Chapter 6 - THE ACCIDENT THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE QUESTIONED
Sofia's accident had happened on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Luca remembered every detail.
The phone call.
The hospital corridor.
The smell of disinfectant.
The moment a surgeon told him his daughter had suffered a serious spinal injury.
The official report described a collision caused by another driver's failure to yield.
The other vehicle had left the scene.
Police had never identified its driver.
Luca had spent months blaming himself.
He'd been in New York negotiating a shipping contract.
Sofia had been traveling with a driver to visit her grandmother.
Now, seven months later, an email suggested someone had made a payment connected to the accident.
Margaret reviewed the document.
“We need to be careful,” she said.
Luca nodded.
“I know.”
The payment was listed as a consulting expense to a company called Northline Risk Solutions.
The company had no obvious connection to medical care.
But its payment date matched the week of the collision.
Dante discovered that Northline had previously provided security services for Carlo Bellini.
Luca stared at the records.
“Are you saying Vanessa arranged the accident?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I'm saying the timing warrants investigation. We cannot assume causation.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Later that afternoon, he visited Sofia.
She was reading in bed.
“Daddy?”
He smiled.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
She looked at him.
“Are you sad?”
He sat beside her.
“A little.”
“Because of Vanessa?”
He nodded.
Sofia put down her book.
“Daddy, can I ask something?”
“Anything.”
She hesitated.
“Did Mommy die because of me?”
Luca froze.
Elena had died from complications following an illness four years earlier.
Sofia had been seven.
“Of course not,” Luca whispered.
Sofia looked down.
“Vanessa said you already lost one person you loved, and you couldn't handle losing another.”
Luca's eyes filled.
He pulled her close.
“Sweetheart, your mother died because she was sick.”
He took a breath.
“You didn't cause it.”
Sofia began crying.
Luca held her.
And in that moment, he understood that Vanessa's cruelty had reached far deeper than he'd imagined.
That evening, he found me in the garden.
I was watering the flowers Sofia had planted.
“Emily.”
I turned.
“Yes, sir?”
He approached.
“Did Sofia ever talk to you about her mother?”
I nodded.
“Sometimes.”
He looked down.
“Did she ask whether Elena's death was her fault?”
I hesitated.
Then nodded again.
Luca closed his eyes.
“I didn't know.”
I stepped closer.
“You know now.”
He looked at me.
I continued.
“And you're listening.”
For a moment, he simply stared.
Then he whispered:
“Thank you.”
I smiled sadly.
“She's worth listening to.”
He nodded.
May you like
“She is.”
And for the first time, I saw tears in Luca Moretti's eyes.
