Chapter 4 - The Signature Worth an Empire
Dominic Moretti entered smiling.
He was sixty-two, silver-haired, immaculate, and carried himself with the relaxed confidence of a man who believed every room still belonged to him.
His gaze passed over Adrian.
Vivienne.
Then stopped on Clara.
"So," he said. "You're the analyst."
Clara closed the laptop.
Dominic smiled wider.
"Smart."
Adrian stepped between them.
"Why are you here?"
"Family dinner."
"You weren't invited."
"I've rarely needed invitations."
Dominic looked toward Vivienne.
"Your father is concerned."
Vivienne's face hardened.
"My father can be concerned somewhere else."
"Careful."
Adrian moved.
Just one step.
Dominic noticed.
"Don't threaten her."
Dominic raised his hands.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Clara watched him.
Too comfortable.
If Dominic was behind the transfer, he should have been alarmed that Clara had uncovered it.
Instead he looked entertained.
That meant either he believed they couldn't stop the plan—
Or they hadn't found the real plan yet.
Clara reopened the laptop.
Dominic glanced at the screen.
His smile finally weakened.
He recognized the document.
There.
"Interesting," Clara said.
"What?"
"You know what I'm reading."
Dominic's eyes returned to hers.
"I know many things."
"Then let's save time."
Adrian almost smiled.
Dominic didn't.
Clara turned the screen.
"Why did you pledge three percent of Moretti Holdings to Orpheus Capital?"
Dominic sat without permission.
"Because your information is incomplete."
"Then complete it."
"Miss Bennett, family business can be difficult for outsiders to understand."
Clara had heard variations of that sentence from men for years.
It usually meant Please stop noticing things.
"Numbers aren't family," she said.
Dominic's expression sharpened.
"No. But people are."
Adrian leaned against the desk.
"Answer her."
Dominic sighed.
"Your father created Orpheus."
Adrian froze.
Clara looked between them.
"Samuel?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Insurance."
"Against whom?"
Dominic's smile disappeared.
"Bellandi."
Vivienne stared.
"My father?"
"Carlo Bellandi has wanted control of Moretti Holdings for thirty years."
Clara crossed her arms.
"And we're supposed to believe you transferred shares to the company Samuel created in order to protect them?"
"Precisely."
"Without telling Adrian?"
"Especially without telling Adrian."
Adrian's voice became cold.
"Explain that carefully."
Dominic looked at his nephew.
"Your father didn't trust anyone with the entire mechanism. Not me. Not Carlo. Not even your mother."
"He's lying," Vivienne said.
Dominic ignored her.
"The three percent was designed as a poison pill. If Bellandi ever gained temporary control, those shares would trigger a defensive transfer."
Clara frowned.
"To whom?"
Dominic looked at her.
"That's the question Elena Rossi died trying to answer."
Silence.
Adrian moved so quickly Clara barely saw it.
He grabbed Dominic by the jacket and drove him against the wall.
"You said disappeared."
Dominic didn't resist.
"I said nothing."
"Is Elena dead?"
"I believe so."
"Who killed her?"
"I don't know."
Adrian's fist tightened.
Clara stood.
"Adrian."
He didn't look at her.
"Adrian."
This time he did.
"If he knows something, let him talk."
Slowly, Adrian released him.
Dominic straightened his jacket.
"Your analyst has excellent survival instincts."
Clara's gaze hardened.
"Don't make me regret using them on you."
Dominic almost laughed.
Then Clara asked the question that mattered.
"If Orpheus protects Adrian, why did it pay Howard Price?"
Dominic's expression changed.
That surprised him.
Finally.
"It did what?"
"One million dollars."
"I authorized no payment."
"Someone did."
Dominic looked toward the door.
Clara saw fear.
Real fear.
Adrian saw it too.
"Who else controls Orpheus?"
Dominic didn't answer.
"Uncle."
Dominic looked at him.
"Your father left two keys."
"Meaning?"
"Orpheus requires dual authorization."
"Yours and whose?"
"I never knew."
Clara felt the entire case shift.
Dominic had one key.
Someone else had the second.
That person could move money.
Possibly shares.
Possibly everything.
"Could Samuel have given the second key to Bellandi?" she asked.
"No."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because Samuel created Orpheus to protect his sons from Carlo."
Adrian frowned.
"Sons?"
Dominic closed his eyes.
Too late.
Clara stared.
"Plural."
Adrian's face went blank.
"My father had one son."
Dominic said nothing.
"Me."
Silence.
Clara's pulse quickened.
"Dominic."
He looked toward her.
"What did you mean?"
He slowly sat.
For the first time, he looked old.
"Samuel had another son."
Adrian didn't move.
"Who?"
Dominic stared at the floor.
"Your older brother."
Vivienne covered her mouth.
Adrian's voice was barely audible.
"I don't have a brother."
"You did."
"Name."
"Gabriel."
The name seemed to strike him physically.
Clara watched Adrian grip the edge of the desk.
"What happened to him?"
"Everyone believed he died with your father."
"Believed?"
Dominic looked at Clara.
"His body was never identified."
Adrian turned away.
Clara's mind raced.
Another heir.
Another key.
A succession agreement.
This wasn't simply corporate theft.
It was inheritance.
"How old would Gabriel be now?"
"Forty-one."
Clara searched Orpheus registration records.
No Gabriel Moretti.
Then she searched initials.
G.M.
Nothing.
She tried aliases connected to the payment chains.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Gideon Marsh.
G.M.
Consultant.
Beneficiary.
Authorized representative.
Clara clicked the photograph attached to a compliance filing.
Her breath caught.
The man was older than Adrian.
Different hair.
Different beard.
But the eyes—
Adrian came behind her.
He stared at the screen.
Dominic whispered:
"Gabriel."
Clara looked at him.
"You're sure?"
Dominic's face had lost all color.
"Yes."
Adrian stared at the photograph of the brother he'd believed dead for twenty years.
Then Clara noticed something else.
Gideon Marsh had entered the United States three days earlier.
She opened the arrival record.
Destination:
New York.
Employer:
Price Advisory.
Howard Price's company.
"Howard works for him," Clara whispered.
Adrian's phone vibrated.
A photograph arrived.
Howard Price sitting inside a car.
Beside him was the man from the compliance photograph.
Gabriel.
The message beneath it read:
MIDNIGHT TOMORROW. COMPLETE THE MARRIAGE OR LOSE EVERYTHING.
Adrian stared.
Clara's tablet chimed simultaneously.
A calendar invitation appeared.
No sender.
One location.
St. Catherine's Chapel.
Tomorrow.
11:30 p.m.
Vivienne whispered, "That's where the wedding was supposed to happen."
Clara opened the attachment.
It was a marriage certificate.
Adrian Moretti.
Vivienne Bellandi.
Both names already printed.
One signature was missing.
Adrian's.
Then Clara zoomed in.
A second page had been added.
She read it twice.
Her heart slammed.
"Adrian."
He looked at her.
"If you sign the marriage certificate, the takeover activates."
"I know."
"No."
Clara turned the tablet.
"If you don't sign it, something worse activates."
At the bottom was a photograph.
A woman tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Alive.
Dominic stumbled backward.
Adrian stared at her face.
"Elena."
The supposedly dead analyst lifted her head toward the camera.
A timestamp showed the photograph had been taken nine minutes ago.
Then a live video window opened.
Someone walked into the room behind Elena.
May you like
A man's voice said:
"Hello, little brother."
