Chapter 2 - THE DOCUMENT VANESSA NEEDED BEFORE MORNING
Nobody searched the greenhouse immediately.
That was Luca’s decision.
“I want the house secured first.”
Security collected phones from the guests.
Vanessa protested.
“My father will wonder why I’m not answering.”
Luca looked at her.
“He can wonder.”
Then he turned to me.
“Claire, you stay with my mother.”
Vanessa laughed.
“She was fired.”
Luca finally looked at her.
“No.”
One word.
Vanessa went silent.
I should have felt relieved.
Instead, I thought about my sister’s dental surgery Monday.
I needed the job.
But standing in that dining room, surrounded by men who could buy entire city blocks without checking their bank accounts, I suddenly understood the job itself might now be dangerous.
Mrs. Moretti touched my hand.
Stay.
I nodded.
“For tonight.”
Luca heard.
He did not argue.
Good.
Matteo sat under security watch in the library.
Vanessa remained in the dining room.
And the family attorney, Julian Sarto, arrived forty minutes later carrying the original paperwork transferring Mrs. Moretti to the Wisconsin care facility.
Luca spread the pages across the table.
“Who prepared these?”
Julian adjusted his glasses.
“My office.”
“You dated them September third.”
“A clerical error.”
“My mother was unconscious.”
“I understand.”
“Then why is her signature here?”
Julian swallowed.
“I was told she had signed preliminary versions.”
“By who?”
Silence.
Luca leaned back.
“Julian.”
“Vanessa coordinated the medical documents.”
Every face turned.
Vanessa’s jaw tightened.
“I brought you what Dr. Harris gave me.”
Julian nodded too quickly.
Luca looked at the signature.
Then at me.
“Ask my mother if she signed anything authorizing Vanessa.”
Mrs. Moretti answered immediately.
No.
I translated.
Julian opened another section.
“There is a durable financial proxy.”
Luca frowned.
“What proxy?”
Julian looked genuinely uncomfortable now.
He removed a notarized document.
Mrs. Teresa Moretti, due to medical incapacity, appointed Vanessa Bellini as temporary financial agent over personal and trust-related matters.
Luca stood.
“Why would my mother appoint my fiancée?”
Vanessa answered.
“Because you were overwhelmed after the accident.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t need to.”
Wrong answer.
Julian pointed to the witness section.
Two signatures.
Vanessa Bellini.
And Luca Moretti.
I watched Luca’s expression change.
“I never signed this.”
Julian stared.
“Luca—”
“I said I never signed this.”
His voice made two guests physically recoil.
Vanessa stood.
“This has gone far enough.”
“No.”
Luca picked up the document.
“It just started.”
I looked toward Mrs. Moretti.
She was signing again.
Shares.
“What shares?” I asked.
Her fingers moved.
Thirty-one.
Luca stared.
“My mother controls thirty-one percent of Moretti Holdings.”
Julian’s face lost color.
The durable proxy did not simply allow Vanessa to pay bills or choose a nursing home.
If valid, it gave her authority to vote Teresa’s thirty-one-percent block.
That was enough to determine whether the proposed Moretti-Bellini merger passed.
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“When is the board vote?”
She said nothing.
Matteo answered from the library doorway.
“Monday morning.”
Luca turned.
Matteo had apparently convinced security to let him speak from the threshold.
He continued.
“The care facility admission is tomorrow.”
Sunday.
Once Teresa was moved, doctors would certify her as incapable of participating in business matters.
Monday, Vanessa would exercise the proxy.
Thirty-one percent.
Antonio controlled eighteen.
Several Bellini-aligned investors controlled another seven.
Together, enough to approve the merger and dilute Luca’s authority.
Vanessa whispered:
“I was protecting the company.”
Mrs. Moretti slapped her palm against the table.
Everyone jumped.
Then her fingers moved angrily.
I translated.
“She says you were trying to steal it.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“No.”
Mrs. Moretti signed one more thing.
Ask doctor.
“Dr. Harris?”
She nodded.
Why pills changed.
My stomach turned.
I looked at Luca.
“Your mother says her medication was changed after the accident.”
Vanessa immediately said:
“Her neurologist adjusted it.”
Mrs. Moretti shook her head violently.
Then signed:
Before.
I froze.
“What?”
May you like
Before accident.
Someone had changed Teresa Moretti’s medication before her brakes were cut.
Related Stories
