Chapter 5 - THE MARRIAGE I WAS SUPPOSED TO ACCEPT
Bianca Moretti requested to see me.
I expected anger.
Instead, she walked into my office and slapped a folder onto the desk.
“I am not marrying you.”
I almost smiled.
“Finally, common ground.”
She did not.
“My father told me Renata was your father’s person.”
“She wasn’t?”
“No.”
Bianca sat.
Thirty-four.
Corporate attorney.
Sharp enough that her father kept her away from several family businesses while publicly praising her intelligence.
That contradiction now made more sense.
She continued:
“I overheard my father arguing with Renata last night.”
“About what?”
“The child.”
Lucia.
Bianca had stayed at our estate during marriage negotiations.
She heard Renata say:
The maid found something in the old office.
Vittorio replied:
Then remove the problem before Lorenzo comes back.
My body went cold.
“You heard that?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked ashamed.
“Because I thought they meant fire her.”
That was believable.
Then:
“And because I didn’t want to know more.”
Also believable.
Families built on intimidation survive because many people learn strategic ignorance.
Bianca slid the folder closer.
“These are company formation records.”
One shell company:
Bellmore Maritime Consulting LLC.
Owners hidden through layers.
Payments to Renata.
Payments to Joseph Caruso.
Payments to two private freight companies.
All linked indirectly to Moretti interests.
“How did you get these?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“Not an answer.”
“I have access to my father’s corporate archive.”
She looked at me.
“And before you ask, yes, some of that access was authorized.”
“Some?”
She smiled faintly.
“You want clean hands today?”
“Preferably.”
“Then have your outside counsel subpoena the rest.”
Good.
We did.
Bianca stood.
“My father believes this marriage would prevent you from reopening old business.”
“So the engagement was leverage.”
“Partly.”
“And you?”
Her face hardened.
“I thought it was insulting but survivable.”
“You were willing?”
“No.”
She paused.
“I was resigned.”
That word mattered.
Even rich daughters of powerful men can be traded politely.
I looked at her.
“You’re free.”
She laughed once.
“You don’t have authority to free me.”
She was right.
“I mean from this marriage.”
“That helps.”
Before leaving, Bianca stopped.
“Lorenzo.”
“Yes?”
“My father is afraid of the blue ledger.”
“Why?”
“Because Mateo Alvarez wasn’t the only person who saw Bay 9.”
“Who else?”
She looked at me.
“Your mother.”
The room went silent.
My mother had died seven years earlier.
Cancer.
No mystery.
No conspiracy.
But now I understood why she spent the final years of her life trying to push me toward legitimate business and away from my father’s old organization.
She had known something.
Perhaps much more than I realized.
May you like
And if Bianca was right, the truth had been inside my family long before Lucia found that hidden ledger.
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