Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Inside the House
"Someone in your organization signed off on this," Rachel said over speakerphone.
Luca stood by the library window. Beyond the glass, rain washed over the garden Isabella had planted with her mother years ago.
"Who had access to my stationery?" he asked.
"Your executive office," Marco replied. "Several assistants. Your business manager."
Luca's face hardened. "Nico."
Nico Ferraro had been Luca's oldest friend and chief financial officer for nearly a decade. I knew him as a charming man who brought Isabella birthday presents and always remembered the staff's names.
It was difficult to imagine him helping anyone hurt her.
That was what frightened me most.
At Rachel's direction, the Moretti companies hired an independent forensic accountant. Luca suspended relevant document access while the records were preserved. No one was confronted without evidence.
Meanwhile, Isabella returned to school with safeguards arranged through its administration: visitors required independently verified parental approval, and a qualified ASL-fluent counselor met with her each week. Luca asked whether she wanted the sessions and explained what privacy meant. She agreed.
Watching him learn to protect her without making all her decisions gave me hope.
Then on Friday, Nico arrived for dinner.
He carried an enormous stuffed penguin for Isabella, its wings embroidered with tiny stars.
For the bravest girl in Chicago, he signed clumsily.
Isabella smiled politely, but refused to take the toy.
After he left the room, she tugged at my sleeve.
I don't like that penguin.
Why not?
She pointed toward its stitched left eye.
It looks at me.
The feeling that passed through me was ice cold.
I asked her to leave it on the table. Then I told Luca what she'd said.
He didn't mock the concern. He asked Marco to inspect the gift before it entered Isabella's bedroom.
Inside the penguin was a tiny recording device.
I sat down hard on the sofa.
Luca said nothing for a long moment. He looked at the toy, then toward the room where his daughter was brushing her teeth.
"It might have recorded private conversations," Marco said.
Rachel, reached by telephone, told us not to tamper with the device further. It would be documented and turned over to investigators.
"Nico gave it to her," Luca whispered.
I touched his arm. He looked down at my hand, and I withdrew it.
"It doesn't prove he planted it," I said. "But it means we need answers."
A few minutes later, Nico called.
"Heard your attorney is digging around old accounts," he said cheerfully. "Need me to help smooth things over?"
Luca stared at the phone.
"Not tonight."
"Come on, brother. After everything I've done for you?"
"That's exactly what I'm thinking about."
When the call ended, Luca buried his face in his hands.
For the first time, I understood that betrayal hurt him more than open threats ever could.
I sat beside him, leaving a respectful distance.
"You taught Isabella that telling the truth matters," I said. "Now you have to believe it matters when the truth hurts you."
He turned toward me.
"Why do you keep saying the things I need to hear?"
"Someone should."
His laugh was brief and broken.
Upstairs, a door opened. Isabella stood at the landing, looking down at us.
Daddy?
Luca lifted his hands.
I'm here.
She signed, Please don't let Uncle Nico take me away.
The air seemed to leave the room.
Luca rose slowly.
Why would you think he could?
May you like
Her answer changed everything.
He told Vanessa he already paid for the place where I would live.
