Chapter 3 - Sophia's Second Betrayal
The first photograph arrived on Alexander's phone at 1:07 a.m.
It showed Claire entering a medical building beneath a black umbrella.
The second showed Margaret Bennett beside her.
The third was a close shot of the license plate on a rented SUV.
Beneath the images was a message from an unknown number.
Your wife looks tired.
Alexander's blood went cold.
Matteo was already moving before Alexander looked up.
"Trace it."
"On it."
Another message appeared.
Congratulations on the baby.
Alexander's hand closed around the phone so hard the case creaked.
Then the final line.
You should have guarded what mattered before someone else noticed it.
Luca Romano.
He did not need a signature.
Alexander rose from his desk.
"How did they find her?"
"We're checking Hart's people, hotel records, traffic cameras—"
"No."
Matteo stopped.
Alexander turned toward the security screen showing the front drive.
"Romano found her too quickly. Claire changed vehicles. Used cash. No family phone. No cards. Evelyn Hart is paranoid for a living."
Matteo understood.
"Someone had the location before she moved."
"Exactly."
Alexander thought of Sophia.
She had left the estate under escort and gone to a condominium owned by her father. Her phone had been taken for forensic imaging before she left, but if she had a second device—
Alexander picked up his coat.
"Bring her in."
Sophia arrived forty minutes later wearing black trousers, a camel coat, and an expression of offended dignity.
She stopped in the center of Alexander's study.
"This is insane. Your men pulled me out of bed."
Alexander turned his phone toward her.
Claire's photograph filled the screen.
Sophia's eyes flickered.
Again.
A half-second.
Enough.
"Who did you tell?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Alexander enlarged the image.
"Where was this taken?"
She looked away.
"I don't know."
"Then why did you recognize it?"
"I didn't."
Matteo entered behind her carrying a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a small white phone.
Sophia's face changed.
Alexander looked at Matteo.
"Where?"
"Taped beneath the vanity drawer in her father's condo."
Sophia spun around.
"You searched private property?"
Matteo gave her a flat look. "You had a surveillance contractor follow a pregnant woman without consent. Let's not discover a passion for privacy tonight."
Alexander held out his hand.
Matteo gave him the phone.
It was unlocked.
A messaging application was open.
Sophia moved forward.
"Alexander, that isn't mine."
He scrolled.
There were months of messages with Luca Romano's lieutenant.
At first, they were simple.
Schedules.
Restaurant reservations.
Names of people attending Moretti events.
Then personal details.
Claire fights with Alex whenever I am around. Easy pressure point.
Another.
Vittorio thinks she makes him weak. I can use that.
Another.
She is pregnant. This changes the timeline.
Alexander stopped breathing.
He opened the reply beneath it.
Then speed things up.
His eyes moved lower.
Sophia's answer had been sent six hours before the dinner.
I will make sure she leaves him or he leaves her.
Alexander looked up.
Sophia's face was white.
"You sold access to my family."
"I didn't sell anything."
"Three hundred thousand dollars."
"It was an investment."
"In what?"
"My foundation."
Matteo laughed without humor.
Alexander continued scrolling.
Then he found the message that turned his anger into something colder.
After the dinner, after Claire had been taken to the hospital, Sophia had written:
It went badly. She hit the table. Might have lost it.
The reply:
That could solve the problem.
Sophia's response:
If she did, Alex will blame her for the scene eventually. He always comes back to me.
Alexander set the phone down with extraordinary care.
Sophia's eyes filled with tears.
"I was angry when I wrote that."
"You were hoping my child was dead."
"No!"
"You wrote it."
"I didn't mean it."
"You followed my wife to doctors. You used my uncle's resentment. You took Romano's money. You knew she was pregnant before you shoved her. Then you hoped the baby died because you thought grief would make me easier to control."
Sophia shook her head violently.
"You don't understand what he threatened me with."
Alexander paused.
"Romano?"
Her breathing became ragged.
"He had proof my father had been skimming money through construction contracts connected to your family. He said he would give it to the federal government unless I helped him."
Matteo's eyes narrowed.
"So you were blackmailed."
"At first."
Alexander heard the qualification.
"At first?"
Sophia covered her face.
"Then he started paying me."
"And you decided betrayal was more profitable than fear."
"I loved you."
Alexander stared at her.
"No."
She looked up.
"Don't tell me what I felt."
"You did not love me. You loved winning against Claire."
Her face twisted.
"She took you from me!"
"We were seventeen when we dated for six months."
"You promised—"
"I was seventeen."
"Everyone knew we would end up together!"
"I married Claire."
Sophia's tears became anger.
"Because she made you feel like a hero. Poor little Claire with the abandoned mother and the tuition bills. She looked at you like you had saved her."
Alexander flinched.
Sophia saw it and pressed harder.
"That's what you liked, isn't it? Being needed. Then once she became your wife, she started asking you to be better. She wanted boundaries. She wanted you to tell your family no. She wanted you to stop letting me around. And you hated that because it meant being loved wasn't the same thing as being worshiped."
The accusation was cruel.
It was also partly true.
Alexander did not defend himself.
That unsettled Sophia more than anger would have.
He looked at Matteo.
"Give everything to our attorneys. And to the federal liaison handling the Romano investigation."
Sophia's head snapped up.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"You can't turn me over to the government."
"I can provide evidence of Romano's extortion and surveillance network. What they do with your participation is their decision."
"Alexander, please."
"Did Romano order anyone to follow Claire after she left?"
Sophia said nothing.
Alexander stepped closer.
"This is the last useful thing you will ever do for me. Answer the question."
Her lips trembled.
"He said if Claire left you, she might know things she didn't realize she knew. Names. Houses. Habits. He said frightened wives talk."
Alexander's face emptied.
"Did you give him her location?"
"Not directly."
"What does that mean?"
"I gave him Evelyn Hart's name."
Matteo swore.
Sophia rushed on. "I didn't know he would find Claire that quickly. I only knew Claire would use a divorce attorney, and I remembered Evelyn from a charity board."
Alexander turned to Matteo.
"Call Hart. Now."
Matteo dialed.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Alexander's pulse began to pound.
On the third attempt, someone picked up.
But it was not Evelyn.
A man said, "Who is this?"
Matteo froze.
"Matteo Russo. Who are you?"
"Detective Harris, Lake Geneva Police. This phone belongs to Evelyn Hart. There was a vehicle collision on Highway 50."
Alexander felt the room tilt.
"Was Claire Moretti in the car?"
A pause.
"I can't release passenger information."
Alexander took the phone.
"This is Alexander Moretti. My pregnant wife may have been traveling with Ms. Hart. Tell me if she was in that vehicle."
The detective's voice became guarded.
"Mr. Moretti, you need to contact the hospital directly."
Hospital.
Again.
Alexander closed his eyes.
"Which hospital?"
The detective told him.
Twenty-nine minutes later, Alexander's convoy tore north through rain.
He ignored every call.
He ignored Vittorio.
Ignored business.
Ignored the armed men in the cars behind him.
At the hospital, he found Evelyn Hart in the emergency department with six stitches above her eyebrow and a fractured wrist.
She looked at him with open hostility.
"You were told not to contact my client."
Alexander stopped.
"Where is Claire?"
"Not here."
His breath left him.
"What?"
"She wasn't in my car."
He stared at her.
Evelyn leaned back against the pillow.
"We suspected someone had compromised the hotel. So we split up. I drove the route everyone expected. Claire and her mother left twenty minutes earlier with another security team."
Alexander's knees nearly weakened.
He caught the bed rail instead.
Evelyn watched him.
"The truck that hit me had no plates. It forced my car toward the median and kept going."
Alexander's relief vanished.
"Romano."
"I assume that's one of your professional enemies?"
"Yes."
"Then understand this clearly. My client is not collateral damage in your war."
Alexander looked at her.
"I know."
Evelyn's eyes narrowed, perhaps expecting an argument.
He gave none.
"Can you get a message to her?"
"No direct messages."
"Not from me. Information. Romano is looking for her. Sophia gave him your name. He may have access to your professional network."
Evelyn sat straighter.
"Do you have proof?"
Alexander handed her a printed copy Matteo had brought from the car.
She read the messages.
Her face changed.
"I'll contact her security."
"Tell them not to use any location connected to Moretti property. Romano will expect that."
"Anything else?"
Alexander hesitated.
"Yes."
Evelyn looked up.
"Tell Claire I am not asking where she is."
The attorney studied him.
"That's a message."
"Then don't tell her."
He turned to leave.
"Mr. Moretti."
Alexander stopped.
Evelyn's voice was quieter.
"The court granted the temporary no-contact order this afternoon."
He nodded.
"I won't violate it."
"Even if you think she's in danger?"
Alexander looked back.
"I have spent too long deciding that my fear gives me the right to control her. It doesn't. Protecting her and possessing her are not the same thing."
For the first time, Evelyn seemed unsure what to say.
Alexander walked out.
Back in Chicago before dawn, he found Matteo waiting in the study.
"We have another problem," Matteo said.
Alexander's face hardened.
"What now?"
Matteo placed a photograph on the desk.
It showed Luca Romano entering a restaurant the previous afternoon.
Beside him was a man Alexander recognized immediately.
Vittorio Moretti.
His uncle.
Alexander stared at the image.
"When?"
"Six hours after you suspended him."
"What did they discuss?"
"We don't know yet."
Alexander looked toward the recorder still sitting beside the baby sock.
Five years ago, Claire had believed he was the man who chose her.
Now every choice he had made seemed to have built the road that placed her in danger.
He had one chance to do something different.
Not to win her back.
May you like
Not yet.
First, he had to make sure there was a world safe enough for her to choose anything at all.
