Chapter 8 - THE MORETTI FAMILY SECRET
I had not seen Alessandra Moretti in seven years.
I still remembered the first time Luca introduced us.
She had looked me up and down before saying I was very pretty.
The compliment had felt like an insult even then.
Alessandra came from old Chicago money.
Her family believed wealth was not something people earned.
It was something certain people deserved.
I had grown up above my mother’s beauty salon.
That fact had bothered her from the beginning.
“She paid the clinic administrator?”
I stared at Luca.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She refuses to discuss it by phone.”
I laughed without humor.
“Of course she does.”
“I’m meeting her tonight.”
“I’m coming.”
“Nia.”
“She interfered with my medical information.”
“This could become ugly.”
“It became ugly seven years ago.”
He stopped arguing.
Alessandra received us at the Moretti family estate outside Lake Forest.
Nothing had changed.
Same stone driveway.
Same enormous windows.
Same feeling that ordinary people were supposed to lower their voices inside.
Alessandra entered the library wearing black.
She looked at me.
Then at Luca.
“I assumed this day might come.”
Luca went still.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“About the twins?”
“No.”
His shoulders loosened slightly.
“Then explain the clinic.”
Alessandra poured herself water.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
Luca’s voice was cold.
“I have spent years obeying people who told me to wait before hearing the truth.”
Alessandra looked older suddenly.
“I believed Nia was wrong for you.”
I almost laughed.
“You committed medical fraud because you disliked me?”
“I did not commit medical fraud.”
“You paid a records administrator.”
“I paid her to make sure certain information reached Luca.”
“False information.”
“Selective information.”
Luca slammed his hand against the table.
The glass jumped.
“Enough.”
Alessandra looked at her son.
“You were thirty-three years old.”
“And?”
“You were building an empire.”
“So you destroyed my marriage?”
“I believed the marriage was already failing.”
“You helped it fail.”
She did not deny it.
My hands shook.
“What exactly did you change?”
“I did not change test results.”
“Then what?”
“I made sure Luca received preliminary reports before the final interpretation.”
Everything clicked.
Preliminary numbers.
Incomplete explanations.
Enough uncertainty to feed fear.
“You wanted him to believe I was the problem.”
“I wanted my son to consider whether he was sacrificing his future.”
I stood.
“I was his future.”
Alessandra finally looked ashamed.
For a second.
Then the Moretti pride returned.
“Apparently, I was wrong.”
“No.”
I picked up my purse.
“You were cruel.”
Luca stopped me before I reached the door.
“There’s more.”
Alessandra’s face changed.
He noticed.
“So there is.”
He turned toward his mother.
“What happened after the divorce?”
“Nothing involving me.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Nia contacted me?”
“No.”
“Did you know Evelyn intercepted her letter?”
Alessandra stared at him.
“Evelyn did what?”
For the first time that night, her shock looked genuine.
Luca watched her carefully.
Then Alessandra whispered something I never expected.
“I warned you about that woman.”
Luca stared at her.
“When?”
“The month before your wedding.”
The room went silent.
Alessandra looked at me.
“I may have helped destroy your first marriage.”
May you like
Her voice dropped.
“But Evelyn made certain it stayed destroyed.”
