Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO BOUGHT HIS FUTURE
Lucia Moretti was standing beneath the Christmas tree when her son approached.
She looked exactly as she always did at family events.
Ivory gown.
Pearls.
Silver hair swept into a flawless knot.
Seventy people within ten feet of her and not one of them close enough to hear anything she did not want heard.
Lucia saw Dominic’s face.
Her smile vanished.
“What happened?”
“Where did Sophia Carter go?”
The room did not stop.
But Lucia did.
Only for half a second.
Dominic saw it.
“Not here.”
“Here is fine.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“Dominic.”
“Did you threaten her family?”
Lucia glanced toward the guests.
“Lower your voice.”
“I’m speaking quietly.”
That was the problem.
Dominic’s quiet voice frightened people.
Lucia knew it better than anyone.
“She told you.”
“No.”
His mother’s expression changed.
“She?”
“Sophia is dead.”
Lucia’s face emptied.
“What?”
“Three years.”
For the first time, something genuine crossed Lucia’s features.
Shock.
Then guilt.
Dominic hated that second emotion more.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“But you knew she was pregnant.”
Lucia’s lips parted.
“Who told you?”
“That is not a denial.”
Vanessa reached them.
“Dominic, people are asking—”
“Leave.”
She froze.
“Excuse me?”
“Not now.”
Lucia stepped closer.
“Do not humiliate Vanessa because you are angry with me.”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“You humiliated her when you arranged an engagement around a lie.”
Vanessa stared.
“What lie?”
Lucia’s face hardened.
“Dominic, enough.”
He laughed once.
“You don’t get to say that tonight.”
Several guests nearby had begun noticing.
Dominic turned toward his chief of security.
“Marco.”
Marco Russo appeared almost immediately.
“Boss.”
“Clear the ballroom.”
Lucia’s eyes widened.
“It is Christmas Eve.”
“Yes.”
“You have donors here.”
“Then they can donate somewhere else.”
“Dominic—”
“Everyone goes.”
Marco nodded.
Within minutes, the quartet stopped.
Servers began discreetly collecting coats.
Guests exchanged confused looks.
Nobody argued.
The Moretti Christmas celebration ended at 10:47 p.m.
Twenty minutes later, only family remained in the ballroom.
Lucia.
Vanessa.
Dominic.
His younger brother, Adrian.
Two elderly uncles.
Marco near the doors.
Elena remained in the reading room with Lily.
Dominic placed the old photograph on the table.
Adrian recognized Sophia immediately.
“What is this?”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“Tell him.”
Lucia said nothing.
“Tell him.”
Adrian turned.
“Mom?”
Lucia sank into a chair.
“I asked Sophia to leave.”
Adrian stared.
“You what?”
“She was wrong for him.”
Dominic’s expression did not move.
Lucia continued.
“She was young. Poor. Vulnerable. She would have become a target.”
“So you made her one.”
“I offered her money.”
“She refused.”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
Lucia looked down.
“I told her I could not protect everyone around her.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“You threatened her.”
“I explained reality.”
“No,” Dominic said. “You created one.”
Lucia looked at him.
“You were beginning to take control after your father died. Rivals were circling. You were sleeping beside a woman who knew nothing about this life.”
“I loved her.”
“That was exactly why she was dangerous.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“To whom?”
“To you.”
“No.”
“To the family.”
There it was.
The word that had justified everything in the Moretti house since Dominic was a child.
Family.
Lucia had used it when his father hit him for refusing to fire a loyal employee.
Family.
When Adrian was shipped to boarding school after asking too many questions.
Family.
When Dominic inherited businesses he had never wanted.
He looked around the ballroom.
“At what point did protecting the family start meaning destroying everyone inside it?”
Lucia flinched.
Vanessa finally spoke.
“What does any of this have to do with tonight?”
Dominic turned.
“There is a child in the reading room.”
Vanessa stared.
“So?”
“Her name is Lily Carter.”
Lucia went pale.
Dominic watched his mother understand.
Vanessa did not.
“Who is she?”
Dominic answered.
“My daughter.”
Silence.
Adrian whispered something obscene.
Vanessa laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because disbelief needed somewhere to go.
“You don’t have a daughter.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I do now.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
“You’ve never met her.”
“Correct.”
“You don’t know if she’s yours.”
Dominic’s eyes turned cold.
“She’s mine.”
Vanessa looked toward Lucia.
“Say something.”
Lucia did not.
Vanessa’s face changed.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Dominic interrupted.
“She knew Sophia was pregnant.”
Vanessa stared at Lucia.
Then back at Dominic.
“What does this mean for us?”
It was the wrong question.
Dominic heard it.
So did Adrian.
Vanessa realized too late.
She corrected quickly.
“I mean, obviously this is traumatic, but we have a wedding in February.”
“No.”
Her face went blank.
“What?”
“There is no wedding.”
“Dominic.”
“You heard me.”
“You cannot cancel our wedding because a woman you loved four years ago had a child.”
“I’m canceling because I should never have agreed to marry someone while half my life was built around a lie.”
“That is not my fault.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“But you are not my wife.”
Vanessa’s composure cracked.
“After everything?”
Lucia stood.
“Dominic, think.”
“I have been thinking for four years.”
He looked at his mother.
“Mostly about why Sophia left.”
His voice lowered.
“Now I know.”
Lucia’s face tightened.
“I saved your life.”
“You stole my daughter.”
“I did not know Lily existed.”
“You knew she might.”
That silenced her.
Dominic continued.
“You had access to Sophia’s letters.”
Lucia’s eyes widened.
“How do you—”
“Did you intercept them?”
Vanessa stepped back.
Adrian looked sick.
Lucia slowly sat again.
“Yes.”
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
“How many?”
“Four.”
Elena had known about three.
There had been another.
“What was the fourth?”
Lucia looked at him.
“I never opened them.”
“Then how did you know she was pregnant?”
“She told me before she left.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“She told you.”
Lucia nodded once.
“What exactly did she say?”
“That if you ever discovered the child, you would come looking.”
Dominic stared.
“And?”
“She begged me not to let you.”
The answer hurt in a place anger could not reach.
Sophia had been afraid of him.
Not only Lucia.
Him.
Or what she believed being connected to him would do.
Dominic looked away.
Adrian spoke quietly.
“Where are the letters?”
Lucia froze.
Dominic noticed.
“Where?”
“They’re gone.”
“No.”
“I destroyed them.”
Dominic stepped toward her.
Lucia stood.
“I burned them.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
Marco’s phone buzzed.
He checked it.
Then frowned.
“Boss.”
Dominic did not look away from his mother.
“What?”
“Security found something in Mrs. Moretti’s private office.”
Lucia went still.
Marco continued.
“A locked box behind the paneling.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s inside?”
“Letters.”
Lucia closed her eyes.
Vanessa stared at her.
Marco added, “And medical records.”
Dominic’s blood went cold.
“What records?”
Marco looked at Lucia.
“Prenatal records.”
No one moved.
Dominic spoke softly.
“You did more than hide letters.”
Lucia’s face collapsed.
“Dominic—”
“What did you do?”
She said nothing.
He took one step closer.
May you like
“What did you do to Sophia?”
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