Chapter 1 - The Hand He Offered
Sophia slammed her champagne glass onto the table and whispered, “Don’t touch me again.”
Alessandro Moretti stepped between her and Daniel and picked up the torn wedding invitation Daniel had crushed in his fist.
One corner carried a handwritten number.
$4,800,000.
Sophia suddenly realized Daniel’s betrayal had begun long before Elena.
Three minutes earlier, she had believed the worst thing that could happen that evening was being forced to watch her former fiancé stand beside her sister.
She had been wrong.
Daniel stared at Alessandro’s hand resting protectively near Sophia’s back.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Alessandro did not answer immediately.
That was the unsettling thing about him.
Daniel filled silence whenever he became nervous. He argued. Explained. Blamed. Alessandro seemed capable of letting silence do the work for him.
Sophia stood beside the older Moretti brother with her hand still tucked through his arm.
She could feel Daniel staring at it.
Elena stared too.
Only moments ago, her sister had looked triumphant.
Now the color had faded from her face.
Alessandro finally spoke.
“I’m standing beside the woman you humiliated.”
Daniel laughed once.
It sounded forced.
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“You made it my business when you used my family’s hotel for it.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Sophia looked between them.
“My wedding?”
Alessandro’s gaze remained on his brother.
“The Grand Aurelia belongs to Moretti Holdings.”
“I know that,” Daniel said.
“Then you should also know I receive incident reports from every executive property.”
Daniel went still.
Sophia felt something shift beside her.
Not Alessandro.
Daniel.
Fear.
Small, but unmistakable.
Elena noticed it too.
“What incident report?” Sophia asked.
Daniel immediately turned toward her.
“Nothing.”
Alessandro’s eyes hardened.
Sophia almost laughed.
Three days ago, she would have accepted Daniel’s answer.
Nothing.
It had been his favorite word.
Why was Elena calling at midnight?
Nothing.
Why did he change the password on his phone?
Nothing.
Why had he canceled dinner three Thursdays in a row?
Work. Nothing.
Why was her sister’s earring underneath the passenger seat of his car?
She had borrowed it. Nothing.
Sophia had spent months allowing the man she loved to reduce her instincts to nothing.
Never again.
She slipped her hand from Alessandro’s arm.
Daniel’s expression relaxed.
Then Sophia walked directly toward him.
“What incident report?”
“Sophia—”
“What incident report?”
Daniel glanced at the guests.
People were pretending not to listen.
They were failing spectacularly.
Marcela, Sophia’s cousin and the woman whose engagement they were supposedly celebrating, stood beside the floral arch looking horrified.
Sophia immediately regretted bringing the confrontation into Marcela’s night.
She lowered her voice.
“Outside.”
Daniel frowned.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Alessandro spoke from behind her.
“You are.”
Two words.
Nothing louder.
Daniel obeyed.
That frightened Sophia more than if Alessandro had shouted.
They moved down the terrace toward a narrow stone walkway overlooking the lake. Elena followed Daniel. Alessandro followed Sophia.
When they reached the secluded garden terrace, Daniel turned.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Then explain it quickly,” Sophia said.
Alessandro reached inside his jacket.
Daniel’s face changed again.
But Alessandro removed only a folded piece of paper.
He handed it to Sophia.
It was a copy of an internal hotel report.
Sophia read the date.
Four months earlier.
Her stomach tightened.
The report concerned unauthorized access to the executive wedding account associated with her reservation.
There had been changes to vendor payment instructions.
Two transfers.
Then another.
Sophia looked at the amounts.
$1.2 million.
$1.8 million.
$1.8 million.
Total: $4.8 million.
She looked up.
“What is this?”
Daniel spoke too quickly.
“An accounting issue.”
Alessandro corrected him.
“An attempted diversion of company funds.”
Sophia stared at Daniel.
Her former fiancé had always described himself as independent from his family.
He ran a boutique investment firm, though Moretti money had provided the original capital.
Sophia had never cared about the family fortune.
She had loved the man who brought coffee to her office when she worked late.
Or she had believed she loved him.
Now she wondered how much of that man had ever existed.
“Why was my wedding account involved?”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“It wasn’t your money.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Elena suddenly stepped forward.
“Why are we doing this tonight?”
Sophia turned.
Elena looked frightened.
Not embarrassed.
Frightened.
Sophia knew her sister’s expressions.
She had known them since childhood.
Elena lied beautifully when she felt safe.
When frightened, she rubbed her thumb against the side of her index finger.
She was doing it now.
Sophia looked at Daniel again.
“You used the wedding.”
“No.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Daniel’s patience broke.
“Fine. There was an investment. The timing became complicated. I moved funds temporarily.”
“Through our wedding account?”
“It was going back.”
Alessandro gave a humorless smile.
“That is usually what men say after someone discovers missing money.”
Daniel stepped toward his brother.
“You promised me forty-eight hours.”
Sophia froze.
Alessandro’s expression did not change.
But the sentence had already landed.
“You knew?” Sophia whispered.
Alessandro looked at her.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than she expected.
“How long?”
“Since yesterday morning.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I learned the full extent this afternoon.”
“You still said nothing.”
“I came here to tell you.”
Daniel scoffed.
“No. You came here to play hero.”
Alessandro ignored him.
Sophia stepped away from both brothers.
She suddenly hated the black suits.
The Moretti name.
The quiet power.
The secrets.
Three days ago Daniel had destroyed the future she thought she had.
Now Alessandro was telling her that while she had been choosing table linens, someone had used her wedding as camouflage for millions of dollars.
“Did Elena know?”
Nobody answered.
Sophia looked at her sister.
“Elena?”
Her sister’s eyes filled with tears.
That used to work.
Sophia felt nothing.
“Did you know?”
“I knew Daniel was having financial trouble.”
“How much did you know?”
Elena looked at Daniel.
That was enough.
Sophia laughed quietly.
“You two really are perfect for each other.”
“Sophia,” Elena whispered.
“No.”
Her sister flinched.
Sophia had spent years being the reasonable one.
The forgiving daughter.
The sister who surrendered dresses, birthdays, boyfriends, attention, arguments.
When Elena cried, Sophia apologized.
When Elena took, Sophia adjusted.
When Daniel dismissed her concerns, Sophia questioned herself.
She was tired.
Daniel reached for her wrist.
“Sophia, listen to me.”
She pulled away.
“Don’t touch me again.”
His hand remained suspended between them.
The sound of tearing paper followed.
Daniel had grabbed something from the table beside him without noticing.
Sophia recognized it.
One of Marcela’s decorative keepsake invitations.
Except it was not Marcela’s.
Her breath caught.
Her name was printed across the cream paper.
SOPHIA BIANCHI & DANIEL MORETTI.
Her canceled wedding invitation.
Daniel must have had it inside his jacket.
“Why are you carrying that?”
Daniel looked down.
For once, he seemed surprised himself.
Alessandro took the torn invitation from him.
He turned it over.
There, written on the back, was the number Sophia had seen.
$4,800,000.
Below it were three letters.
V.M.C.
Alessandro’s face changed.
It was barely perceptible.
Sophia noticed anyway.
“You recognize that.”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
His eyes met hers.
Unlike Daniel, Alessandro did not insult her by denying it again.
Daniel moved suddenly.
He snatched for the invitation.
Alessandro caught his wrist.
The movement was fast and controlled.
Elena gasped.
“Give it to me,” Daniel said.
“Why?”
“It belongs to me.”
“No,” Sophia said.
Both men looked at her.
“It has my name on it.”
Alessandro released Daniel and handed the paper to Sophia.
That simple gesture affected her more than it should have.
He did not keep it.
Did not decide for her.
Did not tell her what she should do.
He gave it to her.
Choice.
Again.
Sophia studied the initials.
“V.M.C.”
Daniel turned away.
Alessandro watched him.
Sophia folded the invitation carefully.
“What does it mean?”
Daniel said nothing.
Elena began crying.
Real tears this time.
Sophia looked at her sister.
“Elena.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For sleeping with my fiancé or for whatever this is?”
Elena shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
Daniel grabbed Elena’s arm.
“We’re leaving.”
Alessandro stepped forward.
“No.”
Daniel spun around.
“You don’t control me.”
“No. But until I know where the missing money went, you’re not leaving the country.”
Sophia stared at him.
Daniel’s face became pale.
“Who said anything about leaving?”
Alessandro glanced toward Elena’s purse.
Sophia followed his gaze.
A white corner protruded from the partially open bag.
A passport.
Elena immediately closed it.
Sophia felt the last pieces of her old life rearranging themselves.
The affair had not been spontaneous.
The canceled wedding had not merely interrupted Daniel’s plans.
Daniel and Elena had been preparing to leave.
Together.
“Where were you going?” Sophia asked.
Elena whispered, “Milan.”
Daniel snapped, “Stop talking.”
Sophia’s stomach turned.
Alessandro looked at his brother.
“You have until midnight to give me access to every account.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“And if I don’t?”
Alessandro’s answer was quiet.
“I give the report to the board in the morning.”
Daniel stared at him.
Then his gaze moved to Sophia.
Something ugly entered his expression.
“This is because of her.”
Alessandro did not respond.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You’ve wanted her for years.”
The world seemed to stop.
Sophia looked at Alessandro.
“What?”
Elena covered her mouth.
Daniel smiled now.
Not happily.
Cruelly.
“Oh, she didn’t know?”
Alessandro’s jaw tightened.
“Daniel.”
“No. Since we’re revealing secrets, let’s reveal them.”
Sophia could hear her heartbeat.
Daniel pointed toward his brother.
“Ask him why he never came to our engagement dinner.”
Sophia remembered.
Alessandro had sent an expensive bottle of wine and a handwritten congratulations card.
Business in Geneva, Daniel had said.
“Ask him why he tried to convince me not to propose.”
“That isn’t what happened,” Alessandro said.
“Then tell her what happened.”
Sophia turned to Alessandro.
He looked suddenly less untouchable.
For the first time since he entered the terrace, uncertainty crossed his face.
Daniel laughed.
“That’s what I thought.”
Sophia stepped toward Alessandro.
“What is he talking about?”
Before Alessandro could answer, his phone vibrated.
Once.
He ignored it.
Then again.
His expression sharpened.
He removed the phone and looked at the screen.
Sophia saw the message before he could turn it away.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
One photograph.
It showed Sophia entering the engagement party less than an hour earlier.
Taken from behind.
Beneath it was a single sentence.
SHE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SEE THE NUMBER.
Then another message appeared.
LOOK BEHIND YOU.
Sophia slowly turned toward the darkened doorway at the end of the terrace.
The handle began to move.
Someone was coming through.
May you like
And Daniel whispered one name.
“Vittorio.”
