Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO DIED BEFORE LEO COULD REMEMBER HER
Leo's mother was named Sofia Marino.
She had been twenty-nine.
An attorney.
Smart.
Stubborn.
And according to Luca, completely unimpressed by his last name.
They had married quietly.
Not as an alliance.
Not as a business arrangement.
Because they loved each other.
Sofia died when Leo was three months old.
Officially, a car accident.
Luca had believed that story until six months earlier.
Then he found evidence that the brakes had been tampered with.
"Why would Victor hurt her?" I asked.
We were sitting in a conference room inside one of Luca's legitimate office buildings.
Rebecca Sloan was present.
So was Frank.
No armed intimidation.
No threats.
Just documents spread across a table.
Luca looked exhausted.
"Sofia had been reviewing old family trusts."
My stomach tightened.
"The same corruption Matteo found?"
"Maybe."
Frank placed a file in front of me.
Sofia had discovered a dormant trust created by Luca's grandfather.
It contained ownership interests in shipping property.
One beneficiary was Matteo Moretti.
Or his surviving child.
Me.
I stared.
"So Victor loses money if I exist?"
"Potentially control," Rebecca corrected. "The value is secondary. Voting rights matter more."
Luca looked toward me.
"If the documents are authentic, you may control a significant share of the legitimate Moretti shipping company."
I laughed once.
Yesterday I had forty-three dollars in checking.
Today people were telling me I might own part of a multimillion-dollar corporation.
"This is insane."
Frank nodded.
"Correct."
I almost smiled.
Then Luca's face became serious.
"Sofia discovered that someone had been drawing income from Matteo's share for years."
"Victor?"
"We believe so."
My stomach turned.
"And she died."
Silence.
I looked toward Leo sleeping in a portable crib near the wall.
My chest tightened.
His mother had died over the same secret that destroyed mine.
No wonder Luca had looked afraid when Leo reached for me.
Maybe not afraid of me.
Afraid of history repeating.
I walked toward the crib.
Leo opened his eyes.
He saw me.
Then smiled.
A tiny, toothy smile.
My heart broke.
"What happened to him after Sofia died?"
Luca stood beside me.
"I stopped trusting anyone."
I glanced at him.
"That sounds healthy."
His mouth twitched.
"No."
I looked down at Leo.
"He likes you because you smell like Marianne."
I turned sharply.
"What?"
Frank had spoken.
He looked embarrassed.
"Children remember scent associations. Maybe not consciously. Sofia wore the same perfume as Marianne."
I touched my neck.
I still wore my mother's old jasmine oil.
A cheap little bottle I'd kept after she died.
Leo might have smelled it on Sofia.
Or on someone else.
Then Rebecca opened another file.
"Sofia's final notes mention Marianne Cole."
My breath caught.
"What?"
She turned the page.
Find Avery. She is the key to proving Victor stole Matteo's shares.
I stared.
Sofia had been looking for me before she died.
And apparently Victor had been looking too.
Then Luca's phone rang.
His expression changed immediately.
"What happened?"
He listened.
Then looked at me.
"We have a problem."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"Leo's nanny is missing."
May you like
I stared.
"And so is my son."
