Chapter 6 - THE PRICE OF CHOOSING FAMILY
Luca’s resignation changed everything.
For years, reporters had written that nothing mattered to Luca Moretti more than Moretti Global.
Apparently, they had been wrong.
The board called him reckless.
Investors called him unstable.
His mother called him ungrateful.
Ava called him on Tuesday evening and asked whether he still remembered he had promised to attend her school science fair.
He arrived twenty minutes early.
That was the first moment I began to understand he was serious.
He did not arrive in a limousine.
He did not bring security into the gym.
He wore dark jeans, a sweater, and the expression of a man facing a hostile takeover when Ava explained her model volcano.
“What does the baking soda do?” Luca asked.
Ava looked horrified.
“You don’t know?”
“I own hotels, not volcanoes.”
Noah whispered to me, “He’s really bad at regular stuff.”
“I heard that,” Luca said.
Noah grinned.
Something inside me tightened.
This was dangerous.
Not because Luca was threatening us.
Because he was becoming easy to love again.
Not for me.
For them.
Within three weeks, he had learned their schedules.
He knew Noah refused to eat bananas unless they were sliced.
He knew Ava needed ten quiet minutes after school before anybody asked how her day went.
He knew both children hated being late.
He attended soccer practice.
He read bedtime stories over video calls when traveling.
He stopped bringing expensive things.
Instead, he brought time.
That was harder to refuse.
Teresa’s petition was dismissed almost immediately.
But Malcolm Price remained a problem.
Independent investigators had traced forged medical documents, intercepted correspondence, and payments.
Then Malcolm disappeared.
Not internationally.
Not dramatically.
He simply stopped answering calls and failed to appear at his office.
Two days later, my attorney received an envelope.
Inside was a copy of the letter Teresa had given me six years earlier.
And a handwritten note.
You should ask Luca what else was signed in your name.
I stared at it.
“What does that mean?”
Luca looked equally confused.
We were sitting in my kitchen after the twins went to bed.
“I don’t know.”
“You better find out.”
He nodded.
No defensiveness.
No demand for trust.
Just action.
The next morning, his investigators uncovered an account.
A trust account.
Opened six years earlier.
Beneficiary: Nia Carter.
Initial deposit: two million dollars.
My supposed signature appeared on the paperwork.
I nearly dropped the documents.
“I never signed this.”
“I know.”
“Where did the money go?”
“It’s still there.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“No withdrawals.”
The arrangement suddenly became clear.
Teresa had created evidence that could later be used to portray me as paid off.
A secret settlement.
Two million dollars.
Enough to make any future claim look like greed.
“She planned everything.”
Luca’s voice hardened.
“Yes.”
“Even if I came back years later.”
“Yes.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Your mother really thought I’d spend my life trying to trap you.”
Luca looked at me.
“My mother doesn’t understand people who value something more than power.”
I met his eyes.
“Neither did you.”
He accepted the blow.
“No.”
That stopped me.
Old Luca would have argued.
New Luca kept making it difficult to remain furious.
The twins came running into the kitchen.
“Dad!”
Both of us froze.
Noah froze too.
His face changed when he realized what he had said.
Luca did not move.
Not even a breath.
Noah’s cheeks turned red.
“I mean Luca.”
“No.”
Luca’s voice cracked.
Noah looked at him.
“You can call me whatever makes you comfortable.”
Ava rolled her eyes.
“He obviously wants to call you Dad.”
“I know.”
“Then why are grown-ups so weird?”
I laughed.
Luca did too.
Noah approached him cautiously.
“Dad?”
Luca crouched.
“Yes?”
“Can you fix my remote-control car?”
Luca’s eyes filled.
“Yeah.”
“Why are you crying?”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“A little.”
Noah handed him the broken car.
“It’s okay. Mom cries at dog movies.”
I pointed toward the hallway.
“Go.”
The twins disappeared.
Luca remained crouched for a moment longer.
When he stood, he looked at me.
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t tell him to say it.”
“I know.”
That mattered.
Later that afternoon, Evelyn called.
She had found Malcolm.
Not physically.
Digitally.
Before disappearing, he had accessed an old Moretti property database.
One address appeared repeatedly.
The lake house.
Teresa’s private estate outside Lake Geneva.
“What does he want there?” I asked.
“Records,” Luca said.
His father had kept old family files at the house.
Original contracts.
Foundation documents.
Personal papers.
Evidence.
“If Malcolm destroys them…”
“He destroys whatever my mother couldn’t remove from the corporate servers.”
I folded my arms.
“Then let law enforcement handle it.”
“They are.”
“Good.”
Luca looked almost offended that I assumed he might do otherwise.
“Did you expect me to race there carrying a gun?”
“You’re Italian, rich, angry, and emotionally repressed. I’ve seen movies.”
He stared.
Then laughed.
It came so unexpectedly that I smiled too.
The smile vanished when my phone rang.
The twins’ school.
I answered.
“This is Nia Carter.”
A nervous administrator spoke.
“Ms. Carter, we have a situation.”
My stomach dropped.
“What situation?”
“Your children were picked up approximately twenty minutes ago.”
The room went silent.
“No, they weren’t.”
The administrator hesitated.
“A woman identifying herself as their grandmother arrived with documentation indicating an urgent family matter.”
I stopped breathing.
Luca’s face changed.
“Who?”
I already knew.
“Teresa Moretti.”
The administrator continued speaking.
I heard almost none of it.
Luca grabbed his phone.
“Track her car.”
I stared at him.
“You said—”
“My mother’s security vehicles are registered to the family office.”
Within seconds, his security director responded.
A black Mercedes registered to Teresa’s household had passed northbound through a toll plaza.
Toward Wisconsin.
Toward Lake Geneva.
My hands began shaking.
Luca caught my eyes.
“Nia.”
“If she hurts them—”
“She won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
His voice turned cold.
“But I know where she’s taking them.”
The lake house.
The same place Malcolm had been researching.
I grabbed my coat.
Luca stepped in front of me.
“You’re not going alone.”
“I’m their mother.”
“And I’m their father.”
The sentence might once have infuriated me.
Now it steadied me.
Luca held my gaze.
May you like
“We bring them home together.”
For the first time, I did not argue.
