Chapter 4 - THE FIANCÉE'S REAL NAME
Luca wanted to go to the warehouse immediately.
Sophie stopped him at the chapel door.
“That's exactly what they want.”
“They have Vanessa.”
“And they want you angry enough to walk into a trap.”
“She may be a liar, but she's still a human being.”
Sophie nodded. “Then we bring her home alive. We don't hand them you as well.”
Luca stared at her. He was accustomed to being obeyed, not challenged. Yet her reasoning was sound. He called Marco and ordered him to assemble a discreet team while Daniel Price contacted a retired detective he trusted.
They reached the warehouse from three directions.
Luca entered through the main loading door with his hands visible and his weapon concealed beneath his jacket. Vanessa sat tied to a metal chair under a hanging lamp. Richard stood several feet behind her, impeccably dressed, as if attending a board meeting rather than a kidnapping.
And beside him stood Eleanor Moretti.
Older, thinner, with silver threading her dark hair, she looked like a ghost who had learned to breathe again.
“Mother?” Luca whispered.
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears, but she didn't move toward him.
“I'm sorry, Luca.”
Richard smiled. “Family reunions are touching, aren't they?”
“Let her go,” Luca said.
“Of course. But first, you'll sign the transfer documents for Moretti Holdings.”
Luca's expression remained cold. “You sabotaged Dad's car to take control of the company.”
“I protected the family.”
“You crippled him.”
“Your father was going to expose the accounts. He wanted to hand half the business to a charity and give the rest to you. He was becoming sentimental. Franklin and I had to stop him.”
“And my mother?”
Richard's smile thinned. “Eleanor was an unfortunate complication.”
Eleanor finally spoke. “He told me Antonio had died in the crash. When I discovered the truth, he threatened Luca. He said if I returned, my son would be killed.”
“You could have contacted the police.”
“I did,” she said. “Richard controlled the people I contacted. Every letter I sent disappeared. Every person who promised to help me stopped answering.”
Vanessa began struggling against her restraints.
“Tell him the rest,” Richard ordered.
She shook her head.
“Tell him why you agreed to marry him.”
Vanessa looked at Luca, and for the first time, her carefully constructed confidence collapsed.
“My name isn't Vanessa Sterling,” she said. “It's Vanessa Reed.”
Thomas's daughter had spent years believing her father had abandoned her. Richard had found her as a teenager, shown her forged documents, and convinced her that Thomas had chosen money and comfort over his family. He paid for her education, gave her a new identity, and introduced her to wealthy circles.
Eventually, he told her the truth—or a version of it. Thomas had survived the accident, he said, but was dangerous. If she wanted to protect herself, she must never reveal their connection.
“Why did you agree to marry me?” Luca asked.
“Richard promised to give me my father's location,” Vanessa whispered. “He said Thomas had stolen money from the family and disappeared. I thought if I married you, I'd finally have enough power to find him.”
“So you punished Sophie for feeding him.”
“I was afraid she'd make him talk.”
“You threatened a young woman for showing compassion to your father.”
Vanessa lowered her head. “Yes.”
Luca felt disgust, but also a painful understanding of how Richard had manipulated both of them. It did not excuse Vanessa. It explained the machinery behind her cruelty.
Richard held out a pen.
“Sign.”
Luca glanced toward Eleanor. “Why did you stay with him?”
“Because I was waiting for proof,” she replied. “Proof that he had planned the crash, not merely covered it up.”
She looked directly at Richard.
“And because Franklin left me a copy of the original financial ledger before he died.”
Richard's face changed.
“You told me you burned it,” he snapped.
“I told you what you wanted to hear.”
A metallic click sounded above them.
Marco's team had reached the catwalk.
Richard seized Vanessa by the hair and pressed a gun against her neck.
“Everyone stays where they are!”
Luca raised his hands. “Let her go, and you can leave.”
“You think you can bargain with me?”
“No. I think you're running out of people who are afraid of you.”
Richard backed toward a side door. Eleanor suddenly stepped between him and the exit.
“It's over.”
He shoved her aside and fled.
A gunshot cracked through the warehouse.
Vanessa screamed.
Luca lunged forward, but Eleanor had already fallen to the concrete, blood spreading across her sleeve.
Richard vanished into the darkness.
As Luca knelt beside his mother, she caught his wrist.
“Listen to me,” she whispered. “Franklin didn't act alone.”
“Who helped him?”
Eleanor's gaze moved toward Vanessa.
“Someone in this family gave him the money.”
Then she fainted.
And from somewhere beyond the warehouse doors, Luca heard a car engine roar to life.
Richard was escaping.
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But the truth Eleanor had uncovered was about to become far more dangerous than the man they were chasing.
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