Chapter 4 - THE FATHER WHO PREDICTED THE DIVORCE
Claire barely slept.
At 5:12 A.M., she was sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by files when Lily padded downstairs carrying a stuffed rabbit.
“Mommy?”
Claire immediately closed the folder.
“Hey, baby.”
Lily climbed into her lap.
“Why is Daddy sleeping on the couch?”
Claire froze.
Vincent.
She had forgotten he was still there.
“He got tired.”
Lily considered this.
“Daddy has a big house.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he sleep there?”
Excellent question.
Claire looked toward the living room.
Vincent stood in the doorway.
Tie gone.
Shirt wrinkled.
He looked strangely human.
“Because Daddy wanted to make sure Mommy was okay.”
Lily smiled.
“Are you okay now?”
Claire looked at Vincent.
“Yes.”
It was not entirely true.
But it was getting closer.
After breakfast, Vincent took Lily to preschool.
Claire visited her father’s former law partner, Samuel Rhodes.
He was seventy-one now.
Retired.
And when Claire mentioned Bennett Capital, his face changed.
“I wondered when you would find it.”
Claire stared.
“You knew?”
Samuel sighed.
“Your father made me promise.”
“Promise what?”
“To say nothing unless the trust activated.”
“Why?”
“Because Henry believed someone inside the Moretti family would eventually turn Vincent against you.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
“Who?”
“He didn’t know.”
Samuel retrieved a locked case.
Inside were letters.
Bank records.
Photographs.
And an audio recorder.
“Your father came to me two weeks before he died,” Samuel said. “He was terrified.”
“Of Vincent?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“He trusted Vincent.”
That surprised her.
“He told me Vincent was the only Moretti he believed might survive long enough to clean up the family.”
Claire looked down.
“Dad barely spoke to Vincent.”
“He was protecting both of you.”
Samuel handed her a letter.
Claire opened it.
Sweetheart,
If you are reading this, then either I was wrong or someone succeeded in making Vincent forget what matters.
Claire’s throat tightened.
The letter continued.
Love can survive danger. It can survive poverty. Sometimes it can even survive betrayal.
But what destroys marriages quietly is manipulation repeated so often that it begins to sound like your own thoughts.
Claire stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Samuel pointed toward the recorder.
She pressed play.
Her father’s voice filled the office.
“Salvatore Moretti has been meeting with a behavioral consultant named Dr. Julian Price.”
Claire frowned.
She knew the name.
Dr. Price was Vincent’s private physician.
He had treated Vincent for insomnia for years.
Henry continued.
“Price is not just a doctor. He has been prescribing medications to members of the Moretti family while collecting information for Salvatore.”
Claire’s pulse raced.
“Vincent…”
Samuel looked grim.
“Has Vincent seemed different recently?”
Claire thought.
Irritable.
Restless.
Emotionally detached.
Complaining he felt numb.
Searching constantly for stimulation.
Coming home after midnight.
“Yes.”
Samuel nodded.
“Henry believed Price used controlled medications to destabilize judgment.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
“Are you saying someone drugged my husband into divorcing me?”
“I’m saying your father feared somebody might someday manipulate Vincent into making choices he believed were his own.”
Claire stared.
Then something clicked.
“Vincent started seeing Dr. Price six months ago.”
Samuel’s expression hardened.
“When did he begin talking about boredom?”
Claire whispered:
“Five months ago.”
She grabbed her phone.
Vincent answered immediately.
“Claire?”
“Where are you?”
“My office.”
“Do not take anything Dr. Price gave you.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“Because I think someone has been manipulating you.”
His voice changed.
“What?”
Before Claire could explain, she heard a crash on Vincent’s end.
Then Marco shouted.
“Boss!”
The phone hit the floor.
Claire stood.
“Vincent!”
A gunshot cracked through the speaker.
Then nothing.
She called again.
No answer.
At Moretti headquarters, Vincent lay beside his desk with blood on his shirt.
Marco fired toward the hallway.
May you like
And running from the office was the last person Vincent expected to betray him.
Dr. Julian Price.
