Chapter 6 - The Moretti Choice
Leaving the Moretti organization wasn't dramatic.
It was paperwork.
Meetings.
Lawyers.
Selling interests.
Closing businesses that existed only because nobody had ever questioned why they existed.
Lucian transferred legitimate companies into independent management.
He cut relationships that had defined his adult life.
Some men objected.
One of them was his cousin Marco.
“You're throwing away thirty years.”
Lucian sat behind his office desk.
“I'm forty-one.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
Marco paced.
“Your father built this.”
“My father died building it.”
“And your grandfather—”
“Also died.”
Marco stopped.
Lucian leaned back.
“I'm noticing a pattern.”
“This is because of Norah.”
“No.”
“She's pregnant and suddenly Lucian Moretti discovers morality?”
Lucian's eyes hardened.
“Careful.”
Marco raised his hands.
“I'm saying you're changing your entire life.”
“Yes.”
“For a woman.”
“For myself.”
Marco stared at him.
Lucian continued.
“Norah gave me a reason to ask whether the life I inherited is the life I want to hand down.”
“And?”
“No.”
Marco frowned.
“No what?”
“No, it isn't.”
Silence.
Lucian stood.
“My child won't inherit enemies.”
“You can't guarantee that.”
“No.”
Lucian buttoned his jacket.
“But I can guarantee they won't inherit mine willingly.”
---
That evening, Norah found Lucian assembling a crib.
Or attempting to.
She stood in the nursery doorway.
“Why is it upside down?”
Lucian looked at the instructions.
“It isn't.”
“It definitely is.”
“The diagram is ambiguous.”
“The mattress is facing the floor.”
Lucian stared at it.
Then at her.
“Design flaw.”
Norah laughed.
She was six months pregnant now.
The sound filled the room.
Lucian stopped working.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're staring.”
“I like hearing that.”
“Hearing what?”
“You laugh.”
Norah's expression softened.
She entered the room.
Lucian sat beside her on the floor.
After a moment, she said, “Ethan pleaded guilty.”
“I heard.”
“He's going away.”
“Yes.”
Norah looked at him.
“You didn't interfere?”
“No.”
“Not even a little?”
Lucian considered.
“I encouraged Gideon to drive exactly the speed limit when delivering evidence.”
She laughed.
“That must have tortured him.”
“Deeply.”
Silence settled comfortably.
Then the baby kicked.
Norah inhaled.
Lucian looked over.
“What?”
“Here.”
She took his hand.
Pressed it against her stomach.
Another kick.
Lucian froze.
His entire face changed.
“That was…”
“Your daughter.”
They'd learned two weeks earlier.
A girl.
Lucian kept his hand there.
“She kicked me.”
“She has opinions.”
“She gets that from you.”
Norah raised an eyebrow.
“Excuse me?”
Another kick.
Lucian smiled.
“See? She agrees.”
Norah rested her head on his shoulder.
“You're really done?”
“With what?”
“The old life.”
“Yes.”
“Do you miss it?”
Lucian thought carefully.
“Parts.”
“Which parts?”
“Knowing exactly who I was.”
Norah looked at him.
“And now?”
He glanced at the upside-down crib.
“Apparently I'm a man defeated by Swedish furniture.”
She laughed.
Lucian looked at her.
Then at her stomach.
May you like
“I can live with that.”
---
