Chapter 3 - NATALIA WAS NOT WHO SHE CLAIMED TO BE
Natalia Duca’s personnel file said her father had been a dentist.
He was not.
His real name was Angelo Vale.
Elias found that within two hours.
Vale had served as financial counsel to Dante’s father, Lorenzo Moretti.
Twenty-three years earlier, Lorenzo had created North Meridian to separate legitimate Moretti assets from his own father’s criminal operations.
Three years later, Lorenzo died in what police called a boating accident.
Vale vanished the following week.
Natalia had entered the United States under her mother’s surname when she was fourteen.
“She applied to your foundation using a clean identity,” Elias said.
I sat at the dining table inside the lake house he had arranged for me.
“You ran a background check when we hired her.”
“A normal one.”
“She passed.”
“Because she never lied about being Natalia Duca. She simply omitted being Angelo Vale’s daughter.”
I stared at the photograph Elias had found.
Natalia at twelve.
Her father beside her.
Behind them stood Lorenzo Moretti.
Dante’s father.
All three smiling.
Why had Natalia never told Dante?
Why had Dante not recognized her?
Then I remembered the age difference.
Dante had been nineteen when Lorenzo died.
Natalia had been a child.
Possibly someone he barely noticed.
Elias opened another file.
“Vale was suspected of helping Lorenzo create North Meridian.”
“Then Natalia could have known how to reactivate it.”
“Yes.”
“Could she forge my signature?”
“She had access to your foundation files.”
My chest tightened.
“She could have forged Dante’s too.”
“Possibly.”
That meant the document I thought proved Dante had stolen from the foundation might actually prove someone was framing both of us.
But it did not erase his hand on Natalia’s waist.
It did not erase seven weeks.
I forced myself to separate the crimes.
A cheating husband could still be framed for financial theft.
Both things could be true.
Then the security system chimed.
A vehicle had entered the long gravel driveway.
Elias stood immediately.
“You expecting anyone?”
“No.”
He looked through the side window.
His face changed.
“Stay here.”
I ignored him and moved toward the monitor.
A black SUV stopped outside.
Dante stepped out.
Alone.
No security detail.
No driver.
My heart reacted before my pride could stop it.
He looked terrible.
Tie gone.
Coat unbuttoned.
The polished man from the gala had disappeared.
“How did he find us?”
Elias was already checking cameras.
Dante walked toward the door.
Then stopped ten feet away.
He raised both hands where the camera could see them.
“I’m not coming inside,” he called.
Even through the monitor, his voice sounded exhausted.
“I just need five minutes.”
I opened the intercom.
“How did you find me?”
“Elias rented the property through Mercer Forensic Services.”
Elias muttered something impolite.
Dante continued.
“I didn’t follow you. My attorney recognized the company.”
I hesitated.
“Five minutes.”
Outside.
Elias remained twenty feet away.
Dante looked at my bare hand first.
He deserved that pain.
Then he held out a folder.
“I found the original North Meridian charter.”
I did not take it.
“What does it say?”
“That the company has one permanent beneficiary.”
“Who?”
“My father’s surviving legal heir.”
“You.”
“No.”
Dante looked at me.
“I was removed eleven years ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“By whom?”
“My father.”
“He was already dead.”
“Exactly.”
He handed me the folder.
The amendment had been filed four days after Lorenzo’s death.
Dante’s name was crossed out.
Another had been inserted.
ISABELLA ROMANO.
My maiden name.
I stared at him.
“I was twenty-five. I had never met you.”
“I know.”
“Then why was I named in your father’s company?”
Dante’s face went white.
“That is what I came to ask you.”
But behind the amendment was a second page.
A letter written by Lorenzo Moretti.
Addressed to my father.
May you like
And the first line read:
Carlo, if anything happens to me, Isabella must never marry my son.
