Chapter 3 - The Secret Sophia Never Expected Him to DiscoverAlexander’s first visit with Ellie lasted forty-five minutes.
His second lasted an hour.
Then ninety minutes.
Every visit was supervised.
Every boundary was respected.
He never arrived late.
He never left early.
And he never asked me to cancel the divorce.
That made me more suspicious, not less.
For four years, Alexander had solved problems through pressure.
Now he seemed determined not to pressure me at all.
I kept waiting for the strategy behind his restraint.
None appeared.
Then Sophia changed everything.
It happened two weeks after Alexander first held Ellie.
I was staying in Chicago temporarily because of the legal proceedings.
Dad had given me use of a condominium overlooking Lake Michigan.
One night, my attorney called.
“Do not open any messages from unknown numbers.”
I sat upright.
“Why?”
“Sophia Reynolds has contacted a celebrity news site.”
My stomach turned.
“With what?”
“Photos.”
“What photos?”
“You and Nathaniel.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“My father?”
“She’s claiming you were secretly planning to leave Alexander long before the affair.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
The following morning, an article appeared online.
The headline made my blood boil.
BILLIONAIRE DIVORCE WAR: DID CLAIRE MORETTI PLAN HER ESCAPE MONTHS BEFORE HUSBAND’S AFFAIR?
The article showed photographs of Dad and me leaving a private legal office.
The problem was the date.
The caption said the pictures had been taken before Alexander left for Europe.
They hadn’t.
Someone had altered the metadata.
Then anonymous “sources” claimed Dad had been trying to force Alexander out of key business deals and that I had used my pregnancy to create public sympathy.
I felt physically sick.
My phone rang.
Dad.
“Do not respond.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“I mean it, Claire.”
“I know.”
“We’ll handle this legally.”
“What does Alexander think?”
Silence.
“Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
That bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
Because the lie was believable enough to feed exactly what Alexander might want to believe.
That I had planned everything.
That he was not solely responsible.
That somehow I had been waiting for an excuse.
Two hours later, Alexander released a statement.
I saw it on television.
He stood outside Moretti International headquarters surrounded by reporters.
No attorney beside him.
No prepared corporate backdrop.
Just Alexander.
A reporter shouted, “Mr. Moretti, were you aware your wife was planning a divorce before your overseas trip?”
Alexander stopped.
“No.”
“Do you believe the photographs are authentic?”
“No.”
“Are you accusing the publication of fabricating them?”
“I’m saying my wife did not plan to leave me before I betrayed her.”
My breath caught.
Alexander continued.
“I had an affair.”
The reporters erupted.
He raised his voice.
“I left my pregnant wife for four months under the false claim that I was traveling on business.”
Every microphone moved closer.
“I missed the birth of my daughter because of choices I made.”
Someone asked, “Did Mrs. Moretti manipulate the situation?”
“No.”
“Did Nathaniel Bennett?”
“No.”
“Then who is responsible?”
Alexander looked straight into the cameras.
“I am.”
I sat motionless.
Dad stood near the television.
Neither of us spoke.
Onscreen, a reporter asked, “Are you hoping for reconciliation?”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“That is not something Claire owes me.”
He walked away.
I turned off the television.
Dad looked at me.
“That was either remarkably calculated…”
“Or?”
“Or he finally learned how to tell the truth.”
I hated that possibility.
Because hatred was easy when Alexander behaved like the man who left me.
It became harder when he behaved like the man I once believed he could be.
That evening, another revelation arrived.
Sophia had not only spoken to reporters.
She had taken documents from Alexander’s home office during their four-month trip.
Not classified corporate records.
But internal schedules, travel invoices, and communications that could embarrass Moretti International.
She demanded money.
Ten million dollars.
In exchange, she promised not to release anything else.
Alexander refused.
That detail came from his attorney, not Alexander.
Dad read the correspondence and whistled softly.
“She picked the wrong man to blackmail.”
“What happens now?”
“His attorneys handle it.”
“Will it hurt the company?”
“Potentially.”
“Do you care?”
Dad looked at me.
“About the company?”
“About Alexander.”
He hesitated.
“No.”
I laughed.
“Honest.”
“But I care about you.”
“I’m fine.”
“That sentence has never fooled me.”
I walked to the window.
“Seeing him admit it publicly…”
“Changed something?”
“No.”
Dad waited.
I sighed.
“I don’t know.”
He came closer.
“You can forgive someone and still divorce them.”
“I know.”
“You can love someone and still decide they’re unsafe for your heart.”
“I know.”
“And you can change your mind about what you want later.”
I looked at him.
“You’re supposed to tell me never to go back.”
“Believe me, I would enjoy that.”
“Dad.”
He smiled sadly.
“But then I would be doing the same thing I did four years ago.”
I understood.
He had tried to choose for me.
He had lost me.
Now he was finally trusting me to choose for myself.
My divorce hearing was scheduled for six weeks later.
Alexander did not contest it.
But he requested one thing.
Joint legal parenthood eventually, with a gradual visitation schedule.
My attorney expected a fight over everything.
The house.
Stocks.
Trusts.
Properties.
There wasn’t one.
Alexander agreed to nearly every financial proposal.
Then he did something I did not understand.
He placed an additional twenty million dollars into an irrevocable trust for Ellie.
I called his attorney immediately.
“Why?”
“For your daughter.”
“She doesn’t need twenty million dollars.”
“Mr. Moretti disagrees.”
“I’m not accepting guilt money.”
“It isn’t payable to you.”
“I know that.”
“Then what is the objection?”
I had no good answer.
Later, I confronted Alexander during an exchange at the visitation office.
“Why the trust?”
He was fastening Ellie’s coat.
“She’s my daughter.”
“You think money fixes being absent?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
He looked at me.
“Because one day I might disappoint her too.”
The answer startled me.
“I want there to be things in her life that don’t depend on whether I get everything right.”
I stared at him.
“Alexander…”
“I’m not trying to buy forgiveness.”
“Then stop behaving like you already expect to fail.”
He froze.
I froze too.
Because for one second, I had sounded like his wife.
Alexander looked down.
“I’m trying not to.”
Ellie grabbed his tie.
He smiled.
A real smile.
Then our daughter yanked hard enough to choke him.
I laughed.
Alexander looked up.
There it was again.
That dangerous moment.
The old familiarity.
But this time, neither of us pretended it meant everything was fixed.
He gently freed his tie from Ellie’s fist.
“She has your temper.”
“She’s eight weeks old.”
“She judged me immediately.”
“She has excellent instincts.”
Alexander laughed.
Then his phone rang.
His smile disappeared.
He checked the screen.
“What?”
I asked before I could stop myself.
He hesitated.
“It’s my father.”
“What happened?”
Alexander answered.
His face changed.
“Say that again.”
Silence.
Then he looked at me.
For the first time in weeks, I saw fear.
Real fear.
He ended the call.
“What?”
I demanded.
Alexander swallowed.
“The Moretti board called an emergency meeting.”
“So?”
“They found out company resources were used during the trip with Sophia.”
I stared at him.
Private aircraft.
Security personnel.
Corporate properties.
Staff.
Alexander had disguised portions of a four-month affair as business travel.
That wasn’t only a marriage problem.
It was a corporate one.
“What are they going to do?”
He picked up Ellie’s diaper bag and handed it to me.
“I think they’re going to remove me.”
May you like
And suddenly, Alexander’s greatest fear was no longer losing me.
He was about to lose the empire he had once believed made him untouchable.
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