Chapter 4 - The Cousin at the Gate
Dominic Moretti arrived at the mansion just after sunrise, smiling as if nothing had happened. He wore an expensive gray suit and carried a box of pastries from Teresa's favorite bakery.
"Cousin," he called, stepping into the hall. "I heard the engagement dinner got dramatic."
Luca didn't smile. "Why were you meeting Aldo Bellini yesterday?"
Dominic's hand stopped halfway to the pastry box. "Business."
"About my mother?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
Luca placed the foundation agenda on the table. Dominic's expression flickered. "You know how these things work. Planning for an older relative isn't a crime."
"Planning without her consent is a betrayal," Luca replied.
Dominic turned toward me. "And now the housekeeper is part of the family council?"
I wanted to disappear, but Teresa came into the room before I could retreat. "Hannah has been more loyal to this family than some people born into it."
Dominic's smile vanished. He left the pastries behind and walked out without another word.
Later, I found Teresa sitting by the window with an old photo album. She showed me a picture of Frank Moretti in a faded baseball cap, kneeling beside a young golden retriever. Duke had been all paws and bright eyes. Luca, barely twenty-one, stood behind them looking awkward and happy.
"Frank brought him home after Luca's first terrible year in the business," Teresa said. "He thought the boy needed someone who wouldn't care what his last name meant."
"Did it help?"
"More than Frank ever knew."
She turned a page. Frank stood beside a small neighborhood clinic, holding a ribbon-cutting scissors. "He wanted to build places that helped people, not frightened them. Luca has tried. But there are men who profit when he fails."
The foundation, she explained, supported clinics, senior centers, and scholarships. Frank had left a substantial share of the family fortune in a protected trust, with Teresa as its honorary guardian. If she were declared unable to serve, Dominic would become acting chair. Aldo's companies had recently bid on several foundation construction projects.
"So they need you out of the way," I said.
Teresa stared at the photo. "They need me quiet."
That afternoon, Eli and I baked cookies in the cottage kitchen. He asked why we couldn't go home. I told him someone had said something unkind and the grown-ups were sorting it out. He considered that answer carefully.
"Duke can protect us," he decided.
"Duke needs us to protect him, buddy."
"Then we can take turns."
The simplicity of it made me turn away before he saw my tears.
When Luca came to check on us, Eli offered him a cookie shaped like a crooked star. Luca accepted it as solemnly as if it were a peace treaty. "Best one I've had," he said.
"You can have another if you help Duke walk tomorrow," Eli replied.
Luca looked at me for permission. I nodded. He agreed, and Eli ran to fetch his drawings.
For a moment, Luca seemed younger than the man whose name made strangers whisper. Then his phone rang. He listened without speaking, and the warmth left his face.
"Aldo has called an emergency vote," he told me. "Tomorrow morning."
"Can he do that?"
"Not legally without notice. But he's counting on nobody challenging him in time."
"What can I do?"
Luca studied me. "Tell the truth if you're asked. That's all."
I thought of the threat on my phone. "And if I'm afraid?"
"Tell it anyway. We'll make sure you aren't standing alone."
That night, I found a folded note tucked under the cottage door. There was no envelope, no signature. Only a sentence written in block capitals: ASK TERESA WHAT FRANK HID IN DUKE'S COLLAR.
May you like
I read it three times. Duke's old leather collar hung on a hook beside the fireplace. I had cleaned it a dozen times and never noticed anything unusual.
But someone else had been looking for it.
