Chapter 3 - The Golden Mask Cracks
By noon the following day, the headquarters of Moretti Group was in utter chaos.
Alexander had barely slept two hours. His crisp white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, his hair disheveled, and his desk littered with empty espresso cups and frantic legal briefs. Every private investigator he had hired to track down the black Maybach had hit a solid brick wall. The license plates were registered to a blind diplomatic trust, the surveillance cameras around the Vance perimeter jammed any external tracking signals, and three of his top security agents had been warned by federal marshals to cease all surveillance activities immediately.
""What do you mean we can't subpoena the phone logs?!"" Alexander roared at his lead corporate attorney, Arthur Hayes, who stood sweating profusely across the room.
""Mr. Moretti, Julian Vance’s legal infrastructure is untouchable,"" Hayes stammered, wiping his brow with a silk handkerchief. ""We don't have jurisdiction. Moreover, Mrs. Moretti's legal team has filed documentation establishing that she is the principal beneficiary of the Vance maritime estate. She isn't just your wife seeking a divorce, sir. Legally and financially, she holds the senior lien on the harbor real estate where our northern luxury developments are currently being built.""
Alexander froze, staring at Hayes as if the man were speaking a foreign language. ""She... what?""
""Claire Bennett is Julian Vance's adoptive sister. When old man Vance died eight years ago, he split the global maritime trust equally between them. Julian took the logistics fleet; Claire took the coastal real estate and port holdings. Sir... she owns the ground beneath our flagship luxury marina.""
The air left Alexander’s lungs in a brutal rush. All those years, Claire had quietly sat in the back of his dinner parties while his snobbish mother, Eleanor, lectured her about how lucky she was to have married into old money. She had endured Sophia boasting about her father’s minor regional textile mills, never once mentioning that her own family could have bought the Reynolds estate fifty times over with spare change.
Why hadn't she told him?
Because you never cared who I was, an inner voice whispered coldly in his head. You only cared that I was quiet, obedient, and out of Sophia's way.
Suddenly, the boardroom doors swung open with a resounding thud. Eleanor Moretti entered, dressed in a sharp lavender Chanel suit, her face pale with indignation. Behind her trailed Sophia, her eyes red-rimmed and clutching a tissue.
""Alexander!"" Eleanor demanded, completely ignoring the stunned lawyers in the room. ""Have you lost your mind? Sophia tells me you yelled at her and threw her out of your office yesterday! And now the country club manager tells me our family's private table has been canceled because of some nonsense pending legal dispute with the Vance family? What is the meaning of this insolence?""
Alexander looked at his mother—the woman who had spent six years whispering in his ear that Claire was an opportunist who didn't understand their social circle, the woman who had deliberately placed Sophia at his right hand at every single family banquet while pushing his wife to the far end of the table.
""Where is Leo, Mother?"" Alexander asked, his voice chillingly quiet.
Eleanor scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. ""With Claire, obviously, sulking somewhere in a cheap hotel. She’ll come crawling back once the rent is due. Now, you need to apologize to Sophia immediately. Her father's business connections are crucial for the upcoming municipal contract—""
""Her father's business is bankrupt,"" Alexander interrupted, turning the monitor toward them. ""I pulled their audited balance sheets this morning. The Reynolds family has been living off Moretti Group subsidies and private loans that I signed off on without looking. For six years, Mother. Sophia didn't stay close to us because she loved our family. She stayed because I was paying for her penthouses, her designer wardrobes, and her father’s failing factories!""
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Sophia gasped, taking a step back, her delicate innocence evaporating into pure venom. ""Alexander! After everything we meant to each other, how can you say that? Claire has poisoned your mind!""
""Claire hasn't spoken a single word to me,"" Alexander snarled, slamming both hands down on the desk so hard that a crystal vase rattled. ""She didn't need to. She just took our son and walked away, because she realized that I was too blind and stupid to see who was actually using me! Get out. Both of you. Get out of my building!""
