Chapter 5 - THE DIVORCE THEY HAD ALREADY PLANNED
Elena stared at the document until the words blurred.
Effective upon the termination of the Moretti marriage.
Someone had planned her divorce before she even knew her marriage was ending.
Rachel leaned back.
“This is why I need you to be careful.”
“Bianca wants Dante.”
“Perhaps. But she wants your shares more.”
Elena looked at the forged paperwork.
The scheme was almost elegant.
Convince Dante his wife was unimportant.
Humiliate her until she walked away.
Use the separation to trigger a fraudulent transfer.
Then take control of the companies both families depended upon.
Elena's anger slowly replaced her heartbreak.
“They wanted me to leave.”
Rachel nodded.
“And they expected you to disappear quietly.”
Elena straightened.
“Then they're going to be disappointed.”
Rachel smiled for the first time.
“There's the woman I remember from law school.”
Elena picked up her phone.
“File whatever we need to stop the transfer.”
“Already preparing it.”
“And Rachel?”
“Yes?”
“I want every document connected to Bianca Russo.”
Back at the Moretti estate, Dante received a call from his mother's physician.
Isabella had collapsed during breakfast.
He raced to the hospital.
His mother was conscious when he arrived, sitting upright in bed with an oxygen tube beneath her nose.
“Don't look at me like that,” she said. “I'm not dying.”
Dante took her hand.
“You frightened me.”
“Good. Maybe fear will finally teach you something.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Mother—”
“Where is Elena?”
He couldn't answer.
Isabella studied his face.
“What did you do?”
Dante told her.
Not every detail.
Just enough.
He admitted what he'd said about Bianca.
He told her Elena had heard him.
Then he placed the wedding ring in Isabella's palm.
His mother's expression changed.
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then she closed her fingers around the ring.
“Your wife held this family together while you congratulated yourself for building it.”
“I know.”
“No,” Isabella said sharply. “You don't.”
Dante stared.
His mother reached for the bedside drawer.
Inside was a sealed letter.
“Elena gave me this six months ago.”
“Why?”
“She told me to open it only if she disappeared or if someone tried to take control of the company.”
Dante felt the blood drain from his face.
Isabella handed him the envelope.
He broke the seal.
Inside were photographs, account numbers, and a short handwritten message.
Isabella, if anything happens to me, don't trust Bianca Russo or the men handling Dante's offshore accounts.
Dante turned the page.
The last sentence stopped him.
The money isn't the real target.
They are preparing to frame Dante for a murder he didn't commit.
Attached to the letter was a photograph of Victor Salerno standing beside a man who had supposedly died five years earlier.
May you like
Dante's younger brother.
Luca Moretti.
