Chapter 4

I didn't confront him that night.

I took care of something else first.

I separated our business finances.

The Moretti family's legitimate businesses fell into three categories:

Port logistics.

Wineries and hotels.

Overseas trade.

Adrian had always been seen as the man in charge.

But I'd signed the long-term contracts with nearly half our clients.

I spent a week sorting out all the authorizations for the companies I personally controlled.

I wasn't moving family assets.

I was replacing the vague idea of "running everything together as husband and wife" with clear corporate boundaries.

The CFO looked over the list, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Donna, if we do this, all three North Shore ports will have to renegotiate their guarantee agreements."

"Then we renegotiate."

"But the Don..."

"There's nothing in the company bylaws that says 'husband's approval required.'"

He shut his mouth.

The second thing I did was replace my personal security team.

Before, every hire had needed Adrian's final sign-off.

This time, I canceled their contracts outright and hired an independent firm.

Third, I went to the hospital.

I had another full workup.

Dr. Elaine Brooks frowned after going through my old records.

"Who told you that you couldn't get pregnant?"

"A doctor, ten years ago."

"Your uterus has healed very well," she said.

"There was serious damage, yes, but your current results don't support the conclusion that pregnancy is 'basically impossible.'"

I froze.

"Then why haven't I gotten pregnant all these years?"

Elaine was quiet for a moment.

"Has your husband been tested?"

Adrian had a physical every year.

But he'd never once let me see the fertility results.

I went back and looked.

The report had a separate password.

The password wasn't my birthday.

It was Livia's.

The report showed Adrian's fertility was extremely low.

It wasn't impossible for him to get someone pregnant.

But the odds of him getting a woman pregnant twice in quick succession without medical help were almost absurdly low.

I put the report down.

And suddenly I laughed.

Of Livia's two so-called pregnancies, one had already "ended unexpectedly."

The other was still ongoing.

If the baby wasn't Adrian's, there was another reason she was in such a hurry to force me into a divorce.

She needed to become Mrs. Moretti before the truth came out.

I had someone look into where she'd been over the past year.

They didn't go near her bedroom.

They didn't run any surveillance that crossed the line.

They only checked public flight records, company access logs, and the timestamps on her social media posts.

A name came up fast.

Noah Bell.

Her college boyfriend.

They were still in touch.

More importantly, Noah had once worked for the Caruso family's old company.

And Vincent, Livia's father, had been an accomplice in that "kidnapping" ten years ago.

At last, all the threads came together.

That night, Adrian came home.

I laid the old kidnapping files on the dining table.

He read just one page.

His face went white.

"Sera."

"Don't call me that."

"Let me explain."

"Fine."

I sat down.

"Explain."

He opened his mouth.

After a long silence, he said, "I was scared of losing you back then."

I could hardly believe what I'd heard.

"So being afraid of losing me gave you the right to put me in danger?"

"You kept getting stronger."

His voice was hoarse.

"A lot of people started bypassing me and coming straight to you.

"Some people in the Moretti family were even saying you could hold it all together without me."

I looked at him.

"So you made me afraid on purpose."

He closed his eyes.

"I just wanted you to slow down.

"To lean on me a little more."

The silence was so thick it made me sick.

I finally understood.

He'd saved me.

He'd loved me too.

But once I was no longer the girl who needed saving, he started looking for ways to make me that girl again.