Chapter 5 - SOMEONE HAD BEEN USING MY NAME FOR MONTHS
The signature was good.
Almost perfect.
That frightened Valentina more than a bad forgery would have.
It meant someone had practiced.
The authorization was dated four months earlier.
It allowed Luca’s company to use expected Moretti inheritance rights as supporting financial disclosure.
Not a direct transfer.
Not yet.
But enough to make lenders believe Luca had future access to substantial family assets.
Valentina held the page up.
“I was in New York on this date.”
Her father nodded.
“You were at Isabella’s exhibition.”
Dante examined the notary block.
“Florence.”
She stared.
“So someone signed here while I was overseas.”
Dante called his attorney.
Alberto called theirs.
Within an hour, two additional documents appeared.
Same signature.
Same notary.
Same problem.
Luca had been building financial access around a marriage that had not occurred yet.
Valentina felt nauseated.
“How long did he plan this?”
Dante answered carefully.
“We don’t know.”
“I want to ask him.”
Her father immediately objected.
“No.”
She turned.
“No?”
“It’s too dangerous.”
There it was again.
Protection that sounded like control.
Valentina’s expression changed.
Alberto recognized his mistake.
He exhaled.
“I mean I’m afraid.”
Better.
Honest.
Dante said nothing.
Valentina looked at him.
“You disagree?”
“I think you should speak to Luca only if you want answers more than you want distance.”
She considered that.
“I want both.”
“Then arrange it somewhere neutral.”
They met that evening at an attorney’s office in Florence.
Luca arrived furious.
Not brokenhearted.
Furious.
“You brought lawyers?”
Valentina almost smiled.
“You brought forged documents.”
His face changed.
That was answer enough.
“I didn’t forge anything.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
She placed the loan authorization on the table.
He stared at it.
Then away.
“Celeste handled financing paperwork.”
Dante, seated several feet back, became very still.
Valentina noticed.
“You gave your mistress documents carrying my signature?”
“No. She prepared packets. I thought you’d already signed.”
“That sentence doesn’t even make sense.”
Luca snapped:
“You signed dozens of wedding documents.”
“Yes. In front of people.”
His frustration broke through.
“You were going to marry me.”
“As if marriage is retroactive consent?”
The room went quiet.
Luca looked suddenly ashamed.
Not enough.
But something.
Then Valentina asked the question she had been avoiding.
“Did you love her?”
His eyes lifted.
“No.”
“Did you love me?”
Silence.
Worse.
Then:
“I thought I did.”
That hurt more than the photographs.
Valentina nodded slowly.
“Thank you.”
He looked confused.
“For what?”
“For finally telling the truth before I wasted another year.”
She stood.
Luca panicked.
“Wait.”
Valentina stopped.
His face changed from anger to fear.
“There’s something you don’t understand about Celeste.”
Dante’s gaze sharpened.
“What?”
Luca looked directly at Valentina.
“She didn’t start seeing me because of the Bellini company.”
“Then why?”
He swallowed.
May you like
“Because of you.”
And according to Luca, Celeste had been asking questions about Valentina long before the affair began.
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