Chapter 3 - The Lawyer Luca Never Sent

Belini recovered first.

“That proves nothing.”

Luca looked at the frozen security image.

“You entered my father’s archive at two in the morning.”

“With the family attorney.”

“Why?”

“Business.”

“What business?”

She said nothing.

Emma suddenly remembered another man.

Dark overcoat.

Gray folder.

A polite voice outside her apartment.

Her pulse changed.

“The lawyer.”

Luca turned.

“What?”

“The man who came to my apartment.”

She looked at Dante.

“He wore a black coat. Older. Gray hair.”

Belini’s face changed before she could stop it.

Emma saw.

“So did you.”

“No.”

“You know who I mean.”

“I know hundreds of older lawyers.”

Emma closed her eyes.

Forced herself back eight months.

The apartment door.

Her swollen feet.

The man placing papers on the kitchen table.

A silver ring on his right hand.

A crest.

Not Moretti.

A scale surrounded by laurel leaves.

She opened her eyes.

“He had a silver signet ring.”

Luca looked at Dante.

Dante was already searching.

Thirty seconds later he held up a photograph.

Carlo DeLuca.

The ring was visible.

Emma’s stomach dropped.

“That’s him.”

Luca did not move.

“Certain?”

“Yes.”

The word came out harder than she expected.

“He told me you wanted no contact.”

Luca’s jaw tightened.

“He lied.”

“He said you had chosen another future.”

Belini looked toward the closed lobby doors.

Emma continued.

“He knew about the pregnancy.”

Luca looked at her.

“How much?”

“Everything.”

She hated how small her voice became.

“He knew my doctor. My appointment times. He knew I was carrying a boy.”

Dante’s eyes lifted from the phone.

“Carlo had no legitimate reason to have medical information.”

Belini spoke too quickly.

“Unless Emma signed something.”

“I didn’t.”

“You may not remember.”

Emma stared at her.

“I remember every signature I refused to give.”

Silence.

Luca looked at Dante.

“Find the papers Carlo brought her.”

“If she didn’t sign them—”

“He created them somewhere.”

Dante nodded.

A minute later he had one of Moretti Holdings’ legal servers open.

Then stopped.

“Boss.”

Luca’s expression barely changed.

“Again?”

“There’s a draft separation agreement.”

Emma’s chest tightened.

Dante continued.

“Created eight months ago.”

“By Carlo?”

“No.”

Belini went pale.

Dante turned the phone.

The document metadata listed an author.

BELINI VESCARI.

Emma stared.

Luca read the name twice.

Belini’s voice sharpened.

“I prepared options. That is not a crime.”

“You prepared a separation agreement for my wife without telling me.”

“You were going to need one.”

“Why?”

She looked at Emma.

Then at her stomach.

“Because she complicated everything.”

The same words.

Emma had heard them in the clinic.

Luca heard that too.

His face went cold.

“You said that to her before.”

Belini realized the mistake.

Too late.

Luca stepped closer.

“You weren’t repeating Carlo.”

“You were part of it.”

Belini’s lips parted.

Then Dante’s phone rang.

He answered.

Listened.

His eyes shifted toward Luca.

“We found the lawyer’s payment.”

“From where?”

“A trust account.”

“Whose?”

Dante took one breath.

“Vittorio Moretti Legacy Trust.”

Emma stared at Luca.

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