Chapter 5
Bianca’s father was not dead.
His name was Dominic Moretti.
Seventy-one years old.
Former owner of Moretti Import Services.
Officially retired.
Living under his own name in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Rachel placed the records on Vittorio’s desk.
“She told me he died when she was twenty.”
“He didn’t.”
“Why lie?”
Rachel turned another page.
“Because Dominic Moretti and your father hated each other.”
Vittorio’s attention sharpened.
He knew the name now.
Not personally.
From stories.
Twenty-five years earlier, Romano Freight and Moretti Import Services had fought over a series of shipping contracts at the Port of Chicago.
Lawsuits followed.
Moretti lost.
His company collapsed.
Vittorio’s father bought several of the assets afterward.
Dominic Moretti disappeared from Chicago soon after.
Vittorio stared at Bianca’s photograph on Rachel’s report.
“She never told me any of this.”
“Neither did Marcus.”
Marcus’s father had been a man named Richard Hale.
But he had been raised partly in Dominic Moretti’s home after his mother remarried.
Dominic had effectively raised both siblings.
Daniel found flight records.
Dominic had arrived in Chicago three days earlier.
Private charter.
The aircraft returned to Arizona without him.
“Where is he now?”
“We don’t know.”
Vittorio looked at the image from Emma’s video.
The dark coat.
The ring.
The black SUV.
“Find the vehicle.”
They did.
Registered to a private transport company.
Paid for by an account connected to Marcus.
Rachel looked at Vittorio.
“This is becoming serious.”
“It was serious when Lucy was on that floor.”
“You know what I mean.”
He did.
The breakfast abuse had seemed monstrous enough by itself.
Now it looked like one piece of something much older.
That evening Bianca requested to speak with Vittorio alone.
Rachel refused.
Bianca agreed to meet with counsel present.
She entered the library without jewelry.
Her engagement ring was gone.
Vittorio noticed.
She noticed him noticing.
“I took it off.”
“Good.”
Bianca looked tired.
“Dominic is my father.”
“I know.”
Her eyes closed briefly.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you would never have dated me if you knew.”
“That depends.”
“No.”
Bianca looked directly at him.
“You would’ve seen Moretti before Bianca.”
Vittorio could not argue.
“Was he here last night?”
She did not answer.
“Was he?”
“Yes.”
“Did he take Lucy outside?”
Bianca looked toward Marcus.
Marcus’s face hardened.
Bianca continued.
“He wasn’t supposed to touch her.”
Vittorio stood.
Rachel immediately said his name.
He stopped.
Not because of Marcus.
Because of Lucy.
He sat again.
“What was he supposed to do?”
Bianca’s hands began shaking.
“Talk to Marcus.”
“At my house?”
“Yes.”
“During my daughter’s bedtime?”
“It wasn’t planned like that.”
“Then how was it planned?”
Silence.
Vittorio leaned forward.
“Why was your father secretly inside my estate?”
Bianca looked at him.
“He wanted something back.”
“What?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Marcus laughed.
Vittorio turned.
May you like
Marcus’s expression made the answer obvious.
He knew.
