Chapter 5 - THE TWO MOTHERS
Alina stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
Luca nodded.
“She accessed the codicil with Caterina.”
“No.”
Alina shook her head.
“There has to be an explanation.”
The irony wasn't lost on me.
An hour earlier, I'd said the same thing about my mother.
Now we were each staring at the possibility that the women who raised us had been keeping the same secret.
“Call her,” I said.
Alina did.
Evelyn answered on the third ring.
“Sweetheart?”
“Mom, were you with Caterina when she reviewed Dante's father's will six months ago?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Alina stood.
“Mom?”
Evelyn exhaled shakily.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I can't explain this over the phone.”
“You can try.”
“Alina—”
“Did you know about the medical tests?”
Another silence.
Alina's face changed.
“Mom.”
“I knew Caterina was concerned.”
“Concerned about what?”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“About the agreement.”
“What agreement?”
I leaned toward the phone.
“Evelyn, come to our house.”
She hesitated.
Then said something unexpected.
“Not while Caterina's security people are watching me.”
Luca and I exchanged a look.
“What security people?” I asked.
“Two men have been outside my home since yesterday.”
The room went cold.
“Stay inside,” I said.
Luca was already texting our security chief.
Evelyn continued.
“Dante, there are things about your marriage neither of you were told.”
Alina whispered, “What things?”
“Your fathers made an agreement before Dante's father died.”
My father and Alina's father.
I frowned.
“What agreement?”
“I didn't know everything until six months ago.”
“Tell us what you know now.”
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“The marriage wasn't arranged only to save Hartwell Manufacturing.”
Alina stared at me.
“What?”
“Your father did need money,” Evelyn said. “But Vittorio Moretti approached him first.”
My father.
Not Alina's.
I felt the room narrow.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted Dante protected.”
“From what?”
Evelyn began crying.
“From his own family.”
Nobody spoke.
Then she continued.
“Vittorio believed someone was moving money out of Moretti Global through false manufacturing contracts. He trusted Alina's father because they had worked together years earlier.”
I looked at Luca.
He looked stunned.
“The marriage created a legal bridge between the companies,” Evelyn said. “It allowed certain records to remain protected under joint family ownership.”
Alina shook her head.
“So Dad traded me into a marriage to hide documents?”
“No.”
Evelyn sounded horrified.
“No, sweetheart. Your father refused at first.”
“Then why did he agree?”
“Because Vittorio told him Dante would eventually need someone outside the Moretti family he could trust.”
I didn't know what to say.
Then Evelyn added:
“And because Vittorio had already met you.”
Alina froze.
“When?”
“At Northwestern.”
Alina had studied art history there before joining her family's foundation.
May you like
Evelyn whispered:
“He saw you do something that convinced him you were the only woman he wanted his son to marry.”
