Chapter 7 - The Forgotten Son
His name was Nicholas Vane.
Not Moretti.
Not officially.
He lived in Portland, Maine, repairing antique clocks in a shop that belonged to his wife.
Samuel Moretti had met Nicholas’s mother while traveling in 1979.
A relationship followed.
Then a child.
Samuel paid support privately for several years before disappearing from their lives.
Nicholas grew up knowing only that his father was a wealthy man who had chosen another family.
“He wants nothing to do with this,” Margaret said.
They sat around her table as dawn began to lighten the windows.
“Then why did he contact Bianca?” Vittorio asked.
Margaret frowned.
“What makes you think he did?”
“Who else knew about Bellhaven?”
Margaret considered.
“Nicholas learned recently.”
“How?”
“I told him.”
James leaned back.
“Then he probably sent the message.”
Margaret looked displeased.
“I specifically warned him not to approach Bianca.”
Vittorio stood.
“Where is he?”
Margaret gave the address reluctantly.
By 7:15 a.m., they were driving north.
Lucy remained at the mansion with Rebecca and a security team Vittorio personally selected.
Vittorio had not wanted to leave her.
Lucy made the choice easier.
“Go find Mommy’s truth,” she told him.
The words stayed with him.
Nicholas Vane’s clock shop opened at eight.
Vittorio entered at 8:03.
Dozens of clocks ticked against the walls.
Nicholas stood behind a workbench.
He was in his late forties.
Tall.
Dark blond hair turning gray.
He looked up once.
“You’re Vittorio Romano.”
“Yes.”
“I wondered when you’d appear.”
Vittorio placed his phone on the counter.
“Did you message Bianca Moretti?”
Nicholas returned to the clock in front of him.
“Yes.”
Margaret exhaled sharply.
Nicholas did not look at her.
“You told me not to confront her. I didn’t.”
“You sent threats.”
“I sent information.”
Vittorio studied him.
“Why?”
Nicholas finally looked up.
“Because Bianca spent her entire life benefiting from Samuel while my mother worked two jobs.”
“This isn’t about inheritance.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Wasn’t?”
Nicholas set down his tools.
“Then Margaret told me about Bellhaven.”
James stepped closer.
“You know where it is.”
Nicholas smiled without warmth.
“I know what it is.”
He walked to a locked cabinet.
Inside were letters tied with string.
“My mother kept everything Samuel sent.”
One letter contained a phrase.
When the Romano arrangement is complete, Bellhaven will secure both families.
Another.
Marcus understands the structure.
Another.
If Bianca proves useful, she will inherit my position.
Vittorio read it twice.
“Position in what?”
Nicholas handed him another letter.
A list of companies.
Some matched Margaret’s investigation.
One did not.
Bellhaven Strategic Foundation.
James searched the name.
“No active registration.”
Nicholas nodded.
“It wasn’t meant to operate publicly.”
“What was it?”
“A private reserve.”
“Twenty-eight million?”
“At first.”
Vittorio looked up.
“At first?”
Nicholas opened a laptop.
“Bellhaven wasn’t an account. It was a chain.”
Digital records filled the screen.
Money had moved for years.
Investments.
Property purchases.
Private loans.
Offshore holdings.
The original twenty-eight million had grown.
James calculated quickly.
“Current value?”
Nicholas looked at Vittorio.
“About ninety-one million.”
Even Vittorio was stunned.
“Who controls it?”
“That is where things become interesting.”
Nicholas opened a scanned trust declaration.
Samuel Moretti had established Bellhaven using stolen capital.
But the control mechanism required two family authorizations.
One from Samuel’s recognized heir.
Bianca.
One from his firstborn biological child.
Nicholas.
Vittorio stared.
“So Bianca can’t access it without you.”
“Correct.”
“Marcus?”
“Administrative custodian only.”
“Does Bianca know?”
“Probably not.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Elena never found this.”
“No,” Nicholas said. “But she got close.”
Vittorio walked toward the window.
Ninety-one million dollars.
Stolen wealth.
A conspiracy older than his marriage.
And Bianca had entered his life not because of romance, chance, or attraction.
She had entered because Samuel’s plan required access to the Romano family.
“Why target Lucy?” James asked.
Nicholas answered before Vittorio could.
“Because Elena changed the trust.”
Vittorio turned.
“What?”
Nicholas opened another document.
After detecting irregularities, Elena had quietly amended part of her personal estate.
Upon Lucy’s twenty-fifth birthday, certain Romano family assets would merge with a charitable foundation structure requiring independent audit.
If Lucy died before then without descendants, portions would transfer to nonprofit beneficiaries rather than remain under ordinary family control.
Marcus could not steal them easily.
Bianca could not marry into them permanently.
Lucy’s existence protected the structure.
Vittorio felt sick.
“The girl is the final obstacle.”
Marcus’s recorded sentence returned to him.
James saw the implication too.
“They weren’t just trying to send Lucy away.”
Nicholas looked at Vittorio.
“I don’t know what they intended.”
Vittorio’s voice became quiet.
“I’m going to find out.”
Nicholas closed the laptop.
“Then you need something stronger than financial records.”
“What?”
“A confession.”
James laughed once.
“Marcus isn’t going to confess.”
Nicholas looked toward the ticking walls.
“Maybe not to Vittorio Romano.”
May you like
He picked up his phone.
“But he might confess to the man holding the only signature that can unlock ninety-one million dollars.”
