Chapter 8 - The Moretti Family’s Ultimatum
Emma heard Celeste scream.
She dropped sideways.
Another gunshot.
Then men shouting.
Vincent crashed through the darkness.
“Emma!”
“Here!”
He found her.
Cut the restraints.
Pulled her against him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Emma felt him shaking.
“I’m okay.”
He held her tighter.
“Vincent.”
“I thought—”
“I know.”
Isabella escaped through a rear exit.
Celeste survived.
The bullet struck her shoulder.
For the first time, she agreed to testify against her mother.
Fear accomplished what conscience had not.
Sophie was found unharmed with a paid nanny.
Emma returned home.
Not as staff.
Vincent refused to let her work.
Emma refused his refusal.
“I like working.”
“You have forty-eight million dollars.”
“And?”
“You’re polishing my table.”
“It has fingerprints.”
“I can hire someone.”
“You did.”
He stared.
She stared back.
Then both laughed.
Their relationship changed slowly.
Emma moved into a guest suite.
Lucy’s progress accelerated.
Not magically.
There were bad days.
Falls.
Tears.
Appointments.
But now nobody called those days failures.
Vincent learned that too.
One afternoon Lucy fell.
He immediately moved to pick her up.
Emma touched his arm.
“Wait.”
Lucy pushed herself upright.
“Again.”
Vincent smiled.
“Again.”
At night, he and Emma talked.
About Evelyn.
About his father.
About fear.
About the person Vincent had become in a family where power solved everything.
“I’ve done things I’m not proud of,” he told her.
Emma did not romanticize it.
“Then stop.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“But simple and easy aren’t the same thing.”
Vincent began separating his legitimate companies from criminal operations.
It made enemies.
His uncles called him weak.
Old associates accused Emma of changing him.
One evening, the Moretti elders summoned him.
They offered an ultimatum.
End the relationship with Emma.
Or lose their support.
Vincent stood.
“That’s easy.”
His uncle frowned.
“You don’t understand.”
“I do.”
He walked out.
The next morning, newspapers reported that Vincent Moretti had broken with his family organization.
The consequences were immediate.
Contracts vanished.
Threats increased.
His legitimate businesses came under pressure.
Emma confronted him.
“You didn’t tell me.”
“It was my decision.”
“You’re losing everything.”
“No.”
“What do you call this?”
Vincent touched her face.
“Expensive freedom.”
She nearly cried.
“Don’t destroy yourself for me.”
“I’m not.”
He looked toward Lucy.
“I’m building something she doesn’t have to inherit with blood on it.”
Emma kissed him.
This time, she kissed first.
Weeks passed.
Celeste prepared to testify.
Mercer negotiated a plea.
Rachel entered witness protection.
Isabella remained missing.
Then Vincent received an invitation.
A Moretti family wedding.
His cousin’s daughter.
Emma expected him to decline.
He accepted.
“Why?”
“Because hiding tells them they control us.”
“Us?”
Vincent smiled.
“Yes.”
At the wedding, Emma wore a dark green dress.
She felt every eye turn.
Some whispered.
Some laughed.
One woman said loudly:
“So that’s the maid.”
Emma kept walking.
Vincent offered his arm.
She took it.
Then his elderly aunt blocked them.
“You brought her?”
Vincent replied calmly.
“I was invited with a guest.”
“She is not family.”
Vincent looked at Emma.
“Not yet.”
Emma nearly stumbled.
His aunt stared.
Vincent kept walking.
“What did you mean?” Emma whispered.
“You heard me.”
“Vincent.”
“Later.”
The ceremony ended.
During dinner, Vincent disappeared.
Emma searched for him.
She found Lucy with Marco.
“Where’s your father?”
Marco looked confused.
“I thought he was with you.”
Emma’s phone vibrated.
A message.
COME TO THE CHAPEL ALONE.
She looked toward the old chapel behind the estate.
Its door opened.
A woman stepped out.
May you like
Isabella.
And she was wearing Emma’s mother’s necklace.
