Chapter 5: The Woman at the Garden Wall
She was younger than Chloe expected.
Mid-twenties, maybe.
Dark coat, as Mr.
Hart had described.
She was sitting on the low stone bench near the east wall with her hands folded in her lap and two of Luciano's security men standing ten feet away, watching her with the focused attention of people who had been told not to touch her but also not to let her leave.
She stood when she saw Chloe.
"You came," she said.
"You asked for me." Chloe stopped a few feet away.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Sera.
Sera Moretti."
The name landed in the garden like a stone dropped into still water.
Luciano, standing just behind Chloe's right shoulder, went very still.
"Moretti," Chloe said.
"My grandfather was Enzo Costa's lawyer for thirty years.
His name was Dario Moretti." Sera's voice was steady but her hands were not entirely.
"He drafted both versions of the will.
The real one, and the one your brother found."
"I am not — " Chloe stopped.
The word brother was still strange.
She let it go.
"What do you mean, the version he found was altered?"
"The real will gives you half." Sera reached into her coat and produced a folded document in a sealed plastic sleeve.
"Not one third.
Half.
The other half to Luciano.
The trust provision was added later, by someone who wanted to reduce your share and redirect funds."
Luciano stepped forward.
"Who altered it?"
Sera looked at him.
"Your father's second wife."
The garden went quiet enough to hear the wind moving through the hedges.
"My father did not have a second wife," Luciano said.
"Not publicly." Sera held out the document.
"They married privately, four years before he died.
A civil ceremony in Genoa.
Her name is Vittoria Moretti.
She is my father's sister." A pause.
"She has been managing the Costa estate's legitimate holdings through a shell company for the past six years.
She is the reason the second will was buried.
She is the reason one third of your father's estate has been quietly redirected into accounts that do not appear on any document you have ever been shown."
Luciano took the document.
He did not open it immediately.
He looked at Sera.
"Why are you bringing this to us?"
"Because she found out about Chloe." Sera's voice dropped.
"When the news broke yesterday — the conference, the announcement — Vittoria recognized the name Mercer.
She knows who Chloe's mother was.
She knows what the real will says." She looked at Chloe directly.
"The note this morning was not from me.
I sent the text.
The note — *You are not safe* — that came from inside this house."
Chloe felt the back of her neck go cold.
"Inside the house," Luciano repeated.
"Someone on your staff is reporting to Vittoria.
Has been for years." Sera glanced toward the estate.
"I don't know who.
But she knew about the anonymous card before I did.
Which means she has eyes here."
Luciano turned and looked at the house.
Then at his two security men.
Then back at Sera.
"Where is Vittoria now?"
"She arrived in Port Meridian this morning.
She has a meeting scheduled with Don Bellini's legal team this afternoon." Sera paused.
"She is going to offer them the Romano alliance.
The one that was supposed to be sealed by a marriage between you and Celeste Romano."
"She has no authority to offer that."
"She believes she does.
She has documents showing her as the surviving spouse of Enzo Costa.
If those documents are accepted — " Sera stopped.
"She becomes the head of the Costa family's legitimate holdings.
Not you.
And Chloe's claim disappears entirely."
Chloe looked at the sealed document in Luciano's hands.
At her mother's name, which she could see printed on the first visible line.
At the date — thirty-one years ago, two months before Chloe was born.
"She's been planning this since before I was hired," Chloe said.
"No." Sera shook her head.
"She's been planning this since your father died.
You being hired — that was an accident.
Someone sent your application without knowing what it would set in motion." She hesitated.
"Or someone knew exactly what it would set in motion and wanted it to happen."
Luciano's phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His jaw tightened.
"Vittoria is not waiting until this afternoon," he said.
"She is at the front gate right now."
He looked at Chloe.
May you like
"She is asking to speak with Mrs.
Costa."
