Chapter 2 - The Price of a Signature|
For the first time since I had started working in the Moretti mansion, I saw Luca Moretti look genuinely afraid.
Not angry, not calculating, and not like the ruthless man whose name could silence an entire room.
Afraid.
He stood in the kitchen with the forged authorization trembling between his fingers, while his nine-year-old son clung to my apron.
Vanessa backed toward the doorway, her diamond earrings swinging as she shook her head.
"Luca, you're misunderstanding everything."
"Then explain it."
His voice was so quiet that I could hear the refrigerator humming behind us.
Vanessa glanced at Rosa, then at me, as though deciding which of us she could blame.
"Benjamin has been having problems at school, and I was trying to get him professional help."
"By throwing away his lunch for fourteen days?"
"That was supposed to teach him responsibility."
"By telling him I didn't want him anymore?"
Vanessa's expression hardened.
"You're never home, Luca, so somebody has to make the difficult decisions."
Luca looked down at the document in his hand.
"And somebody decided to sign my name without asking me?"
Vanessa didn't answer.
Behind me, Benjamin made a small frightened sound.
I knelt beside him and brushed the damp hair away from his forehead.
"Would you like to finish your sandwich in the breakfast room, sweetheart?"
He looked at his father before answering.
"Daddy, am I still going to that place tomorrow?"
Luca dropped to one knee.
"No, buddy."
"Vanessa said the people there lock the doors."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"Nobody is taking you anywhere without my permission."
Benjamin swallowed.
"What if I'm bad again?"
Something changed in Luca's face.
He placed both hands gently on his son's shoulders.
"Being a child doesn't make you bad, Benjamin."
"But I made Vanessa angry."
"Her anger is not your responsibility."
Benjamin stared at him as though those words were written in a language he had never heard before.
Then he whispered, "Do you still love me?"
Luca pulled his son against his chest.
"More than anything in this world."
Benjamin began crying so hard that Luca had to lift him into his arms.
I turned away, unable to watch without tears filling my own eyes.
For two weeks, that little boy had been starving in a house where the pantry was filled with expensive food.
And the woman responsible had slept upstairs beneath silk sheets, pretending to be his mother.
Rosa stepped forward and placed another paper on the table.
"There is a financial statement attached to the authorization."
Luca read it carefully.
His expression darkened.
The statement identified a private trust established by Benjamin's late mother, Sofia Moretti.
I had heard Sofia's name many times, usually when Rosa spoke about the kindness she had brought into the mansion before her death three years earlier.
But I had never known she had left Benjamin a substantial inheritance.
Vanessa suddenly reached for the document.
"That's private family business."
Luca moved it beyond her reach.
"Then why is your attorney requesting information about my son's money?"
Vanessa's lips parted.
"I was making sure his treatment would be paid for."
"His treatment for what?"
"He needs help adjusting to our marriage."
"He's nine, Vanessa."
"And he resents me!"
Luca stared at her.
"Perhaps because you've been hurting him."
Vanessa's eyes flashed toward me.
"This is Claire's fault."
I froze.
"Excuse me?"
"She fills his head with ideas and encourages him to disrespect me."
"I've done nothing except take care of Benjamin."
"You are a maid."
The words came out like an accusation.
"You don't understand what it takes to raise a Moretti."
Before I could answer, Rosa stepped between us.
"That young woman has shown my grandson more tenderness in one morning than you have shown him since your wedding."
Vanessa's face went crimson.
Luca turned toward Marco DeLuca, his security chief, who had been standing silently near the entrance.
"Preserve every camera recording from the past month."
Marco nodded.
"Already started, boss."
"Make separate copies, and give one directly to Elena Ramirez."
Elena was Luca's longtime attorney, a sharp Chicago lawyer whose reputation rested on refusing to be intimidated by wealthy clients or powerful opponents.
Luca continued speaking.
"Call Benjamin's pediatrician, and ask him to come tonight."
Then he looked toward Vanessa.
"You will not speak to my son again until the authorities determine what happened here."
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"You're choosing a servant over your own wife?"
"I'm choosing my son."
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Vanessa removed her wedding ring and slammed it against the kitchen counter.
"You'll regret humiliating me."
Luca didn't raise his voice.
"Marco, arrange for someone to accompany Mrs. Moretti while she collects her personal belongings."
"You can't throw me out of my own home!"
"You can contact your lawyer about where you stay tonight."
Vanessa glanced at Benjamin, still trembling in his father's arms.
Her expression changed from fury to something much colder.
"You're making a terrible mistake, Luca."
She walked out, followed by Marco.
An hour later, Benjamin was finally eating a proper meal beneath Rosa's watchful eyes.
His pediatrician had been called, and Luca had contacted both the police and the school.
I was washing the lunchbox when Luca came back into the kitchen.
He stood beside me without speaking.
Then he said something I never expected from a man like him.
"Claire, I'm sorry."
I looked up.
"For what, sir?"
"For not listening to my son before this happened."
I lowered my eyes toward the empty lunchbox.
"He tried to tell us."
"I know."
"He was afraid nobody would believe him."
Luca leaned against the counter.
"Not anymore."
Just then, his phone rang.
The caller identified herself as the overnight admissions coordinator at Cedar Hollow Center, the facility named in Vanessa's paperwork.
"Mr. Moretti, I'm calling to confirm the revised transportation arrangements for Benjamin."
Luca straightened.
"What revised arrangements?"
"The authorized guardian requested an immediate transfer."
His face went still.
"When?"
There was a pause.
"Tonight, sir."
Luca looked at the clock.
It was 9:47 p.m.
The woman continued.
"Our transport team is scheduled to arrive at your residence just before midnight."
Luca slowly turned toward the hallway where his son was sleeping.
Then he asked one question.
"Who told you that my wife still had permission to take my child?"
The woman hesitated.
May you like
"Sir, according to our records, the request came from your office."
And standing beside him, I suddenly understood that Vanessa had not been working alone.
