Chapter 4 - The Night the Moretti Family Turned Against Her
"Put the phone down, Victor!"
Anna Foster pushed open Dante Moretti's office door so violently that it struck the wall.
Victor Hale turned.
The phone in his hand displayed her younger sister's number.
Dante looked up from his desk.
"Anna? What's wrong?"
She pointed at Victor.
"Ask him why he's talking to my sister!"
Victor's expression changed.
For the first time since Anna had met him, the usually composed security chief looked genuinely alarmed.
"Miss Foster, you need to calm down."
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!"
Dante moved his wheelchair away from the desk.
"Victor. Give me the phone."
Victor hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Dante's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Now."
Victor handed it over.
Anna stepped closer, her heart pounding.
On the screen was a message from Claire Foster.
I found the apartment. Nobody's here. What should I do?
Anna stared at it.
Then she looked at Victor.
"What apartment?"
Victor rubbed his forehead.
"The apartment where we believed your mother might be staying."
Anna stopped.
"My mother?"
Dante examined the message.
"Explain."
Victor looked between them.
"Three hours ago, I received information suggesting Annabelle Foster might still be alive. I contacted Claire because I needed someone who could identify her."
Anna couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"You contacted my sister without telling me?"
"I was trying to protect you."
"From what?"
Victor said nothing.
Anna felt her anger rising.
"That's exactly what everyone in this house keeps saying! You're protecting Dante. You're protecting me. You're protecting everybody!"
Her voice broke.
"And somehow, we're the only people who don't know what's happening!"
Dante looked at Victor.
"She's right."
Victor lowered his eyes.
Dante continued.
"You've worked for me for nine years. I've trusted you with my life. But tonight, you're going to tell me everything you've been hiding."
Victor looked toward the closed office door.
"Not here."
Dante's expression hardened.
"Why?"
"Because your uncle isn't the only person in this house who wants you to remain dependent."
Anna felt a chill.
Victor glanced toward the security camera mounted above the doorway.
"And I'm no longer certain who controls the cameras."
Ten minutes later, they gathered inside Dante's private library.
Victor had disconnected the room's surveillance equipment.
He placed three mobile phones on the table and opened a small electronic device that emitted a faint clicking sound.
Anna watched him.
"What is that?"
"A signal detector."
Dante folded his arms.
"Victor, stop behaving like we're in a spy movie and start talking."
Victor almost smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
"Your father contacted me eight years ago, approximately two weeks before his death."
Dante became still.
"Why?"
"He suspected someone had deliberately interfered with your medical treatment."
Anna sat forward.
"Interfered how?"
Victor opened a folder.
"Medication adjustments. Missing rehabilitation assessments. Recommendations that were changed after the treating physicians signed them."
Dante stared at him.
"You're telling me my medical records were falsified?"
"Some of them."
"By whom?"
"That's what your father was trying to discover."
Anna looked at Dante.
His expression was unreadable.
Victor continued.
"Your father believed your original injury was genuine. But he questioned whether your subsequent treatment had been managed in your best interests."
Dante looked down at his hands.
For six years, he had been told that his recovery had reached its limit.
That certain rehabilitation programs were unnecessary.
That returning to work would place him under too much stress.
That he should allow Lorenzo and Richard to handle the family businesses.
Now every conversation felt different.
Every reassurance sounded suspicious.
"Did my father find proof?" Dante asked.
Victor hesitated.
"He believed he had."
"Where is it?"
"That's the problem."
Victor opened another document.
"Three days before your father died, he arranged a meeting with Annabelle Foster."
Anna stopped breathing.
"My mother?"
Victor nodded.
"According to his calendar, she was supposed to provide evidence concerning your treatment."
"But my mother was already dead."
"Officially."
Anna stared at him.
Victor continued.
"The meeting was canceled. Your father died shortly afterward. And the documents he mentioned disappeared."
Dante slowly looked up.
"How did my father die?"
Victor's expression darkened.
"Officially, a heart attack."
Anna felt the temperature of the room drop.
"Officially?" she repeated.
Victor looked at Dante.
"Your father had requested an independent medical examination shortly before his death."
Dante's hands tightened.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your uncle threatened to dismiss me if I continued investigating."
Dante laughed bitterly.
"And you listened?"
Victor absorbed the accusation.
"At first."
Dante stared at him.
"Then?"
"Then I stayed because I thought someone needed to be here when you finally started asking questions."
Silence filled the library.
Anna studied Victor carefully.
She wanted to believe him.
But her mother's warning echoed in her head.
The person who ordered it is standing beside Dante right now.
She looked toward the security chief.
Then toward Dante.
There was one question she couldn't ignore.
"Victor, who gave you Claire's number?"
He hesitated.
Anna leaned forward.
"Who?"
"Your sister contacted me first."
Anna frowned.
"Why would she contact you?"
Victor opened his phone.
He showed her a photograph.
It depicted a small wooden box decorated with painted blue flowers.
Anna nearly dropped the phone.
"My mother's box."
Victor nodded.
"Claire found an old photograph of it in your father's belongings. She recognized a symbol carved underneath."
"What symbol?"
Victor enlarged the image.
A small letter M appeared beside a six-pointed star.
Dante leaned closer.
His expression changed.
"That's my father's private seal."
Anna looked at him.
"What?"
"He used it on confidential family documents."
Victor nodded.
"Claire believed the box might contain something connected to the Morettis."
Anna stared at the photograph.
She had kept that box for eleven years.
Inside were old birthday cards, childhood photographs, and a silver bracelet her mother had given her.
She had never examined the lining.
"My mother just called me," Anna whispered.
Both men looked at her.
Dante moved closer.
"What did she say?"
Anna swallowed.
"She told me the truth about your accident was hidden inside that box."
Victor's expression changed.
"Where is it?"
Anna looked directly at him.
"Somewhere safe."
It was the first lie she'd told since arriving at the Moretti estate.
And judging by Victor's reaction, it was exactly the right decision.
At eleven that night, Lorenzo Moretti arrived with three attorneys and an emergency resolution from the family board.
Anna was standing beside Dante when his younger brother entered the reception hall.
Lorenzo wore an expensive navy suit and a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Brother."
Dante didn't return the greeting.
"You're late."
Lorenzo glanced at Anna.
"I see our guest is still here."
"She's my nurse."
"Not anymore."
He placed a document on the table.
Anna felt Dante become completely still.
"What is that?"
Lorenzo smiled.
"An emergency resolution."
Dante examined the first page.
His expression hardened.
"Temporary suspension of executive authority?"
"Until an independent medical assessment can be completed."
Dante looked up.
"Who authorized this?"
"The board."
"Without me?"
"You have a conflict of interest."
Dante laughed.
"My own medical information gets leaked, and somehow I'm the one with a conflict of interest?"
Lorenzo's smile disappeared.
"Your judgment has become questionable."
Anna stepped forward.
"His judgment is perfectly clear."
Lorenzo turned toward her.
"Nobody asked you."
Dante's voice cut through the room.
"Don't speak to her like that."
Lorenzo sighed.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about."
He looked toward the attorneys.
"My brother has developed an inappropriate attachment to an employee who is currently under investigation for leaking his confidential medical records."
Anna felt her face burn.
"That's a lie!"
Lorenzo ignored her.
"He has refused to cooperate with the board, rejected reasonable medical recommendations, and threatened members of his own security team."
Dante slowly placed the document on the table.
"Are you finished?"
"Not quite."
Lorenzo opened another folder.
"We've also obtained evidence suggesting Miss Foster received a substantial financial payment."
Anna stared at him.
"That account was opened before I even worked here!"
Lorenzo raised an eyebrow.
"How interesting that you know when it was opened."
Victor stepped forward.
"Because we investigated it."
Lorenzo turned toward him.
"And you were instructed to report your findings directly to the board."
Victor didn't move.
"I work for Dante."
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
"Not for much longer."
Anna looked toward Dante.
His face had become frighteningly calm.
"Lorenzo," he said, "who opened that account?"
His brother shrugged.
"That's a matter for the authorities."
"Who authorized the payment?"
"I don't have that information."
Dante leaned forward.
"Then why does the authorization code belong to our uncle?"
The room went silent.
For the first time, Lorenzo's confidence faltered.
Only briefly.
But Anna noticed.
So did Dante.
Lorenzo recovered.
"Richard handles dozens of financial accounts."
"Apparently including accounts registered under my nurse's name."
Lorenzo folded his arms.
"You're becoming paranoid."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"And you're becoming predictable."
The confrontation escalated when Richard entered the room.
He carried another document.
A medical assessment.
Anna recognized the hospital logo immediately.
Westbridge Rehabilitation Center.
Her stomach tightened.
Richard placed the report before Dante.
"Your treating physicians recommended that you avoid stressful executive responsibilities."
Dante glanced at the date.
"Six years ago."
"Your condition hasn't fundamentally changed."
Anna stepped forward.
"His mobility needs and his decision-making capacity are entirely different medical questions."
Richard looked at her coldly.
"Miss Foster, you're no longer authorized to discuss his medical treatment."
Dante turned toward him.
"She is if I authorize it."
Richard sighed.
"Dante, we're trying to protect you."
There it was again.
The sentence Anna had come to hate.
Dante slowly looked around the room.
His brother.
His uncle.
Three attorneys.
Two security guards.
Everyone waiting for him to accept another decision someone else had made.
Then he smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.
"Do you know what I did today?"
Lorenzo frowned.
"What?"
"I put on my own jacket."
Richard stared at him.
Anna felt her throat tighten.
Dante continued.
"It took six minutes. I struggled. I cursed. I nearly threw the damn thing across the room."
Lorenzo looked impatient.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything."
Dante placed his hands on the wheelchair's armrests.
"Because for six years, every time I tried to do something independently, someone stepped in before I had the chance."
He looked directly at his uncle.
"You called it kindness."
Then at Lorenzo.
"You called it responsibility."
His voice hardened.
"But every decision you made without me took away another piece of my life."
Lorenzo rolled his eyes.
"You're being dramatic."
Dante ignored him.
"Anna was the first person who asked what I wanted."
Anna felt tears gathering.
Dante turned toward her.
"And when I told her, she listened."
Richard stepped forward.
"You're allowing your emotions to cloud your judgment."
Dante looked back at him.
"No."
He picked up the emergency resolution.
Then tore it in half.
The sound echoed through the reception hall.
"I'm finally using my judgment."
Lorenzo's expression turned ugly.
"You think tearing up a document changes anything?"
"No," Dante replied. "But it makes my position perfectly clear."
Lorenzo looked toward the attorneys.
"Proceed."
One of the lawyers stepped forward.
"Mr. Moretti, the board has voted to appoint your brother as interim executive chairman."
Dante raised an eyebrow.
"On what legal grounds?"
"Pending an independent assessment of your ability to perform your executive duties."
"Then you'll have no objection to an independent attorney reviewing the process."
The lawyer hesitated.
Dante smiled.
"Thought so."
Richard moved closer.
"Don't make this harder than necessary."
Dante looked at him.
"Get out of my house."
His uncle's expression changed.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
"Perhaps not. But I'm enjoying it."
Lorenzo suddenly pointed toward Anna.
"This woman is manipulating you!"
Anna stiffened.
Dante's voice dropped.
"Be very careful."
Lorenzo ignored the warning.
"She arrived six weeks ago. Suddenly, you're questioning your doctors, challenging your family, and threatening the entire foundation!"
"Maybe because she's the first person who hasn't treated me like an incompetent child!"
Lorenzo slammed his hand against the table.
"You're going to destroy everything our father built!"
Dante stared at him.
Then he said something that silenced the room.
"Maybe our father was trying to tell me that himself."
Richard's face went pale.
Anna noticed.
And suddenly she understood.
Dante's father.
Her mother.
The missing medical records.
The falsified documents.
Someone had spent years making certain neither family discovered what had really happened.
Lorenzo looked toward Richard.
For a brief moment, they exchanged a glance.
Then Richard reached into his jacket.
Anna instinctively stepped closer to Dante.
But Richard withdrew only a folded document.
He placed it on the table.
"There's something you should know about Miss Foster."
Anna felt her stomach tighten.
Dante didn't move.
"What?"
Richard looked directly at her.
"Your mother wasn't the innocent woman you've convinced yourself she was."
Anna stared at him.
"Don't you dare."
Richard continued.
"Annabelle participated in the original investigation because she had something to hide."
Dante's expression hardened.
"What are you suggesting?"
Richard unfolded the document.
"A substantial sum disappeared from Westbridge shortly before her supposed death."
Anna shook her head.
"No."
"Your mother was the last person authorized to access the account."
"You're lying!"
Richard slid the document toward her.
Anna looked down.
Her mother's signature appeared beneath a financial authorization.
But something was wrong.
She recognized the signature.
It was genuine.
Yet the date made no sense.
The document had been signed four months after her mother's funeral.
Anna looked up.
"You just proved she was alive."
Richard froze.
Dante slowly smiled.
"That wasn't very clever, Uncle."
For the first time that evening, Richard looked genuinely frightened.
At midnight, the Moretti family finally left.
But not before Lorenzo delivered one final warning.
Standing near the entrance, he turned toward Dante.
"The foundation gala is in three days."
Dante watched him.
"I'm aware."
"If you appear publicly with that woman, the board will consider it a deliberate act against the family's interests."
Anna stepped forward.
Dante gently raised his hand.
He wanted to answer himself.
"Then tell the board to prepare for disappointment."
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
"You'll regret this."
Dante smiled.
"I've regretted listening to you for six years."
His brother left without another word.
Anna stood beside Dante as the enormous front doors closed.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she exhaled.
"Well."
Dante glanced up.
"Well?"
"Your family certainly knows how to make a girl feel welcome."
He laughed.
Despite everything, she smiled.
But the moment didn't last.
Victor approached.
"Sir, we need to discuss security."
Dante's expression became serious.
"Go ahead."
"Your brother has requested that several members of the household staff report directly to him."
"Denied."
"He may already have access to their employment contracts."
Dante frowned.
"Then replace anyone who refuses to follow my instructions."
Victor hesitated.
"There's another concern."
Anna looked at him.
"What?"
Victor glanced toward the staircase.
"Evelyn Foster has disappeared."
Anna froze.
"What do you mean, disappeared?"
"Her guest room is empty. Security hasn't recorded her leaving."
Dante turned toward him.
"And Richard?"
"His vehicle departed twenty minutes ago."
Anna's heart accelerated.
"She went with him?"
Victor shook his head.
"We don't know."
Dante immediately began issuing instructions.
"Lock down the property. Check every entrance. Review the cameras."
Victor nodded.
Then his phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed.
"Miss Foster."
Anna looked at him.
"What?"
"Your sister's phone has been located."
Anna stepped forward.
"Where?"
Victor hesitated.
"Inside the estate."
The room went silent.
Anna stared at him.
"That's impossible."
Victor showed her the location.
A small blue dot appeared on the digital map.
It was positioned directly beneath the main building.
In a section of the estate Anna had never seen.
Dante looked at the screen.
His expression darkened.
"The old medical wing."
Anna turned toward him.
"Your estate has a medical wing?"
Dante nodded slowly.
"My father built it after my accident."
"Why have I never seen it?"
"Because Richard told me it was permanently closed."
Victor looked toward the staircase.
"Sir, there's something else."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"The signal is moving."
Anna grabbed her coat.
"Take me there."
Dante immediately turned his wheelchair toward the private elevator.
"I'm coming with you."
Victor stepped in front of him.
"Sir, I strongly advise against—"
"Move."
Victor hesitated.
Then stepped aside.
Anna followed Dante into the elevator.
As the doors began closing, her phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Claire sat inside a dimly lit room.
She looked frightened.
Behind her stood a woman whose face was hidden in shadow.
Beneath the photograph was a message.
Bring Dante to the old medical wing. Come alone, or your sister learns what happened to your father.
Anna's hands began shaking.
She looked toward Dante.
He was watching the elevator's descending floor numbers.
Then she looked back at the photograph.
The woman behind Claire had moved closer to the camera.
Anna enlarged the image.
Her heart stopped.
Because the woman was wearing Anna's cream-colored cardigan.
The same cardigan worn by the woman in the forged security footage.
And in her hand was a small silver locket.
Anna looked toward Dante.
"Dante, stop the elevator."
He immediately pressed the emergency button.
The elevator jolted.
The lights flickered.
Then a voice came through the emergency speaker.
A woman's voice.
"Hello, Anna."
Anna went completely still.
The voice continued.
"Tell Dante I remember what happened the night of his accident."
A metallic click sounded overhead.
May you like
The elevator doors began opening.
And someone on the other side whispered Dante's name.
