Chapter 7 - The Gala of Beautiful Lies
The Whitmore Foundation gala glittered beneath twelve enormous chandeliers.
Three hundred wealthy guests filled the ballroom of the Sterling Hotel.
Photographers crowded the entrance.
Waiters carried champagne.
A string quartet played near the marble staircase.
And a twenty-foot portrait of Sophia Moretti hung above the stage.
She was sitting in her wheelchair.
Smiling.
Wearing a pink dress.
Below the portrait was a slogan.
EVERY CHILD DESERVES A MIRACLE.
Luca stared at it.
For years, he'd considered the image a tribute to his daughter's courage.
Tonight, it looked like an advertisement for her suffering.
“Mr. Moretti!”
A reporter approached.
“How is Sophia doing?”
Luca forced a smile.
“Better than anyone expected.”
The reporter brightened.
“Will she attend tonight?”
“No.”
“Is there any progress with her treatment?”
Luca looked toward the stage.
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“The kind people will hear about very soon.”
He walked away before she could ask another question.
Dante waited near the grand staircase.
His smile was flawless.
“Brother.”
He opened his arms.
Luca let him hug him.
For one brief moment, he remembered them as children.
Two boys racing bicycles through their father's warehouse.
Dante falling.
Luca helping him up.
Dante promising they'd always protect each other.
Then Luca remembered the yellow chair.
He stepped back.
“You wanted to see me.”
Dante studied his face.
“You look tired.”
“Long day.”
“I heard there was some confusion at the restaurant.”
Luca adjusted his cuff.
“Nothing I couldn't handle.”
“Good.”
Dante smiled.
“Charles was worried.”
“Charles worries too much.”
Dante laughed.
“That's why he's such a good doctor.”
Luca looked directly at him.
“Where's Elena's recording?”
The smile disappeared.
“Let's talk privately.”
Dante led him through a side corridor into a luxurious office.
Two security guards stood outside.
On the desk was a glass decanter and a silver laptop.
Dante poured two drinks.
Luca didn't touch his.
“Sit.”
“I'd rather stand.”
Dante sighed.
“You've always been difficult.”
“And you've always hated hearing no.”
His brother looked amused.
“Is this about the waitress?”
“It's about my daughter.”
“Of course.”
Dante sat.
“Let's be honest. Sophia's condition has been hard on you.”
Luca said nothing.
“You lost Elena. You buried yourself in work. You trusted Charles to manage the medical side.”
“And you to manage everything else.”
Dante smiled.
“Exactly.”
Luca studied him.
“Why did you forge my signature?”
Dante didn't blink.
“I didn't.”
“I have the documents.”
“Then someone made a mistake.”
“Three times?”
Dante's expression cooled.
“Luca, you're emotional.”
“That's what you told Elena.”
Silence.
Dante slowly set down his glass.
“What?”
“You said she was emotional. Confused. Exhausted.”
“Your wife was grieving over Sophia's diagnosis.”
“Was she?”
Dante leaned forward.
“You're beginning to sound like her.”
Luca felt anger rise.
He kept his voice calm.
“Then maybe you should have listened to her too.”
Dante studied him for several seconds.
Then he opened the laptop.
A video appeared.
Elena sat in the passenger seat of a car.
Her face was pale.
Rain streaked the window.
She was speaking into her phone.
“If anything happens to me, Luca needs to know—”
The recording stopped.
Luca's breath caught.
“Play it.”
Dante folded his hands.
“First, we need to discuss something.”
Luca stared.
“You're using my dead wife's voice to negotiate?”
“I'm trying to protect what's left of this family.”
“From whom?”
“From you.”
Luca almost laughed.
Dante continued.
“You've become unstable.”
“Because I found out Sophia can walk?”
Dante's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Luca noticed.
“So it's true.”
Luca said nothing.
Dante stood.
“Did Hannah give her something?”
“You keep asking that.”
“Because the woman's dangerous.”
“She's the only person who's helped my daughter.”
Dante slammed his glass onto the desk.
“She's manipulating you!”
Luca didn't move.
Dante took a breath.
Then smiled again.
“I'm sorry.”
He sat.
“Let's discuss this like brothers.”
He slid a document across the desk.
It was a temporary management agreement.
Under its terms, Dante would assume control of Moretti Holdings for ninety days.
Luca would voluntarily submit to a psychiatric evaluation.
Sophia would return to Whitmore's care.
In exchange, Dante would provide Elena's recording and withdraw the guardianship petition.
Luca read every page.
Then looked up.
“You've thought of everything.”
Dante nodded.
“I try.”
“Except one thing.”
“What?”
“You assumed I'd still believe you loved her.”
Dante's face hardened.
Luca pushed the document back.
“No.”
His brother stood.
“You don't understand what you're risking.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“Then understand this.”
Dante leaned close.
“By tomorrow morning, every newspaper in New York will be reporting that you've kidnapped your disabled daughter and placed her in the care of an unlicensed medical worker.”
Luca stared.
“Go ahead.”
“Your board will panic.”
“Probably.”
“Your stock will fall.”
“Maybe.”
“And when the court learns you ignored medical advice, they'll take Sophia away.”
Luca's expression didn't change.
Dante looked suddenly uncertain.
“Why aren't you scared?”
“I am.”
Luca stepped toward the door.
“But I'm more afraid of what happens if I keep trusting you.”
He reached for the handle.
Dante spoke behind him.
“There's something else Elena told me.”
Luca stopped.
“She said she regretted marrying into this family.”
Luca slowly turned.
Dante smiled cruelly.
“She said she wished she'd taken Sophia and disappeared.”
For a moment, Luca nearly struck him.
Then he remembered Elena's letter.
She had been trying to protect their daughter.
Dante was trying to make her words into a weapon.
Luca opened the door.
“Good night, Dante.”
He walked back into the ballroom.
Onstage, Dr. Whitmore was beginning his speech.
“Tonight, we celebrate children whose courage inspires us all.”
The audience applauded.
A video of Sophia appeared on the enormous screen.
Luca stopped.
He recognized the footage.
Sophia in her wheelchair.
Sophia struggling to hold a toy.
Sophia crying during therapy.
Then Whitmore said:
“Despite the finest medical care, some children face permanent limitations.”
Luca watched the screen.
His daughter had taken twenty-three steps that afternoon.
He'd counted every one.
Whitmore continued.
“But with your generosity, we can keep hope alive.”
Another round of applause.
Luca walked toward the stage.
One of Dante's guards moved to intercept him.
Luca didn't slow down.
“Move.”
The guard hesitated.
Luca looked him in the eye.
“That's my daughter on that screen.”
The man stepped aside.
Luca climbed the stairs.
Whitmore stopped speaking.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Luca took the microphone.
The ballroom fell silent.
He looked at the three hundred guests.
Then at Sophia's enormous portrait.
“My daughter has spent almost three years in a wheelchair.”
He paused.
“And for three years, I believed everything this foundation told me about her future.”
Whitmore turned pale.
Dante appeared at the side of the stage.
Luca continued.
“Tonight, I want to announce that Sophia took her first independent steps.”
Gasps filled the room.
Cameras flashed.
Whitmore moved toward him.
“Luca, please—”
Luca held up one hand.
“I'm not finished.”
He looked at the audience.
“Her progress happened with care that this foundation did not provide.”
The room went silent.
“And because I now have serious concerns about how her treatment was managed, I am suspending every Moretti donation to the Whitmore Foundation pending an independent investigation.”
Dante stopped moving.
Whitmore stared.
Luca lowered the microphone.
Then a voice rang out from the rear of the ballroom.
“Mr. Moretti!”
A woman pushed through the crowd.
She wore a blue hospital uniform.
Her hair was disheveled.
Her face was streaked with tears.
Luca recognized her from Hannah's photograph.
Daniel Price's mother.
“Please!”
Security moved toward her.
She raised a folder.
“My son was in that program!”
The room erupted.
Luca stepped forward.
“Let her speak.”
The woman looked directly at Whitmore.
“You told me my son would never walk again.”
Whitmore shook his head.
“Mrs. Price, this is not appropriate—”
“My son is walking!”
Cameras swung toward her.
She pointed at him.
“And I have proof you knew he could!”
Dante signaled security.
The woman backed away.
Then she shouted something that silenced the entire ballroom.
“You didn't just lie about the children!”
She looked at Luca.
“Your wife found out what they were doing.”
Luca froze.
May you like
The woman held up her phone.
“And she called me the night before she died.”
