Chapter 18 - The Moretti Matriarch
Teresa Moretti had never liked me.
She called me “sweet” when she meant ordinary.
She praised my career in public and asked Luca in private why his wife still worked when he could “provide.”
But I had never imagined this.
Luca called her immediately.
She agreed to meet at the family estate in Lake Forest.
I almost refused to go.
Then I remembered every needle, every negative test, every night I apologized for a failure that was not mine.
I went.
Teresa sat in the library wearing pearls and no expression of guilt.
“I never told anyone to hurt you,” she said.
“You suggested altering my medical records.”
“I suggested Victor find out whether the marriage had a future.”
“That is not the same sentence.”
“No,” she said. “It is not.”
Luca stood across from his mother. “Did you know?”
Teresa looked at him.
“I knew Victor believed Nia made you weak.”
“And you agreed.”
“I believed love distracted you.”
Luca laughed in disbelief. “So you helped destroy my marriage to improve my company?”
“I wanted you protected.”
“From my wife?”
“From losing focus.”
I felt something inside me settle.
Not rage.
Closure.
“You know what’s funny?” I said. “You all treated me like the weak one. Victor. You. The clinic. Even Luca, when he let silence do his thinking.”
Teresa’s eyes narrowed.
“But I’m the one who raised his children while building a business from scratch. I’m the one who survived what you designed.”
Luca looked at me.
His mother did too.
“And now?” Teresa asked.
“Now you live with the fact that your grandchildren will know exactly why I keep boundaries around you.”
Teresa’s face finally cracked.
On the drive back to Chicago, Luca was silent.
Then he said, “I’m resigning as CEO.”
I turned toward him.
“What?”
“I built an empire because I thought control could keep me from losing anything again.”
He looked out at the lake.
“It didn’t.”
Before I could answer, his phone rang.
It was the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
May you like
Victor Dane’s trial had been moved up.
And I was the first witness.
