Chapter 7 - What Luca Never Told Her.
The fake orderly was taken downstairs for questioning.
Emily refused to let Grace out of her arms.
She also refused to let Luca avoid the truth any longer.
"Sit down."
Luca remained standing.
"I'm fine."
"I wasn't asking whether you're fine."
He looked at her.
"Tell me about the crown."
Luca sat across from her.
For the first time since he entered the hallway, he looked tired.
"My father's name was Vittorio Morelli."
Emily recognized it.
Everyone in the city did.
Vittorio had been accused of bribery, extortion, and running a private network that powerful businessmen used when ordinary security was not enough.
He had died before most of the cases reached trial.
"Nathan's father knew him?"
"Very well."
"How well?"
"Well enough to hire him."
Emily looked at Grace.
"For what?"
"I don't know yet."
"That's convenient."
Luca accepted the anger without reacting.
"My father kept records."
"Where?"
"I destroyed most of them after he died."
Emily stared at him.
"Most?"
Luca reached inside his jacket and removed an old brass key.
"There is one archive I never opened."
"Why not?"
"Because I promised myself I was done living inside his secrets."
Emily laughed bitterly.
"Your secrets are standing next to my baby's bassinet now."
He nodded.
"You're right."
He stood.
"Then I open it tonight."
Emily caught his sleeve.
"You're not leaving."
He looked down at her hand.
She released him.
"You said you wouldn't leave us alone."
"I won't."
Luca called someone named Marco and gave him an address.
Thirty minutes later, a short man with glasses arrived carrying a weathered metal document case.
Luca checked the lock himself before allowing it into the room.
The brass key opened it.
Inside were ledgers, photographs, and sealed envelopes marked with dates.
One folder bore the name COLE.
Emily felt sick before Luca even opened it.
The first photograph showed Nathan's father, Richard Cole, shaking hands with Vittorio Morelli outside a warehouse.
The second showed Vanessa, much younger, standing several feet behind them.
Emily leaned closer.
"Vanessa knew your father?"
"Apparently."
A typed contract sat beneath the photographs.
The agreement required Vittorio's company to protect a confidential succession plan for Cole Meridian Holdings.
Luca read the final page twice.
"This isn't about Nathan's inheritance."
Emily's heart began pounding.
"Then what is it about?"
"The trust was designed to keep control away from Nathan."
"Why?"
Luca turned another page.
A handwritten note from Richard Cole explained that Nathan was reckless, easily manipulated, and financially dependent on Vanessa Pryce.
If Nathan had a biological child before age thirty-five, voting control would transfer directly to that child under an independent trustee.
Emily looked at Grace.
"So Grace takes the company away from him."
"Not personally."
Luca pointed to the document.
"A trustee controls it until she's twenty-five."
"Who is the trustee?"
Luca turned the page.
He stopped.
Emily saw his face change.
"Who?"
Luca slowly rotated the paper toward her.
May you like
The trustee's name was printed in black ink.
LUCA MORELLI.
