Chapter 5: Room 614
Emergency lights flickered on as guests shouted.
“Stay with Lily,” Marcello told Sarah.
Lily clung to her mother.
“The bad lady took the phone.”
Marcello turned.
Vanessa was gone, and so was the phone from upstairs.
Julian stood near the ballroom doors.
“Looking for something?”
“You cut the lights.”
“Prove it.”
Beatrice tapped her cane against his shoe.
“Your arrogance will save us the trouble.”
Marcello called hotel security.
“Lock the exits and preserve every camera recording from tonight.”
Julian laughed.
“You don’t own this hotel anymore.”
“Not until midnight.”
A young woman in a server’s uniform approached Sarah.
Her hands shook around an envelope.
“My name is Claire Dawson,” she whispered.
“I work for Vanessa.”
Vanessa rushed back into the ballroom.
“Claire, go home.”
Claire held the envelope tighter.
“You said nobody would be harmed.”
“No one has been.”
“You used a child’s name on the medical forms.”
Sarah’s arm tightened around Lily.
“Whose child?”
Claire looked at Vanessa.
“Tell her.”
Vanessa reached for the envelope.
Beatrice struck the floor with her cane between them.
“Try asking politely,” Beatrice said.
Claire handed the envelope to Marcello.
Inside were appointment records from a private clinic, invoices for theatrical body pads, and copies of the hotel receipts.
Marcello held up the records.
“You forged medical appointments?”
Vanessa’s chin trembled.
“Julian arranged them.”
Julian caught her wrist.
“Be careful.”
“Take your hand off her,” Marcello said.
Julian released her.
“Here is my offer.
Walk away from Moretti House for one year.
Keep your home, your personal accounts, and enough money to live comfortably.”
“You tried to buy my company with a false baby.
Now you’re offering me an allowance?”
“I’m offering you dignity.”
“No,” Sarah said.
“You’re offering silence.”
Julian turned on her.
“Your daughter trespassed, you stole private documents, and you interfered with a corporate transaction.
I can make certain no respectable employer hires you again.”
Sarah’s face drained of color.
Marcello stepped closer.
“Threaten Sarah again, and this conversation ends in front of investigators.”
“It already ended,” Julian replied.
“You lost.”
Claire took out her own phone.
“Not yet.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“What did you do?”
“I recorded every meeting in Room 614.”
Julian’s confidence slipped.
“Give me that phone.”
Claire backed toward Beatrice.
“You told Vanessa to marry Marcello, claim a pregnancy, and make him sign before the annual trust review.”
Marcello looked at Vanessa.
“Marry me?”
Claire pulled another document from the envelope.
Vanessa sank into a chair.
“Claire, please.”
Sarah read the heading aloud.
“Certificate of marriage.”
Marcello took it from her.
The names were clear: Vanessa Claire Hart and Julian Anthony Moretti.
The date was eighteen months earlier.
“You’re his wife,” Marcello said.
Vanessa covered her face.
“It was supposed to be annulled.”
Julian moved toward the fireplace with Claire’s phone.
Claire blocked him.
“The recordings are stored online.”
“Then delete them.”
“No.”
Julian turned to Marcello.
“You believe a paid assistant over your own brother?”
Marcello held up the marriage certificate.
“Which part should I misunderstand?”
Vanessa stood.
“Marcello, I did care about you.”
“You wore another man’s ring on a chain beneath the dress I bought you.”
Her hand flew to her neck.
Sarah stared at the small gold band that had slipped above Vanessa’s collar.
Marcello’s phone sounded again.
Twelve minutes remained.
Claire unlocked her screen.
“There’s something else.
Julian didn’t begin this plan with Vanessa.”
“Who did he begin it with?” Marcello asked.
Claire pressed play.
Daniel Hale’s voice filled the ballroom.
May you like
“Once Marcello signs, we destroy the earlier will.
He must never learn what his father left in the bank box.”
