Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE FIRE
Adrian did not defend his father.
That surprised me.
He watched Lucia’s video twice.
Then said:
“My father was capable of it.”
No denial.
No family mythology.
Just fact.
His father, Vittorio Moretti, had died seven years earlier from heart attack.
According to Adrian, Vittorio had been violent, strategic, and obsessed with family alliances.
“He hated Maria for refusing Giovanni.”
“Would he kill her?”
“Possibly.”
Serafina closed eyes.
“I spent thirty years hoping answer was no.”
I looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I knew Vittorio ordered Maria found.”
“Found or killed?”
“He said brought back.”
“Those are not same.”
“I know.”
Lucia’s video continued.
She explained warehouse fire twenty years earlier had been arranged to kill her.
Not Maria.
Lucia had discovered Matteo’s father, Carlo Ricci, and Vittorio Moretti were laundering money through DeLuca waterfront assets after Antonio disappeared.
She threatened exposure.
Fire followed.
She escaped through loading tunnel.
A worker died.
His body was mistakenly identified as hers based on jewelry planted at scene.
“Who planted jewelry?” I asked screen uselessly.
Lucia answered later.
Vittorio.
According to her.
But she had no proof then.
She disappeared, fearing Carlo and Vittorio.
Why not take teenage son Matteo?
That question clearly haunted.
“I believed Carlo would kill him if I tried.”
She watched from distance for years.
Matteo grew under lie that mother died because Maria betrayed DeLuca family.
Carlo taught resentment.
When Carlo died eight years ago, Matteo inherited Ricci operations.
Lucia attempted contact.
Matteo rejected.
“He thinks I abandoned him.”
I understood.
Maybe she had.
Fear explains.
Doesn't erase.
Then Lucia looked directly into camera.
“Matteo discovered Elena exists six months ago.”
Six months.
Not two weeks.
“He believes she can repair old alliance through marriage to Adrian.”
I almost laughed at absurdity.
“Why?”
Serafina answered.
“DeLuca inheritance.”
“What inheritance?”
Of course there was inheritance.
Antonio DeLuca had hidden significant waterfront real estate and shipping shares inside trust divided equally between daughters’ bloodlines.
Maria’s descendants.
Lucia’s descendants.
No one could access principal unless both branches signed joint reconciliation document or one branch ended.
“How much?”
Adrian looked at Serafina.
She said:
“Current estimate perhaps $430 million.”
I stared at ceiling.
Rich criminals really did love trusts.
“If Matteo wants access, he needs my signature.”
“Yes.”
“Why involve Adrian?”
Because Moretti family held trustee power over DeLuca trust.
Old alliance.
If Elena became Adrian’s spouse, Moretti could approve distribution without Matteo? Let's make nuanced: marriage would merge Maria branch voting rights with Moretti trustee, allowing Adrian and Elena jointly to unlock trust—cutting Matteo out partly. Matteo may want force arrangement then kill Adrian? Hmm.
Lucia video explained:
“Matteo wants you married to Adrian because wedding activates the succession clause. Then if Adrian dies, Maria branch becomes temporary trustee. Matteo believes he can control you more easily than Adrian.”
I looked at Adrian.
“So this fake engagement was step one of plot to marry me and then kill you?”
“Seems ambitious.”
“You say that calmly.”
“I’ve heard worse.”
I stood.
“I’m leaving.”
Adrian stepped aside.
No blocking.
“Where?”
“My brother.”
“Security accompanies.”
I opened mouth.
He raised hand.
“Request, not order.”
I considered.
“Yes.”
Progress.
Before leaving, Serafina said:
“Elena.”
I turned.
“Your mother may have known Lucia was alive.”
“What?”
“Maria sent money every year to a trust in Nova Scotia.”
My mother had saved pennies.
Where did money come?
Serafina had records.
Small transfers, $500 or $1,000.
Not criminal millions.
Secret support.
Maria knew twin lived.
Never told us.
Again protection through silence.
I drove to Cambridge with Adrian’s security, furious at dead mother.
Noah opened door wearing sweatpants and holding baseball bat.
He stared at guards.
“This is absurd.”
“Yes.”
Then saw Adrian behind me.
Because Adrian came.
“Why is he here?”
“He invited himself politely.”
Adrian:
“She agreed.”
Noah looked between us.
“Are you actually engaged?”
“No.”
Adrian:
“Publicly, currently yes.”
Noah:
“I hate rich people.”
Inside I told everything.
Twins.
Lucia.
Matteo cousin.
Trust.
Fake engagement.
Noah sat for full minute.
Then:
“Mom was mafia?”
“No.”
“Mom was mafia-adjacent?”
“Apparently.”
“Cool.”
“Not cool.”
“Sorry.”
Then he became serious.
“She knew Lucia alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell us?”
“Fear.”
Noah’s expression hardened.
“Everyone says fear after lying.”
I looked at him.
True.
Then doorbell rang.
Security checked.
A courier.
Envelope addressed to me.
Inside my mother’s handwriting.
Impossible? Old letter mailed now by lawyer maybe triggered. A legal firm had instructions to deliver if my name appeared alongside Moretti publicly.
My mother anticipated this.
Letter:
Elena, if you receive this, I failed to keep my past away from you.
I cried immediately.
She apologized for not telling Lucia.
Then:
I did not run because I hated my family. I ran because Vittorio Moretti tried to force me into marriage with Giovanni after I already loved your father.
Adrian stared.
Maria and my father, Peter Brooks, married in secret.
Vittorio sent men.
Antonio DeLuca initially sided with him.
Lucia helped Maria escape.
Years later warehouse fire targeted Lucia because she held evidence Vittorio had ordered three murders tied to dock control.
Then sentence:
Adrian Moretti is not his father. Do not punish a son for a dead man’s choices.
My mother had researched Adrian?
Why?
Vittorio’s youngest son, Adrian, once helped me without knowing my name.
Adrian frowned.
Memory?
Fifteen years earlier, after Maria cancer diagnosis, she traveled Boston for treatment.
One evening a hospital billing dispute. A young man funded patient assistance anonymously after hearing argument? Adrian was 20-something.
She recognized Moretti name later.
He had paid chemotherapy balance through foundation.
Adrian remembered.
“A woman named Mrs. Brooks.”
My mother.
He had helped her.
I looked at him differently.
Then letter final:
Lucia keeps proof in a red prayer book. If Matteo finds it, he will use it to justify war. If Adrian finds it first, he may be able to end one.
Red prayer book.
Where?
My mother wrote:
Where the two sisters stopped being twins.
Noah whispered:
“Rhode Island.”
Our grandmother's old church.
St. Anne’s in Providence.
Maria and Lucia were baptized there.
Security issue.
Adrian insisted police/federal? We involved law enforcement because threats. Good.
We contacted an FBI organized crime task force through Adrian’s attorney.
I did not like being inside mafia drama.
But evidence of threats.
Agents agreed secure church search.
We drove next morning.
Inside old parish archive, beneath baptismal register, we found red leather prayer book.
A key hidden in spine.
Locker at Providence train station.
Inside:
Original DeLuca trust.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
And a handwritten confession signed by Vittorio Moretti.
Adrian’s father.
He admitted ordering warehouse fire.
Not to kill Lucia?
He wrote to frighten and destroy records, knowing risk.
A worker died.
He covered.
Also admitted forcing Maria marriage alliance attempt.
Then one sentence about Matteo:
Carlo has taught boy to hate wrong woman. If this continues, someday son will kill cousin for fathers’ sins.
Adrian read.
His hands shook.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
“He did nothing.”
“No.”
I understood that grief.
Then FBI agent found another document.
A current amendment.
Signed six months ago by Lucia Ricci.
It transferred her half of DeLuca trust—not to Matteo.
To me and Noah jointly if she died.
Matteo had been disinherited.
Now motive became terrifyingly simple.
If Lucia died and I died, trust control might pass Noah.
May you like
Which meant my brother was no longer collateral.
He was next.
