Chương 7 - THE MAN THREATENING OUR DAUGHTER KNEW RYAN'S DARKEST SECRET—BUT SOPHIA REFUSED TO LET HER FATHER START ANOTHER WARRyan wanted Sophia on a plane within ten minutes.
Sophia refused within ten seconds.
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“No.”
“This is not negotiable.”
She laughed.
It was my laugh.
Poor Ryan.
“Dad, you don't get to reveal a twenty-six-year conspiracy and then immediately become dictator again.”
“This is about your safety.”
“There it is.”
Ryan stopped.
Sophia pointed at him.
“That sentence.”
“What?”
“Every man in this family says that right before lying to a woman.”
I looked at Ethan.
He looked at the floor.
Smart.
Ryan rubbed his face.
“I am not lying.”
“You're ordering.”
“Because someone threatened you.”
“And what exactly are you going to do?”
Silence.
Sophia's eyes narrowed.
“That's what I thought.”
Ryan looked at me.
I didn't rescue him.
Marriage means partnership.
Not translation service.
He turned back to Sophia.
“I don't know yet.”
“Good.”
He blinked.
“Good?”
“At least that's honest.”
We spent the night in Portland.
Dominic coordinated security.
Claire—me, not another Claire, because apparently naming children after relatives would have made our already complicated family impossible—sat at the kitchen table while Sophia spread documents across it.
She had found the original agreement in Ryan's private archive.
Not by breaking in.
Ryan had given her access to company historical records for a graduate project.
Irony has excellent timing.
The agreement was signed by five men.
Ryan Moretti.
Thomas Cole.
Anthony Bellandi.
Michael Russo.
Marco Vescari.
Marco.
That hurt.
Marco had known.
Chloe's father.
Ryan's former ally.
A man we'd eventually trusted.
Sophia pointed to the final clause.
“Read it.”
I did.
Upon transition of controlling interests to lawful successors, all territorial and retaliatory claims shall terminate.
“Lawful successors,” I said.
Sophia nodded.
“Children.”
Ryan shook his head.
“No. It meant corporate successors.”
“Then why phrase it like this?”
“Because lawyers enjoy ruining language.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Ethan didn't.
“My father told me something different.”
Thomas glared.
“Ethan.”
“No.”
He looked at Sophia.
“He said our marriage would finally complete the agreement.”
Sophia's face hardened.
“You knew that?”
“Not when I proposed.”
“You keep saying that like it fixes everything.”
“It doesn't.”
“Then stop saying it.”
He did.
Good.
Sophia turned toward Ryan.
“Who benefits if Ethan and I marry?”
“Financially?”
“Yes.”
Ryan thought.
“Several entities.”
“Specific.”
“Cole Infrastructure gains access to Moretti port contracts. Moretti gets construction capacity. Hale Maritime—”
I interrupted.
“Hale?”
Ryan looked at me.
“Yes.”
My father's company.
Even dead, Vincent Hale remained in the room.
Sophia said, “And Bellandi?”
Ryan went still.
“Nothing.”
“Wrong.”
She slid a document across the table.
Bellandi Strategic Partners owned seven percent of Cole Infrastructure through holding companies.
Ryan read.
His expression changed.
“I didn't know.”
Thomas did.
We all saw it.
Ryan turned slowly.
“You knew.”
Thomas said nothing.
Ryan stood.
“Twenty-six years.”
“Ryan.”
Thomas lifted his chin.
“Sit down.”
I almost admired the stupidity.
Ryan walked toward him.
Sophia stepped between them.
“Dad.”
Ryan stopped.
She looked up at him.
“If you hit him, I leave.”
Ryan's jaw clenched.
Then he stepped backward.
Sophia nodded.
“Thank you.”
I watched my husband.
Pride and pain crossed his face simultaneously.
Our daughter wasn't afraid of him.
That mattered more than obedience ever could.
Thomas finally spoke.
“Bellandi approached me five years ago.”
“Which Bellandi?” Ryan asked.
“Anthony's son.”
“Luca.”
“Yes.”
Ryan cursed.
I knew the name.
Luca Bellandi had turned his family's holdings legitimate.
Or supposedly legitimate.
“He wanted access to Moretti ports,” Thomas said.
“I refused.”
“Why?”
“Because you would never approve.”
“So you used our children?”
“No.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“That's exactly what you did.”
Thomas looked at his son.
“I thought if you and Sophia married naturally—”
“Naturally?”
Sophia stared.
“You secretly built a billion-dollar incentive around our marriage.”
“I didn't make you fall in love.”
“No. You just monetized it afterward.”
Thomas had no answer.
Ryan sat.
For once, he looked exhausted rather than dangerous.
“Luca sent the photograph.”
Sophia asked, “How do you know?”
“Because Anthony Bellandi wrote the original message.”
The children will finish what their fathers started.
Ryan remembered.
“Anthony believed family alliances were stronger than contracts.”
“Marriage alliances?” I asked.
“Yes.”
My skin crawled.
“Medieval.”
“Effective historically.”
“Ryan.”
“I didn't say good.”
Sophia looked at the photograph.
“Why threaten me?”
Ryan answered slowly.
“Because the agreement is collapsing.”
“How?”
“Thomas tried to fulfill it through your marriage. If Ethan told you and you refused—”
“I haven't refused marriage.”
Ethan looked up.
Sophia ignored him.
“I refused being used.”
Ryan nodded.
“Luca may see that as Thomas breaking whatever side agreement they made.”
“So Luca wants to scare us into going forward.”
“Possibly.”
I hated that word.
Possibly.
Then Sophia's phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Ryan held out his hand.
Sophia shook her head.
“My phone.”
“Sophia.”
“My choice.”
He lowered his hand.
She answered.
“Hello?”
A man's voice came through.
Speakerphone.
“Ms. Moretti.”
Sophia's face changed.
“Luca?”
Ryan's eyes hardened.
The voice laughed.
“So your father told you.”
“No. I guessed.”
“Smart.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing complicated.”
“Men always say that before something complicated.”
I loved my daughter.
Luca chuckled.
“Marry Ethan Cole.”
Ethan went pale.
Sophia's expression became almost amused.
“Excuse me?”
“Complete what your fathers promised.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“No.”
Ryan stared at her.
She sounded exactly like me.
Luca's voice cooled.
“You should think carefully.”
“I have.”
“Your father's empire exists because men kept their word.”
“My father's empire exists because thousands of people go to work every morning.”
Silence.
Sophia continued.
“You want something from Moretti Holdings. Ask the board.”
“This isn't business.”
“Then you called the wrong woman.”
She hung up.
Ryan stared.
“What?”
Sophia looked at him.
“You're smiling.”
“I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
He tried to hide it.
Failed.
Then the phone rang again.
Sophia rejected it.
A message arrived.
One photograph.
Our Chicago house.
Taken that morning.
Ryan's smile vanished.
Then another photograph.
My office.
Another.
Sophia's apartment.
This was no longer an old family argument.
Someone was watching us.
Ryan turned to Dominic.
“Move everyone.”
Sophia opened her mouth.
Ryan raised a hand.
“Request.”
She stopped.
He corrected himself.
“I am asking everyone to relocate temporarily while we identify the surveillance.”
Sophia looked at me.
I shrugged.
“He's learning.”
She sighed.
“Fine.”
Ryan exhaled.
Then Ethan spoke.
“I know where Luca is.”
Thomas looked sharply at him.
“How?”
Ethan pulled out his phone.
“Because he invited me to meet him tomorrow.”
Sophia stared.
“You were going?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
His silence answered.
She laughed once.
Then removed her engagement ring.
Ethan's face collapsed.
“Sophia.”
She placed it on the table.
“I love you.”
He looked devastated.
“That sounds like a goodbye.”
“It might be.”
“Soph—”
“I can forgive fear.”
She swallowed.
“I cannot marry another man who thinks loving me gives him permission to decide what truth I can handle.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
The words hit him too.
Ethan looked at the ring.
“What do I do?”
“For once?”
Sophia stepped away.
“Don't ask a woman to write your redemption plan.”
Then she walked upstairs.
Ethan remained at the table.
Broken.
Ryan looked at him.
Twenty-three years earlier, that might have been the moment Ryan enjoyed.
The young man who hurt his daughter finally suffering.
Instead Ryan pulled out a chair.
Sat beside him.
And said:
“You want advice?”
Ethan looked up.
“Yes.”
“Tell the truth before it helps you.”
Ethan swallowed.
Ryan continued.
“Truth told only after you're caught is confession.”
He looked toward the staircase.
“Truth told when lying would still benefit you?”
Ryan's voice softened.
“That's change.”
I stared at my husband.
Character development.
I didn't say it.
Mostly because I loved him.
Then Ethan's phone buzzed.
A message from Luca.
MIDNIGHT TOMORROW.
COME ALONE.
BRING THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT.
OR SOPHIA LEARNS WHAT RYAN MORETTI DID THE NIGHT VINCENT HALE ALMOST DIED.
I stopped breathing.
My father.
Ryan looked at the message.
Then at me.
And I knew immediately.
Another secret.
“Ryan.”
His face said everything.
May you like
Sophia had been right.
There was still another locked door.
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