Chapter 3 - THE SECRET TRUST
Police arrived within minutes.
Victor was questioned while Luca insisted Nia and the children remain inside the private dining room.
But Nia couldn't stop thinking about one sentence.
The twins are not safe.
“Why would someone threaten children they just discovered?” she asked.
Luca looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“You should.”
He looked down.
Nia softened slightly.
“I'm not blaming you anymore.”
“You should.”
“No.”
“You spent eight years believing I abandoned you.”
“And you spent eight years believing I wanted nothing to do with our children.”
Luca’s voice cracked.
“We were both lied to.”
For the first time, neither of them had an answer.
Then Victor was brought into the room.
He looked exhausted.
“My father created a private trust before he died,” Luca said.
Victor nodded.
“It was meant for the next generation.”
Nia frowned.
“What does that have to do with my children?”
Victor hesitated.
“The trust was activated only if Luca had biological heirs.”
Nia understood.
“The twins.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Victor looked at Luca.
“Forty-two million dollars.”
Luca stared at him.
“And you hid this?”
“I didn't.”
“Then who did?”
Victor pulled a folder from his coat.
“I've spent six years trying to find the person who changed the trust documents.”
He placed them on the table.
The beneficiaries had originally been listed as Luca's future children.
But someone had altered the documents.
The new beneficiary was a corporation.
MORETTI FAMILY HOLDINGS.
Nia recognized the name.
“Who owns that company?”
Victor looked at her.
“That's the problem.”
He opened another page.
The registered owner was Anthony Moretti.
Nia's heart stopped.
“But he's dead.”
“Exactly.”
Luca stared at the signature.
It looked authentic.
His father's handwriting.
His father's seal.
His father's authorization.
Someone had forged the entire identity of a dead man.
Then Victor revealed the worst part.
“The company has been receiving payments from the trust every month.”
“How much?” Luca asked.
“About $600,000.”
Nia calculated quickly.
Six hundred thousand dollars a month.
For six years.
More than forty million dollars.
Luca suddenly looked sick.
“Where did the money go?”
Victor looked at him.
“That's what I've been trying to discover.”
Nia's phone vibrated.
A photograph had been sent to her.
It showed her and the twins leaving the restaurant.
Taken from across the street.
Underneath it was one sentence:
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED GONE.
Nia showed Luca.
His expression hardened.
“This ends tonight.”
But Nia shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at the twins.
“This ends when we know who started it.”
May you like
And for the first time, Luca understood that Nia wasn't running anymore.
She was ready to fight.
