Chapter 7 - The Place Beside Him
Three days later, Lucian Moretti walked into the courthouse through the front doors.
No private entrance.
No hidden convoy.
No attempt to disappear.
Camille stood beside him.
Matteo walked on Lucian’s other side.
Cameras flashed.
Reporters shouted.
“Mr. Moretti, did your company bribe city officials?”
“Did you authorize illegal payments?”
“Is Rafael Valenti cooperating with prosecutors?”
“Ms. Brooks, are you romantically involved with Lucian Moretti?”
Camille stopped.
Lucian stopped too.
Matteo muttered, “That is the question they choose?”
Camille looked at the reporter.
“No comment.”
Then she looked at Matteo.
“See? That is how you answer.”
Matteo grinned.
“Still working?”
“Your contract has seventeen days left.”
Lucian glanced at her.
“Mine?”
“You’re on probation.”
For the first time in seventy-two hours, Matteo laughed.
The evidence Rafael brought was damaging.
But it was also incomplete.
Some payments connected to legitimate business deals.
Others had been altered by Adrian.
A few exposed Moretti executives who had acted without Lucian’s approval.
One file appeared to place Lucian directly inside a bribery scheme.
Camille found the flaw.
Of course she did.
The signature page used the wrong honorific in the contract template.
It read:
Lucian D. Moretti, Chief Executive Officer.
At the time the document had supposedly been signed, Lucian had not yet become CEO.
His father had still been alive.
Tiny detail.
One line.
Enough to prove the file had been created later.
That led investigators to metadata.
That led to Adrian.
That led to Valenti.
Within two weeks, the case against Lucian collapsed.
The investigation into Rafael expanded.
The scandal did not vanish.
The Moretti name took damage.
Lucian accepted that.
But something else happened.
For the first time, Matteo did not run from responsibility.
He gave a public statement.
Camille prepared him.
“Slow down.”
“I am slow.”
“You are speaking like your pants are on fire.”
“They might be after this.”
“Matteo.”
He breathed.
Started again.
“I made careless choices. I spoke to someone I should not have trusted. I gave information without understanding how it could be used. That was my responsibility.”
Camille nodded.
“Good.”
Matteo looked at her.
“No joke?”
“No joke.”
“I hate adulthood.”
“You are thirty-two.”
“I have delayed it successfully.”
“You have not.”
He smiled.
Then became serious.
“My brother never told me he was proud of me.”
Camille looked toward the doorway.
Lucian stood there.
He had heard.
Matteo saw him.
Silence stretched.
Lucian entered.
“I should have.”
Matteo’s face changed.
Camille quietly walked away.
Some lessons required privacy.
A month later, Camille’s contract ended.
She packed her suitcase.
The mansion felt strangely quiet.
No security emergencies.
No kidnapped relatives.
No threatening newspapers.
She almost missed the chaos.
Almost.
Lena Ortiz received the internship she had wanted.
Not from the Moretti family.
Camille insisted she earn it elsewhere.
She did.
Peter returned to work after his son recovered.
Dante remained head of security.
Matteo became a formal director in the family foundation, with strict supervision and an alarming enthusiasm for correct place settings.
Rafael Valenti remained in custody awaiting trial.
Adrian Bellini agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
And Lucian—
Lucian avoided discussing Camille’s departure.
Which annoyed her.
Naturally.
On her final morning, she carried her suitcase downstairs.
Matteo waited near the front door.
“You’re really leaving.”
“That is how contracts work.”
“Lucian could extend it.”
“Lucian does not need an etiquette coach.”
Matteo smiled.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
He hugged her.
Camille froze.
Then hugged him back.
“You’re crushing my coat.”
“Emotional moment.”
“Still wrinkling fabric.”
He released her.
“Thank you.”
That one was sincere.
Camille touched his cheek.
“Don’t make me regret it.”
“I will disappoint you selectively.”
“Acceptable.”
She turned toward the door.
“Camille.”
Lucian’s voice.
She stopped.
He stood at the end of the hallway.
Dark suit.
No tie.
Hands in his pockets.
The same intimidating posture.
Different man.
Matteo looked between them.
“I suddenly have somewhere else to be.”
He disappeared.
Coward.
Lucian walked toward her.
“You were going to leave without saying goodbye.”
“You knew my contract ended today.”
“That was not my question.”
Camille folded her arms.
“You have been avoiding me for six days.”
“I was dealing with attorneys.”
“You have phones.”
“I dislike phones.”
“You own six.”
He stopped in front of her.
“Stay.”
One word.
Camille’s heartbeat changed.
She kept her face calm.
“For what?”
“Not work.”
“Then what?”
Lucian looked uncomfortable.
Good.
She enjoyed this.
“I would like you here.”
“As?”
His jaw tightened.
Camille waited.
The man who could command hundreds of employees apparently could not say one emotional sentence.
She almost helped him.
Almost.
Then decided this lesson mattered.
Lucian exhaled.
“As the woman I want beside me.”
Camille’s smile disappeared.
Not from displeasure.
From surprise.
He continued.
“Not behind me.”
Her eyes softened.
“Good start.”
“Camille.”
“Continue.”
His mouth twitched.
“You enjoy this.”
“Immensely.”
Lucian stepped closer.
“I spent years thinking protecting people meant controlling every variable.”
“You can’t.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“I thought loyalty meant never questioning me.”
“That is definitely wrong.”
“I know.”
“Excellent.”
“Will you stop grading this confession?”
“No.”
He laughed.
It was rare.
Deep.
Real.
Camille realized she had never heard it before.
Lucian touched her hand.
Not grabbing.
Not commanding.
Asking.
“I do not know what this becomes.”
“Neither do I.”
“I can promise honesty.”
“That would be new for this house.”
Another faint smile.
“I can promise you will always have a choice.”
Camille looked at him.
That mattered more than flowers.
More than expensive dinners.
More than declarations.
Choice.
She squeezed his hand.
“I’m still keeping my apartment.”
“Yes.”
“I’m keeping my company.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t send security after me unless there is an actual threat.”
His expression tightened.
“We negotiate that one.”
Camille laughed.
“Fair.”
“And Matteo still needs coaching.”
“That costs extra.”
“I assumed.”
She looked at the front door.
Her suitcase waited beside it.
Then back at Lucian.
“I am leaving today.”
His face fell almost imperceptibly.
“For a week.”
He blinked.
“My mother has demanded seven uninterrupted days without mafia scandals.”
“That seems reasonable.”
“She also wants to meet you properly.”
Lucian went still.
For the first time since she met him, Lucian Moretti looked genuinely nervous.
Camille smiled.
“You afraid?”
“No.”
“You are.”
“I am cautious.”
“My mother called a kidnapper dramatic while tied to a chair.”
Lucian considered that.
“Perhaps I am afraid.”
“Growth.”
He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.
Gentle.
No audience.
No claim.
No performance.
Camille looked toward the dining room.
The same room where she had straightened his tie weeks earlier.
The same golden chandeliers.
The same long table.
The same polished mirrors.
But everything had changed.
Matteo entered carrying a newspaper.
“Good news.”
Camille tensed automatically.
He grinned.
“Relax. This one is actually dated correctly.”
Lucian took it.
Front page.
MORETTI FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEW ETHICS OVERSIGHT BOARD.
Beneath the headline was a photograph of Matteo speaking beside Lucian.
No scandal.
No leaked quote.
No manufactured future.
Just what had happened.
Camille smiled.
Matteo pointed at the article.
“They called me composed.”
“Miracles happen.”
“They also said I demonstrated maturity.”
“Retraction coming tomorrow.”
Lucian shook his head.
Matteo looked at Camille’s suitcase.
“So you’re coming back?”
Camille looked at Lucian.
He did not answer for her.
That mattered.
She smiled.
“Yes.”
Matteo raised both hands.
“Thank God. Lucian’s ties are terrible without you.”
Lucian stared at him.
Camille laughed.
A week later, she returned.
Not as an employee.
Not as someone’s secret.
Not as a woman Lucian needed to protect from the world.
She returned because she chose to.
Months passed.
The Moretti Foundation rebuilt its board.
Matteo became surprisingly good at donor relations.
Lena sent Camille a photograph from her first day at her internship.
Peter’s son entered college.
Dante installed so many security upgrades that Camille began calling the mansion Fort Moretti.
And Lucian learned something more difficult than command.
He learned how to ask.
One evening, during a formal dinner, Camille noticed his tie leaning slightly to the left.
She reached up.
He looked down at her.
The room went quiet.
Matteo grinned.
Lucian raised one eyebrow.
Camille straightened the knot.
“There.”
Lucian said softly, “Nobody corrects me.”
The old line.
Camille smiled.
“Then nobody’s been doing their job.”
This time Lucian laughed.
In front of everyone.
Then he took her hand.
Not to claim her.
Not to display her.
Simply because he wanted to hold it.
May you like
And Camille stayed exactly where she had chosen to stand.
Beside him.
