Chapter 3 - THE SIGNATURE THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED|
By midnight, the Moretti mansion looked as though an engagement party had never taken place.
The flowers remained on the dining table, but the guests were gone.
The musicians had packed their instruments.
Vanessa's red silk gown had disappeared through the front doors, accompanied by two security officers carrying her luggage.
And the enormous diamond engagement ring sat inside a velvet box on Luca's desk.
I had never seen the house so quiet.
Benjamin was upstairs in his bedroom, wearing blue pajamas and holding the stuffed bear his mother had given him.
He had refused to sleep until his father promised to leave the hallway light on.
I stayed beside his bed until his breathing settled.
When I finally stood, he opened his eyes.
"Miss Claire?"
"I'm here."
"Does Daddy still want me?"
The question nearly brought me to my knees.
"Of course he does, Benjamin."
He looked toward the photograph that had been returned to his bedside table.
"Vanessa said he was going to have a new family."
I sat down again.
"You are his family, sweetheart."
He touched the edge of his mother's picture.
"Mommy used to say that, too."
I tucked the blanket around him.
"Then your mommy was a very wise woman."
Benjamin gave me the smallest smile.
It was the first time I had seen him smile all night.
Downstairs, Luca was waiting in his study with a woman I had never met.
She was in her early forties, wearing a dark coat over business clothes, and carrying a leather briefcase.
"Claire, this is Elena Torres, my attorney."
Elena shook my hand.
"Mr. Moretti tells me you were present when the disagreement began."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'd like you to tell me exactly what happened."
I glanced at Luca.
He nodded.
"Don't leave anything out."
So I told her everything.
The afternoon argument about Caroline's photograph.
Vanessa's demand that Benjamin call her Mom.
The threat to withhold dinner.
The woman who had arrived at the house.
And the warning that I would lose my job if I interfered.
Elena took notes without interrupting.
When I finished, she closed her notebook.
"Did you see the woman who came for Benjamin?"
"Only briefly."
"Can you describe her?"
"Brown hair, gray coat, maybe fifty years old."
I hesitated.
"She had a blue folder and looked upset when she left."
Elena exchanged a glance with Luca.
"Why upset?"
"Because Benjamin was crying, and she kept asking someone on the phone whether his father had approved the arrangement."
Luca leaned forward.
"Who was she speaking to?"
"I don't know, sir."
Then I remembered something.
"But Vanessa came outside before the woman left."
"What happened?"
"They argued near the front gate."
Luca's eyes sharpened.
"About what?"
"I couldn't hear everything, but the woman said she needed to speak with the parent."
Elena wrote another note.
Luca rubbed his forehead.
For a man who had built his reputation on never showing uncertainty, he looked painfully exhausted.
"Claire, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
The question frightened me more than it should have.
I thought about Vanessa's warning.
About my mother's rent.
About how easily wealthy people could ruin the lives of employees who depended on their approval.
"I was afraid, Mr. Moretti."
His expression softened.
"Of Vanessa?"
"Of losing my job."
I lowered my eyes.
"My mother depends on me."
Luca remained silent for a moment.
Then he spoke quietly.
"That fear should never have been used to keep you silent about my son."
I didn't know how to respond.
Elena turned her laptop toward Luca.
"I've examined the enrollment forms."
"What did you find?"
"Your signature is almost certainly a reproduction."
Luca leaned closer.
Elena enlarged the image.
"The angle, the pressure marks, even the tiny break in the final letter are identical to a signature on a document filed two years ago."
"Which document?"
She hesitated.
"A trust authorization."
I saw Luca's face become still.
"Caroline's trust?"
Elena nodded.
"Yes."
The air seemed to change around us.
Caroline Moretti had died three years earlier in a car accident that the family rarely discussed.
I had only known her through photographs and the stories Benjamin occasionally whispered when he missed her.
Luca leaned back.
"Who had access to that authorization?"
Elena looked down at her notes.
"You, me, the trust administrator, and Dominic."
Luca didn't speak.
At last, he took out his phone.
He called Dominic again.
No answer.
He tried a second number.
Straight to voicemail.
Then Marco appeared at the study door.
"Sir, I checked the security records."
Luca stood.
"And?"
"Dominic's vehicle entered the east service gate this afternoon."
"What time?"
"Three seventeen."
I remembered the gray-coated woman.
She had arrived shortly after three.
Marco continued.
"Dominic was supposed to be at a meeting in Manhattan."
Luca's face hardened.
"Did he sign in?"
"No, sir."
"Then how did he enter?"
"Someone disabled the visitor log for twelve minutes."
A terrible silence settled over the room.
I looked at the photograph on Luca's desk.
It showed Caroline standing beside a younger Benjamin in a sunlit garden.
She was smiling.
For the first time, I noticed the small silver music box she was holding.
Something about it seemed familiar.
I had seen that music box before.
Vanessa had taken it out of Benjamin's room several weeks earlier, saying old toys needed to be put away.
I remembered where she had left it.
"Mr. Moretti?"
Luca turned.
"Yes, Claire?"
"There's something else Vanessa removed from Benjamin's bedroom."
"What?"
"His mother's music box."
His expression changed immediately.
"Where is it?"
"In the upstairs linen storage room."
Luca moved toward the door.
But Elena suddenly reached for his arm.
"Luca, wait."
She had opened another file on her laptop.
"This signature wasn't the only document copied."
Luca stared at the screen.
Elena swallowed.
"Someone accessed Caroline's private trust records three days before Vanessa announced the engagement."
Luca looked at her.
"Why?"
Elena's next words made my skin turn cold.
"Because whoever submitted these forms wasn't only trying to remove Benjamin from this house."
May you like
She rotated the screen toward us.
"They were trying to gain control of the money his mother left him."
