Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN DANTE REFUSED TO USE AS BAIT
Corrado’s lawyer offered settlement forty-eight hours later.
Gia would receive the entire Parker share of the trust.
$11.4 million.
Michael Parker’s name cleared internally.
No admission of wrongdoing.
No public statement.
No criminal referral.
Gia would sign confidentiality.
Dante would remain chairman.
Corrado would retire in eighteen months “for health reasons.”
Everyone would survive.
Clean.
Elegant.
Cowardly.
Gia read settlement.
Then pushed it back.
“No.”
Her lawyer asked:
“Do you want to counter?”
“No.”
“More money?”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“Truth.”
Dante, sitting across the conference table, said nothing.
Good.
Gia continued.
“My father spent the last year of his life called a thief.”
“My mother spent years scared.”
“I grew up thinking he ruined us.”
“They want to give me money and keep the lie.”
“No.”
Her attorney nodded.
“Then we proceed.”
Corrado escalated.
Anonymous stories appeared.
EVENT DESIGNER SEEKS MILLIONS FROM MORETTI TRUST
DANTE MORETTI LINKED TO PARKER WOMAN IN FAMILY POWER STRUGGLE
One tabloid called Gia “the florist who may decide a criminal dynasty.”
She owned an event-production company with sixty employees.
But florist sounded smaller.
That was point.
Gia released no personal statement.
Her company did.
Gia Parker remains chief creative officer of Parker & Vale Events. Current legal matters do not involve company clients.
Enough.
Then someone vandalized her warehouse.
No one hurt.
Sprinkler system activated overnight.
Silk inventory ruined.
Two loading doors smashed.
On wall:
TAKE THE MONEY.
Gia stared.
Insurance adjuster beside her.
Dante arrived after she called.
Important.
She called him.
Not because helpless.
Because this involved his family.
He stepped inside.
Took in damage.
His face became frighteningly calm.
“Police?”
“Already.”
“Cameras?”
“Copied.”
“Employees?”
“Paid day off while safety checked.”
Dante nodded.
“Good.”
Gia pointed.
“Don’t.”
He almost smiled.
Then:
“Do you want private security?”
She hesitated.
Old Gia would say no simply because he asked.
But thirty employees worked here.
Her pride was not safety plan.
“Yes.”
“Independent.”
“Not Moretti.”
Dante nodded immediately.
“I know a firm with former federal protective-service staff.”
“Give name to my lawyer.”
“She hires.”
“Yes.”
Good.
Then Dante noticed ruined fabric.
Imported silk.
The same type from first night.
He touched nothing.
Gia saw.
“You remembered.”
“Sidewalk hands.”
Her throat tightened.
Then he said:
“I want you away from Manhattan for a few days.”
She stared.
He sighed.
“That sounded wrong.”
“Very.”
“Would you consider working remotely somewhere Corrado doesn’t know while police investigate?”
“Better.”
“No.”
“Okay.”
He accepted.
Gia stayed.
That evening, Dante received call from Luca.
First direct voice in twenty-one years.
He was alone in his office.
Except he called Gia afterward.
Not to use her.
Because he needed someone who knew why it mattered.
“He called.”
Gia sat on warehouse floor among ruined fabric samples.
“What did he say?”
“Hello.”
“That’s dramatic.”
Dante laughed once.
Then voice broke.
“He said my name.”
Gia softened.
“What else?”
“Not much.”
“He asked about mother.”
Dante looked toward window.
“I told him she died.”
“He knew.”
“From public records.”
Silence.
“He watched funeral online.”
Gia closed eyes.
“That’s awful.”
“Yes.”
“Did he say why he stayed gone after Corrado lost influence?”
“Corrado never lost influence.”
Dante corrected.
“Father remained alive.”
“Luca believed returning would expose Michael’s family.”
“Then Michael died.”
“He blamed himself.”
“And?”
Dante swallowed.
“He has a daughter.”
Gia sat straighter.
“What?”
“Nineteen.”
“Named Sofia.”
“Does family know?”
“No.”
“So Moretti family has another hidden descendant.”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful.”
Dante almost smiled.
“Her mother?”
“Luca’s wife.”
“Canadian.”
“Alive.”
“They have a life.”
Gia understood.
Luca was not waiting to be restored.
He had built elsewhere.
Like survivors do.
“Does he want to come back?”
“No.”
“Then don’t force.”
“I won’t.”
Dante said.
Gia noticed no pause.
Good.
“Does he want to testify?”
“Maybe.”
“Corrado?”
“He wants proof Michael’s name clears first.”
Gia’s anger rose.
“He doesn’t get to make my father’s reputation condition for his courage.”
Dante went quiet.
“Fair.”
Gia breathed.
Then:
“Sorry.”
“No.”
“You’re right.”
“He has spent twenty-one years afraid.”
“That doesn’t make every choice fair.”
Exactly.
Two days later, Corrado made worse move.
He invited Gia to lunch.
Public restaurant.
No threat.
His lawyer present.
Gia went.
Against Dante’s preference.
Dante did not stop.
She brought counsel and independent security.
Corrado looked pleased.
“You have nerve.”
“I work weddings.”
“Nothing scares me anymore.”
He laughed genuinely.
Then:
“Dante likes you.”
Gia stared.
“This is why we’re here?”
“No.”
“I’m warning.”
“About what?”
“He confuses guilt with affection.”
Gia’s expression hardened.
“His brother lived because my father helped.”
“Your father died.”
“Yes.”
“And Dante wants to fix that.”
“Dante cannot fix dead people.”
Corrado smiled.
“Then perhaps he’ll settle for daughter.”
Gia’s voice cooled.
“Do not reduce me to someone else’s guilt.”
“Tell him.”
“I have.”
Corrado leaned back.
“You think I’m monster.”
“I think you chained exits in a warehouse.”
His smile disappeared.
“Allegedly.”
“I think you benefited from my father being blamed.”
“I think you paid people to retrieve records from my apartment.”
“No proof.”
“Police are working.”
“Good.”
He almost laughed.
Gia continued.
“And I think you’re scared.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Of what?”
“Luca.”
Silence.
There.
Corrado knew.
Gia smiled slightly.
“You don’t know whether he’ll come back.”
Corrado’s hand tightened around water glass.
“You don’t know what he kept.”
“You don’t know what Michael gave him.”
“And you especially don’t know what I know.”
Gia actually did not know much more.
But he did not know that.
Corrado stared.
Then:
“You are using yourself as bait.”
“No.”
“I’m watching you prove my point.”
His face hardened.
Lunch ended.
Outside, Dante waited across street.
Not in restaurant.
She had not asked.
He still wanted proximity.
She crossed.
“You followed?”
“No.”
“My security coordinator asked Moretti to keep distance perimeter due known threat.”
Gia checked phone.
Her lawyer had indeed approved.
Good.
Dante looked at her.
“What happened?”
“He tried to make me afraid of you.”
“And?”
“I was already afraid of you.”
Dante’s face changed.
“Not in way you think.”
She continued.
“You’re powerful.”
“You’re used to decisions happening because you arrive.”
“You’re dangerous even when polite.”
“I need to know I can say no and still be safe around you.”
Dante absorbed.
“Yes.”
“Do you understand?”
“I think so.”
“Show me.”
“How?”
Gia looked at him.
“Do nothing with what I say next.”
He waited.
“I’m attracted to you.”
Dante went completely still.
Gia’s heart pounded.
“And I do not want you to act on that.”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then:
“All right.”
That was it.
No smile.
No step closer.
No seductive line.
No hand.
Gia’s throat tightened.
“Thank you.”
Dante nodded.
Then looked across street toward restaurant where Corrado still sat.
“I hate this.”
Gia laughed.
“Good.”
He glared.
She grinned.
For first time since Michael Parker’s name returned from the dead, Gia felt like herself.
Not heir.
Not witness.
Not bait.
May you like
A woman making choices in middle of other people’s war.
And Dante Moretti—perhaps for the first time in his adult life—was learning that wanting something did not entitle him to move one inch closer.
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