Chapter 2 - The Fifty-Thousand-Dollar Secret
At 6:40 that morning, Maya entered Lorenzo’s penthouse wearing pajama pants beneath her winter coat.
She was seventeen, sharp-eyed, and immediately suspicious.
“Clara?”
Clara crossed the room and hugged her.
“I’m okay.”
Maya looked over her shoulder at Lorenzo.
“Who’s Dracula?”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Clara nearly laughed.
“That’s Lorenzo.”
“I liked Dracula better.”
Silas coughed into his fist.
Lorenzo ignored him.
Clara handed Maya the folder.
“Our father owed fifty thousand dollars.”
Maya read silently.
“No.”
“I saw his signature.”
“He told us everything was paid.”
“Apparently not.”
Maya looked at Lorenzo.
“And your solution is marrying my sister?”
“Yes.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Maya.”
“It is.”
Lorenzo calmly poured coffee.
“I require a legal marriage for twelve months. Your sister requires protection from Marco Bellini. Our interests temporarily align.”
Maya leaned toward Clara.
“He talks like a robot.”
“I noticed.”
Lorenzo put the coffee down harder than necessary.
Clara almost smiled.
Then Silas entered.
“Boss.”
Something in his expression changed the room.
Lorenzo immediately became serious.
“What?”
“Bellini’s men went to the Vance apartment thirty minutes ago.”
Clara froze.
“Were they inside?”
“No. We got there first.”
Lorenzo looked at Clara.
“They know you were brought here.”
“Then buying the debt won’t be enough.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Lorenzo glanced at Silas.
Silas closed the doors.
“Your father didn’t borrow fifty thousand dollars for himself,” Lorenzo said.
Clara frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“He was an accountant.”
“I know.”
“He discovered Bellini was laundering money through construction companies. Your father copied records.”
Clara stared at him.
“He never told me.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
“Then why the debt?”
“Bellini caught him. Your father agreed to pay fifty thousand dollars and remain silent.”
Maya whispered, “Dad was being blackmailed.”
“Yes.”
Clara’s voice hardened.
“Did Bellini kill him?”
Lorenzo paused.
“Your father died in a car accident.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No,” Lorenzo said. “It wasn’t.”
Clara stepped toward him.
“Did Bellini kill my father?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
Lorenzo’s gaze sharpened.
“You’re giving me orders again.”
“Yes.”
A long silence followed.
Then Lorenzo looked at Silas.
“Find out.”
Silas nodded.
Clara returned to the contract.
She spent two hours reading it.
Then she picked up a pen.
“I have conditions.”
Lorenzo sat opposite her.
“Of course you do.”
“Maya finishes school where she wants.”
“Agreed.”
“She gets security, but nobody follows her into classrooms.”
“Agreed.”
“You don’t control where I go.”
“Within reasonable security limits.”
“No.”
Lorenzo frowned.
Clara crossed out the paragraph.
“I’m your wife on paper, not your prisoner.”
He stared at the black line.
Nobody crossed out Lorenzo Moretti’s contracts.
Clara did it again.
“My own bank account.”
“Fine.”
“I keep working.”
“No.”
Clara looked up.
“Excuse me?”
“Bellini knows where you work.”
“Then I work somewhere else.”
“You will be Mrs. Moretti.”
“And Mrs. Moretti apparently needs a job.”
Lorenzo rubbed his jaw.
Maya whispered to Silas, “Is she winning?”
Silas whispered back, “Nobody knows. This has never happened before.”
Lorenzo heard him.
“Silas.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Stop helping.”
Finally Lorenzo took the pen.
“You can work for the Moretti Foundation.”
Clara considered it.
“What would I do?”
“Whatever you’re qualified to do.”
“Then I’m not signing.”
Lorenzo stared.
Clara leaned forward.
“Don’t give me a decorative desk because I married you.”
Something changed in his expression.
“Fine. You’ll interview like everyone else.”
“Good.”
She reached the final page.
“One more condition.”
“What?”
“At twelve months, you ask me whether I want to stay.”
Lorenzo looked confused.
“And if I say no, you let me walk away.”
“That is already in the contract.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
His gray eyes stayed on hers.
“If you say no, Clara, I let you walk away.”
She signed.
Lorenzo signed beneath her.
Maya stared at them.
“So I guess congratulations?”
Clara looked at her new husband.
May you like
“Don’t start.”
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