Chapter 2 - The Broken Trust
The silence in the grand dining room was suffocating. Luca Moretti didn’t blink. His dark eyes remained fixed on Vanessa’s father, Antonio Bellini, whose weathered hands were trembling slightly against the mahogany table.
“Speak, Antonio,” Luca said, his voice dropping into that quiet, terrifying register that had made seasoned mobsters bow their heads in submission. “Before I decide that loyalty in this room has expired entirely.”
Antonio wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with a linen napkin. “The Moretti trust,” he muttered, not daring to meet Luca’s stare. “Your late wife... Elena’s family trust. It has an ironclad condition. If Sofia remains your primary heir and is medically deemed fit to inherit, the entirety of Elena’s shipping empire and offshore assets remain untouched until her eighteenth birthday, locked away under the trustee board.”
Emily held Sofia closer to her chest. The little girl’s fingers dug into Emily’s apron, her small body trembling.
“Go on,” Luca ordered coldly.
“Vanessa found the loophole in the original deed,” Antonio confessed, pointing a trembling finger at his daughter. “If Sofia is permanently incapacitated and institutionalized under custodial care abroad, full administrative power over Elena’s sixty-million-dollar maritime portfolio transfers directly to your legal spouse upon marriage. Vanessa wanted those shares. She told me she had arranged everything with the clinic in Zurich.”
Luca slowly turned his head toward Vanessa. The diamond engagement ring on her finger caught the chandelier light, throwing brilliant, mocking flashes across her pale face.
“You wanted to institutionalize my daughter?” Luca whispered. “You wanted to lock an eleven-year-old child away in an asylum across the ocean for a shipping portfolio?”
“Luca, listen to me!” Vanessa cried, scrambling out of her chair, her manicured hands outstretched. “Your father-in-law is lying to save his own skin! He’s the one who is drowning in gambling debt! He begged me to find money! I only did what was best for our future! Sofia is sick, Luca! She’s weak, she slows you down, she reminds you of a dead woman—!”
A sharp *crack* echoed through the room.
Luca hadn’t hit her. He had driven his crystal tumbler into the table, shattering the thick glass into a dozen jagged shards. Red wine pooled over the white lace tablecloth like fresh blood.
“Emily,” Luca said, his voice deadly calm. “Take Sofia upstairs. Now.”
“No, Daddy!” Sofia sobbed, clinging to Emily’s neck. “Don’t let her hurt Emily! She told Emily she’d ruin her life if she translated what the doctor said!”
Luca looked at Emily then. His gaze softened for a fraction of a second, filled with an intensity Emily had never seen before—gratitude mixed with a terrifying rage.
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“Nobody touches Emily,” Luca said softly. “Emily is the reason my daughter has a voice tonight. Go, sweetheart. Daddy will handle this.”
Emily didn’t hesitate. She lifted Sofia into her arms, ignoring Vanessa’s venomous glare, and carried the girl toward the sweeping marble staircase. But just as she reached the landing, she heard the heavy metallic click of Luca’s guards locking the dining room double doors from the inside.
