Chapter 5 - The Money Behind the Marriage
By Sunday morning, the mansion no longer felt like a home.
Security guards stood at every entrance.
Daniel's assistants worked in Luca's study.
Phones rang constantly.
The wedding flowers arrived anyway.
Six enormous arrangements of white roses, delivered in refrigerated trucks.
Nobody had remembered to cancel them.
I watched the florist carry them inside.
They were beautiful.
They smelled faintly of rain and fresh leaves.
And every arrangement reminded me that five days earlier, Vanessa had been planning a wedding while preparing to remove a child from his father's life.
"Where do you want these?" the florist asked.
I looked toward the staircase.
"Put them in the storage room for now."
Luca appeared behind me.
"No."
The florist stopped.
Luca studied the flowers.
Then he said, "Take them to St. Anne's Children's Hospital. Ask whether they can accept them."
The florist nodded.
"Of course, sir."
"And send the invoice to my office."
After the trucks left, Luca stood silently in the entrance hall.
"You okay?" I asked.
He gave a humorless laugh.
"That's a complicated question."
I nodded.
He looked at me.
"Come to the study."
Daniel had prepared a financial summary.
He spread it across the desk.
"Richard Bellini's development company is in trouble," he said.
"How much trouble?" Luca asked.
"Enough that several lenders have demanded additional collateral."
"Then he'll have to find it."
"That's what he was trying to do."
Daniel pointed to a series of transactions.
"Vanessa told her father she expected to receive access to certain marital and household accounts after the wedding. She also appears to have promised that you would approve a bridge financing arrangement."
"I promised no such thing."
"Correct."
"So this whole scheme was based on a lie."
"At least partly."
I looked at the papers.
"What does Ethan's trust have to do with it?"
Daniel took a moment to answer.
"Ethan is the beneficiary of a separate trust established by his grandfather. Luca oversees some aspects of its administration, but the assets belong to the trust, not to Luca personally."
I nodded slowly.
"Vanessa couldn't just take the money?"
"No."
"Even if she married Luca?"
"Especially not without proper legal authority and approvals."
Luca leaned forward.
"Then what did she think she could do?"
Daniel pointed to another page.
"She appears to have proposed using future distributions and expected family-office support as part of a misleading financial presentation. The trust would not have been legally obligated merely because someone put its name on a slide."
"Then why include it?"
"Because lenders might view the Moretti name and the trust's assets as evidence of financial strength, even if the paperwork was incomplete."
Luca's expression hardened.
"That's fraud."
"It could be, depending on what was represented and to whom. We're preserving the records and having independent counsel review them."
I thought about Vanessa's repeated demands that Ethan stay out of the wedding.
"Why did she need him gone?"
Daniel looked at me.
"We believe the placement proposal served more than one purpose."
He turned another page.
"First, removing Ethan from the household would have reduced the number of people questioning Vanessa's decisions. Second, she was preparing a narrative in which she was the responsible adult managing a difficult child."
"Because of his allergy?" I asked.
"Because of his alleged behavior, medical anxiety, and supposed disruption of family life."
Luca shook his head.
"He's nine."
"That doesn't mean someone couldn't try to use those claims."
Then Daniel handed us a printed email.
It was from Vanessa to Dr. Ward.
The date was three weeks earlier.
It is important that the assessment reflect Ethan's inability to adjust to the household's changing structure.
A second line made me feel sick.
Luca is extremely protective of the boy and may resist recommendations unless they come from a respected professional.
Luca read it twice.
"She wanted someone to tell me my son needed to leave."
Daniel nodded.
"But we don't yet know whether Dr. Ward agreed with that request."
Luca stood.
"Find out."
Daniel closed the folder.
"I've arranged a meeting with her tomorrow. She's agreed to speak with us through counsel."
Luca looked out the window.
"And Vanessa?"
"She's staying at her father's house."
"Has she contacted Ethan?"
"Not directly."
"Good."
Daniel hesitated.
"There's something you should know."
Luca turned.
"Richard Bellini has requested an emergency meeting."
"Denied."
"He says the canceled wedding may cause his company to default on certain financing obligations."
"Then he should call his lenders."
"He also claims you've damaged Vanessa's reputation."
Luca gave a cold smile.
"He can explain that to the people who watched my son nearly eat a pecan."
Daniel nodded.
"I've told him all future communication goes through counsel."
I started toward the door.
Then Daniel spoke.
"Nora, before you leave, I have a question."
I turned.
"Did Vanessa ever ask you about Ethan's medication?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Several times."
"Can you be more specific?"
I thought.
"She asked where his emergency medication was kept. How many devices the school had. Whether we carried extras when traveling."
Luca frowned.
"Why would she need to know that?"
"She said she wanted to be prepared."
Daniel made a note.
"What else?"
My memory shifted to a conversation two weeks earlier.
Vanessa had been standing in Ethan's bedroom, holding a small blue case.
She'd asked me whether the case was replaced every year.
I'd told her the medication had expiration dates and that the family monitored them.
Then she'd asked something strange.
"What happens if you can't find it when he needs it?"
I'd thought she was worried.
Now I wasn't sure.
I told Daniel.
He stopped writing.
"Did she ever take one?"
"I don't know."
Luca headed toward the door.
"Where are the devices now?"
"There's one in Ethan's bedroom, one downstairs, and a separate supply with the staff responsible for his care," I said.
"Check them."
I hurried upstairs.
Ethan was with Julia in the playroom.
I opened the drawer in his bedroom.
His blue emergency case was exactly where it belonged.
But when I lifted it, I noticed something.
The zipper was open.
Inside was a laminated instruction card.
And an empty elastic loop.
I stared.
One of the two prescribed autoinjectors was missing.
My heart began pounding.
I checked the bedside cabinet.
The bathroom.
The drawer beneath his desk.
Nothing.
Then I found a folded piece of paper beneath the case.
It was a note written in neat, unfamiliar handwriting.
Ethan does not need to carry both devices at formal events. One is sufficient.
Beneath it were the initials:
V.B.
I grabbed the case and ran downstairs.
"Luca!"
He emerged from the study.
"What happened?"
I held up the case.
"One of Ethan's devices is missing."
He looked at the empty loop.
Then at the note.
"Who authorized this?"
"No one I know of."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Don't discard that note."
I handed him the case.
Luca reached for his phone.
Then a small voice came from the staircase.
"Daddy?"
Ethan stood on the landing.
He was pale.
"Did you find it?"
Luca looked up.
"Find what, buddy?"
Ethan swallowed.
"The medicine Vanessa took."
The house went silent.
Luca slowly approached the stairs.
"When did she take it?"
May you like
Ethan looked at me.
Then he whispered, "She said if I had a reaction at dinner, everybody would finally understand why I couldn't go to the wedding."
