Chapter 3 - Her Father Came to CollectVictor Moretti entered Adrian Vale’s house at eight in the morning as though he owned it already.
He wore a charcoal overcoat, polished shoes, and the expression of a man expecting congratulations.
Dominic followed him.
Thirty years younger than his father, Dominic had inherited Victor’s arrogance without acquiring his discipline.
He smiled when he saw Adrian.
“Hell of a wedding.”
Adrian remained beside the fireplace.
Daniel Russo sat quietly near the windows.
Gabriel stood by the door.
Victor removed his gloves.
“Where’s my daughter?”
“Sleeping.”
Victor laughed.
“So the wedding night went well?”
Nobody joined him.
His smile faded slightly.
Adrian poured coffee.
“For you?”
Victor waved him off.
“We won’t stay long.”
“No?”
“Elena forgot a few belongings.”
“I’ll have them delivered.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“I meant she needs to come with us.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Why?”
“Family tradition. She has breakfast at home the morning after the wedding.”
“No.”
Dominic shifted.
Victor stared at Adrian.
“Excuse me?”
“She isn’t going.”
Victor gave a patronizing smile.
“Adrian, I understand newlywed enthusiasm, but—”
“Do you?”
Silence settled across the room.
Victor studied him more carefully.
“Something wrong?”
Adrian lifted his coffee.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
“With what?”
“Your daughter.”
Dominic’s posture changed.
Barely.
Adrian caught it.
Victor did too.
“Is Elena ill?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Adrian set the cup down.
“She has bruises.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
Victor did not move at all.
“What bruises?”
Adrian almost admired the speed of the lie.
“Her ribs. Her shoulder. Her back.”
Victor sighed.
“Elena has always been clumsy.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Has she?”
“Since childhood.”
Dominic laughed awkwardly.
“She walks into furniture.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Interesting.”
Dominic stopped laughing.
“Why?”
“Most furniture doesn’t leave finger marks.”
Victor’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“Adrian,” he said, “marriage can be confusing the first few days. Elena is sensitive. She dramatizes.”
“She didn’t tell me.”
That surprised both men.
Adrian continued.
“She tried to hide it.”
Victor recovered.
“Then perhaps you’re reading too much into—”
“She asked me not to hit her.”
Dominic looked at the floor.
Victor’s jaw tightened.
Adrian watched him.
“That reaction interests me.”
“You’re accusing me of something?”
“I haven’t accused anyone yet.”
Victor took a step forward.
“Then choose your next words carefully.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
Threatening Adrian Vale inside his own home was not something sane men attempted.
Adrian merely leaned against the desk.
“Why?”
Victor stared.
“Because alliances depend on respect.”
“No.”
Adrian’s voice hardened.
“Fear depends on respect. Alliances depend on honesty.”
Nobody moved.
“And you lied to me.”
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
“About what?”
Adrian nodded at Daniel.
The attorney slid the transfer documents across the table.
Victor looked down.
For the first time that morning, his composure cracked.
Adrian saw it.
“You recognize those?”
Victor did not answer.
“Yesterday,” Adrian continued, “your daughter signed away twenty-seven percent of my company.”
“It was a restructuring.”
“She didn’t know what she signed.”
“She’s an adult.”
“An adult you control through a trust that should have terminated three years ago.”
Victor’s face became cold.
“That is a family matter.”
“You used that family matter to enter my company.”
“It benefits both families.”
“It benefits you.”
Victor lifted his chin.
“Perhaps we should discuss this privately.”
“We are.”
“Without lawyers.”
Daniel looked amused.
Adrian didn’t.
“The lawyer stays.”
Victor looked at Gabriel.
“And the guard?”
“The guard stays.”
Dominic muttered, “This is ridiculous.”
Adrian’s eyes moved to him.
Dominic immediately stopped.
Then a voice came from the stairs.
“No.”
Every man in the room looked up.
Elena stood halfway down the staircase.
She had changed into dark trousers and a sweater Naomi had found for her.
No makeup.
Hair loose.
She looked younger without the wedding dress.
And far more frightened.
Victor’s expression changed instantly.
“Elena.”
She stopped.
Adrian saw her fingers gripping the railing.
Victor opened his arms.
“Come here.”
Elena did not move.
Victor smiled.
The smile was worse than anger.
“Your husband tells me you’re upset.”
Still nothing.
Dominic stepped forward.
“Elena, Dad said come here.”
Adrian immediately moved between them.
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
“You stay where you are.”
Dominic looked at his father.
Victor spoke softly.
“Elena, sweetheart, we’re going home for breakfast.”
“I’m staying.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Adrian watched Elena’s face.
She was pale.
But she did not retreat.
“You’re confused,” Victor said.
“No.”
“Your wedding was stressful.”
“I said I’m staying.”
Victor’s voice lowered.
“Elena.”
Her fingers tightened.
Adrian recognized the change in her breathing.
So did Gabriel.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Victor took one step.
Adrian stepped forward too.
“Don’t.”
Victor stopped.
“She’s my daughter.”
“She’s my wife.”
Elena flinched at the possessive phrasing.
Adrian noticed.
He corrected himself immediately.
“She’s Elena. And she said no.”
Something passed through her eyes.
Surprise.
Victor looked from one to the other.
“You have known her for twelve hours.”
“Yes.”
“I raised her.”
“Apparently that’s the problem.”
Dominic surged forward.
“You son of a—”
Gabriel had him against the wall before he finished.
Victor shouted.
Adrian remained calm.
“Gabriel.”
Dominic struggled.
“Release him.”
Gabriel did.
Dominic straightened his jacket, humiliated.
Then Elena spoke.
“He did it.”
Everyone went still.
Adrian looked at her.
Dominic’s face changed.
Elena’s voice shook.
“Dominic hurt me yesterday.”
Her brother stared at her.
“Elena.”
She took another step down.
“You hit me because I said I wanted to read the papers.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“You pushed me into the dresser.”
“Elena, shut up.”
The room became dead silent.
Dominic realized too late what he had said.
Adrian turned slowly toward him.
Victor intervened.
“My son is emotional.”
Adrian’s voice was quiet.
“So am I.”
Dominic swallowed.
Elena came down another step.
“And my father knew.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Enough.”
“No.”
“Go upstairs.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No!”
The word cracked through the room.
For perhaps the first time in her life, Elena Moretti shouted at her father.
She shook from head to toe afterward.
But she remained standing.
“My entire life, you told me silence was loyalty.”
Victor’s face flushed.
“You have no idea what I sacrificed for you.”
“You locked my mother’s jewelry away after she died.”
“That was protection.”
“You took her company.”
“I saved it.”
“You kept her trust from me.”
“You weren’t capable of managing it.”
“I was twenty-one!”
“You were a child.”
“I’m twenty-four now.”
Victor took a step toward her.
“Enough.”
Adrian stepped directly into his path.
“No.”
Victor stared at him.
Adrian’s voice was almost gentle.
“She isn’t finished.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“My mother made you promise.”
Victor looked at her sharply.
“You don’t know anything about your mother.”
“I know she wanted the trust transferred to me.”
“You know what lawyers tell you.”
“I know you lied.”
Victor’s mask finally cracked.
“I did what was necessary to keep this family alive!”
Elena recoiled.
Victor continued, voice rising.
“Your mother inherited everything and understood nothing. She would have destroyed us.”
“So you stole it?”
“I managed it!”
“You hit her too.”
Silence.
Adrian looked at Victor.
Victor’s eyes flickered.
Elena covered her mouth.
It was as though the words had escaped before she could stop them.
Dominic whispered, “Elena…”
She looked at him.
“I remember.”
Victor’s voice became dangerous.
“You were a child.”
“I remember her wearing long sleeves in July.”
Adrian felt the room change.
“I remember her telling people she fell down the stairs.”
Victor clenched his jaw.
“You remember fragments.”
“I remember her crying in the laundry room.”
Victor suddenly lunged toward Elena.
He never reached her.
Adrian caught him by the chest and drove him backward against the desk.
Gabriel seized Dominic before he could move.
Victor glared at Adrian.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“No.”
Adrian’s grip tightened.
“You made it twenty-four years ago.”
“Take your hands off me.”
Adrian released him.
Victor straightened himself.
“You think she’s innocent?”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Victor smiled.
“There are things your wife hasn’t told you.”
Elena looked confused.
“What are you talking about?”
Victor turned toward her.
“Ask him what happened to Matteo Vale.”
Adrian went completely still.
Elena looked at him.
“Who is Matteo?”
Victor’s smile widened.
“Adrian’s brother.”
Elena’s face shifted.
Victor buttoned his jacket.
“The brother who disappeared seventeen years ago.”
Adrian’s voice became deadly.
“Leave.”
Victor looked at Elena.
“Ask your husband why he married a Moretti.”
“I said leave.”
Victor walked toward the door.
Dominic followed under Gabriel’s watch.
Before stepping outside, Victor turned.
“You think he rescued you?”
His eyes rested on his daughter.
“Elena, men like Adrian never rescue anyone for free.”
The doors closed.
Elena stood frozen.
Adrian did not look at her.
Not immediately.
Because Victor had accomplished exactly what he wanted.
He had placed doubt in the room.
Finally Elena whispered, “Who was Matteo?”
Adrian stared at the empty doorway.
“My younger brother.”
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never found him?”
“No.”
“How old was he?”
“Seventeen.”
Elena’s face softened despite everything.
“I’m sorry.”
Adrian finally looked at her.
“Your father thinks my family was involved.”
“Was it?”
Adrian hesitated.
That hesitation was all she needed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He could lie.
For seventeen years, Adrian had lied about Matteo.
To journalists.
Police.
Business partners.
Enemies.
Sometimes even himself.
But Elena had spent a lifetime surrounded by lies.
Adrian suddenly understood that if he gave her one more, he would become exactly what Victor expected.
So he told her.
“The last person seen with my brother before he disappeared…”
Adrian paused.
“…was your mother.”
May you like
Elena stared at him.
And for the first time since their wedding, she looked afraid of Adrian for an entirely different reason.
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