Chapter 10 - THE MORNING LUCA WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE
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Luca didn't sleep that night.
I knew because I found him sitting alone in his father's old study at four in the morning.
The room was dark except for the lamp beside his chair.
Matteo's photograph rested on the desk.
Beside it lay the silver pocket watch.
Luca was staring at both.
I knocked softly.
“Sir?”
He didn't look up.
“Come in, Claire.”
I entered carrying a tray of coffee.
He glanced at it.
“Still taking care of everyone.”
I placed the tray beside him.
“Someone has to remind you to eat.”
A faint smile crossed his face.
Then it disappeared.
“Sofia told me what Dario said.”
I nodded.
“I'm sorry.”
Luca turned the watch over in his hands.
“We were supposed to travel downtown together that morning.”
I sat in the chair opposite him.
He rarely spoke about Matteo's death.
Whenever anyone mentioned it, he'd changed the subject or left the room.
Now the words seemed impossible to stop.
“We had a meeting with our accountants.”
“Matteo wanted to show me the missing payments.”
“He asked me to ride with him so we could talk privately.”
I watched Luca close his eyes.
“I agreed.”
“What happened?”
“Vanessa called before I left.”
He swallowed.
“She said she was sick.”
My stomach tightened.
“She asked you to stay?”
“Yes.”
He rubbed his face.
“She was crying.”
“She said she was frightened and didn't want to be alone.”
I remembered how easily Vanessa could cry when she wanted something.
Luca continued.
“I called Matteo and told him I'd meet him later.”
His voice cracked.
“He said he understood.”
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
“An hour later, the police called.”
I looked at the photograph.
Matteo stood beside Sofia on a sunny afternoon, smiling as though nothing bad could ever touch them.
“Luca,” I whispered.
But he shook his head.
“I was supposed to be in that car.”
“You didn't know.”
“I should've known something was wrong.”
“Matteo was investigating because he trusted you to listen.”
Luca covered his face.
“And I kept choosing Vanessa.”
I didn't try to argue away his guilt.
He had made mistakes.
He had ignored warnings.
He had allowed a cruel woman to isolate the people who loved his brother.
But he hadn't cut the brake line.
He hadn't ordered the killing.
And he hadn't forced Matteo onto that highway.
“Then make different choices now,” I said.
He looked at me.
“You don't owe Matteo the punishment Dario wanted for you.”
My voice shook.
“You owe him the truth.”
Luca stared at me for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
Later that morning, Detective Reyes confirmed another important detail.
Investigators had recovered the original travel schedule from the freight company's archived dispatch records.
Two passengers were listed for the trip.
Luca Moretti.
Matteo Moretti.
Dario had known both brothers were expected in that vehicle.
The record didn't prove every part of his plan, but it supported what Sofia had heard during her captivity.
Vanessa's convenient illness had kept Luca at the mansion.
Whether she had saved him intentionally or wanted him alive for another purpose remained under investigation.
Either way, Matteo had died alone.
That afternoon, Evelyn Park appeared before a judge seeking emergency protection of the disputed family assets.
The hearing was tense.
Lawyers representing the companies connected to Dario argued that the documents were valid.
They insisted Sofia had consented to the changes.
But Sofia was determined to speak.
She entered the courtroom wearing a simple navy dress.
Her wrists still carried faint marks from the restraints Graham had used.
Luca sat behind her.
I sat beside him.
When Sofia was sworn in, the opposing attorney began by questioning her mental state after Matteo's death.
“You were grieving deeply, weren't you, Mrs. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“You had difficulty sleeping?”
“Yes.”
“And you were under significant emotional stress?”
Sofia looked directly at him.
“Of course.”
The attorney glanced toward the judge.
“Then isn't it possible you signed certain documents and later forgot?”
Sofia's expression changed.
“No.”
“Can you be certain?”
She straightened her shoulders.
“Because the signature on those documents doesn't match my legal name.”
She held up her identification.
“My name is Sofia Rivera.”
The courtroom grew quiet.
“I was Matteo's wife.”
“I loved him until his last breath.”
“But I never signed away the shares he left me.”
The attorney attempted another question.
Sofia interrupted gently.
“And I certainly didn't sign documents authorizing a man who tried to kidnap me to control my inheritance.”
The judge instructed her to answer only the questions asked.
Sofia apologized.
But the damage to the opposing argument was obvious.
Evelyn presented the disputed signatures, evidence of suspicious financial transfers, and declarations from the investigators.
By the end of the hearing, the judge granted temporary orders preventing the contested agreements from being acted upon while the claims were investigated.
It wasn't a final victory.
But Dario could no longer expect the forged paperwork to quietly deliver control of the family business.
Outside the courthouse, reporters surrounded us.
Cameras flashed.
Questions flew from every direction.
“Mr. Moretti, was your marriage a financial conspiracy?”
“Did your cousin murder your brother?”
“Are criminal funds involved in the freight company?”
Luca remained silent.
Then one reporter stepped toward me.
“Miss Bennett!”
I turned.
The woman held up her phone.
“Did you accept seventy-five thousand dollars from Vanessa's company?”
I stared at her.
“What?”
She pushed the screen closer.
A headline appeared.
MORETTI HOUSEMAID LINKED TO SUSPICIOUS PAYMENT BEFORE FAMILY MURDER INVESTIGATION.
Below it was my photograph.
And beneath that, the name of a bank account.
An account supposedly belonging to Claire Bennett.
I had never seen it before.
“I didn't receive any money,” I whispered.
But the reporter kept talking.
“Records show an account in your name received the payment shortly before Matteo Moretti's death.”
Luca stepped between us.
“That's enough.”
The cameras continued flashing.
I could barely hear anything.
Seventy-five thousand dollars.
An account in my name.
A payment made before Matteo's funeral.
Someone had spent nearly a year preparing to make me look guilty.
May you like
And as Detective Reyes led me away from the reporters, I realized Dario had one final weapon.
If he couldn't silence me with fear, he was going to destroy my reputation.
