Chapter 9 - His Family Demanded My Silence, and He Made a Choice Nobody Expected
By noon, three senior Moretti associates had arrived.
They gathered around the dining table with the air of men attending a funeral.
One of them, Carlo, glanced at Sofia's ledger.
“This cannot become public.”
Alessio rested his hands on the table.
“It already belongs to the investigators.”
Carlo's face darkened.
“You would destroy your uncle's legacy for a stranger?”
I rose from my chair.
“My father was not a stranger to the people who used him.”
Carlo ignored me.
Alessio did not.
“Sit down, Carlo.”
The older man remained standing.
“You've changed since that woman appeared.”
Alessio's voice went flat.
“She has a name.”
“Isabella,” Carlo said with a mocking bow.
“Yes,” Alessio replied. “Remember it.”
I wanted to disappear.
Not because I was ashamed.
Because nobody had defended me so openly before.
Carlo leaned closer.
“Vittorio kept this organization alive.”
“And he ruined lives to do it.”
Alessio slid a signed document across the table.
It transferred the company's remaining industrial holdings to an independent administrator pending investigation.
The room erupted.
“You cannot do this.”
“I already did.”
Marco had not been seen since Livia's visit.
Alessio's security chief reported that his accounts were empty and his apartment abandoned.
“He's running,” I said.
“Then we let the police find him.”
Carlo stood abruptly.
“You're giving away power.”
“No,” Alessio said. “I'm giving up an excuse.”
After the men left, I found him alone in the garden.
“Was that hard?”
“Yes.”
“You didn't look afraid.”
“I was.”
He glanced up at me.
“Courage isn't the absence of fear. You taught me that.”
I laughed softly.
“I was terrified at the gala.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Your hands shook. You helped me anyway.”
A long silence settled between us.
Then he asked, “Would you have dinner with me?”
“I'm already staying for dinner.”
“No,” he said. “I mean just us.”
May you like
My heart began beating too quickly.
“Yes,” I whispered.
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