” Rebecca asked.
Vanessa nodded.
“Everything changes.”
The unborn baby was not merely Adrian’s child.
Under old Moretti trust documents, Adrian’s legitimate descendant would eventually control voting rights worth hundreds of millions.
My stomach turned.
“This is insane.”
Adrian’s face went cold.
“I’ll change the trust.”
“You can’t immediately,” Rebecca said. “Not if the documents are as old and restrictive as Vanessa says.”
Vanessa handed her the paperwork.
“Adrian’s grandfather built them.”
Of course he did.
Dead patriarchs apparently loved ruining living women’s lives.
Then Vanessa gave us the biggest problem.
“Salvatore knows Claire is pregnant.”
“How?” Adrian demanded.
“I don’t know.”
Only a tiny circle knew.
Then I remembered the copied ultrasound.
Someone had entered Adrian’s apartment.
Someone with security access.
Adrian immediately called Luca.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Adrian’s face changed.
“Luca never ignores me.”
Fear moved through the room.
Ten minutes later, one of Adrian’s men called.
Luca had been found unconscious in a parking structure beneath Moretti Capital.
Alive.
Barely.
His security badge was missing.
Adrian looked at me.
“Someone inside my organization is helping Salvatore.”
I stared at the red folder.
Then at Vanessa.
“Why bring this to me?”
She went quiet.
“Because I watched my mother spend twenty-five years pretending humiliation was the price of marrying a powerful man.”
Her voice softened.
“I promised myself I would never help another woman do the same.”
That answer stayed with me.
Then Rebecca reached the final page of the trust.
Her face changed.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“This isn’t only about the baby inheriting later.”
She slid the page toward him.
“If Adrian has a legally recognized child, certain voting rights transfer out of Salvatore’s control immediately after birth.”
Adrian read the clause.
His jaw hardened.
Then I saw something else in the document.
A handwritten notation beside my name.
Not Claire Bennett.
Claire Moretti.
Dated nine months earlier.
Someone had already amended the trust to acknowledge me as Adrian’s wife.
I looked at him.
“You did this?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Vanessa’s face went pale.
“Then Salvatore knew the marriage was already legally recognized inside the family structure.”
Rebecca looked up.
“Which means he didn’t start planning after the pregnancy.”
May you like
My blood went cold.
“He’s been planning around Claire for months.”
