Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
The next morning, Bianca Moretti called me.
I nearly ended the call when I heard her voice.
"Serena, please don't hang up."
"Give me one reason."
"Because my father knows about the house."
I stood completely still.
"What house?"
"The one near the lake."
"How?"
"I don't know. But I heard him speaking to someone about you."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Her voice shook.
"Because I think he intends to hurt you."
I almost laughed.
"You already helped him do that."
"I know."
"No, Bianca. You don't."
Silence.
Then she said something unexpected.
"I didn't know about your father's documents until recently."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"What documents?"
"The ones Carlo has spent years trying to recover."
She explained that her father had recently discovered an old agreement linking several Moretti properties to shell companies.
He believed Enrico Bellini had preserved evidence that could expose fraud, bribery, and illegal transfers.
"And Alessandro?" I asked.
"Carlo believed your marriage would give him access to anything you inherited."
My stomach turned.
"Did Alessandro know?"
"Not when he proposed."
I leaned against the kitchen counter.
"How do you know?"
"Because my father was furious when he learned Alessandro intended to marry you. He said it complicated everything."
I thought of the years I had spent waiting for a proposal.
The irony was unbearable.
"Then why did you pursue him?"
Bianca didn't answer immediately.
"Because I wanted him."
There it was.
No noble explanation.
No hidden sacrifice.
Just desire.
"I knew he loved you," she continued. "I convinced myself that if he kept coming back to me, it meant I mattered more."
"And did it?"
"No."
I closed my eyes.
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"I know."
She told me Carlo had recently demanded that Alessandro marry her instead.
When Alessandro refused, Carlo threatened to end their alliance.
"Did your father arrange for me to discover the affair?"
"I think so."
"How?"
"He knew you were flying to Venice. Someone at the watch dealer informed him."
I remembered the photograph.
The anonymous note.
The suspiciously convenient hotel suite.
"Why would he want me to catch you?"
"Because if you left Alessandro, the marriage would collapse. My father thought Alessandro would turn to me to preserve the alliance."
I stared out at the lake.
Carlo Moretti had used his own daughter as a bargaining chip.
And Alessandro had made that manipulation possible by betraying me.
Before ending the call, Bianca whispered, "I'm sorry."
I didn't forgive her.
But I believed she was frightened.
That evening, Alessandro arrived at the house with two police officers and a private security consultant.
I met him outside.
"I told you not to send guards."
"I didn't. Giulia requested the police presence after the break-in."
He glanced toward the damaged window.
"Someone is looking for your father's records."
"Then I'll help find them."
"No."
I stared at him.
"Excuse me?"
"It's dangerous."
I took one step closer.
"Alex, I spent thirteen years being protected from truths everyone else knew. I'm finished with that."
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then, quietly, he said, "You're right."
It was such an unfamiliar response that I almost smiled.
But the moment passed when Giulia emerged from the house carrying a sealed envelope.
"We found something in your father's files," she said.
Inside was a photograph of Vittorio Vitale, Carlo Moretti, and my father standing outside Villa San Michele.
May you like
On the back, in my father's handwriting, were five words.
"Vittorio knew who betrayed him."
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