Chapter 6: The Lawyer Who Kept Too Many Secrets
Marco came to Damiano's office without being asked.
He knocked twice and opened the door before Damiano answered.
He stood in the doorway and looked at Damiano's face and said nothing for a moment.
Then: "You know."
"Sit down," Damiano said.
"Damiano—"
"Sit.
Down."
Marco sat.
Damiano remained standing.
He moved to the window, then back.
He was not a man who paced, but he was close to it now.
"Four years," he said.
"Yes."
"You knew for four years that Elena was pregnant.
That she d!ed.
That there was a child."
"Yes."
"And you said nothing."
Marco leaned forward in the chair.
"She made me promise.
She was terrified, Damiano.
Not of you — she knew you would have moved mountains.
That was exactly what she was afraid of.
She didn't want Lucia raised inside this."
"That wasn't your decision to make."
"No," Marco said.
"It wasn't.
And I've lived with that." He met Damiano's eyes.
"But I also kept Lucia alive.
Because Ferrante found out about the pregnancy six weeks after Elena left.
I was the only person standing between him and that information reaching the wrong people."
Damiano went still.
"How did he find out?"
"He had Elena followed.
He'd been watching her for months before she left — I didn't know that until later.
He had a man in Vermont." Marco's jaw tightened.
"He knew she d!ed.
He knew about the baby.
He knew I had helped her.
He came to me two weeks after and told me that if I ever brought the child to your attention, he would make sure certain documents about the estate transfer — documents that could put you in a very difficult legal position — became public."
"He threatened you."
"He threatened you.
Through me." Marco's voice was flat.
"I made a calculation.
I kept quiet.
I kept the box.
I kept the photograph.
And I waited."
"For what?"
"For Ferrante to make a mistake.
Or for the child to be old enough that she couldn't simply be made to disappear quietly." He paused.
"She's almost four.
She has your eyes, Damiano.
She has Elena's mouth.
She stood in your hall and refused to move and made you apologize correctly, and I thought — that's the moment.
That's when it stops."
Damiano sat down across from him.
"What documents?" he said.
"The estate transfer from your father.
Ferrante structured it.
There are provisions in it that were never disclosed to you — provisions that give him significant financial control if you die without a direct heir.
Lucia's existence changes that entirely.
Which is why he's spent four years making sure she didn't exist on paper."
The room was very quiet.
"He's the reason Elena ran," Damiano said.
"He told her, through an intermediary, that if she stayed — if she had the baby — the child would be in danger.
He made her believe it was coming from you.
That you had ordered it."
Damiano's hands went flat on the desk.
"She thought I wanted her gone."
"She thought you wanted the baby gone," Marco said.
"I tried to tell her it wasn't true.
She didn't believe me.
She was too frightened by then.
So I helped her leave because leaving was the only thing that kept her safe from Ferrante, and I told myself I would fix it later."
"But you didn't."
"She d!ed before I could." Marco's voice dropped.
"I have thought about that every day for three years."
A long silence.
Damiano stood up.
"Where is Ferrante now?"
"He still has an office in the city.
He still manages two of the estate's legacy accounts — your father left him a formal role that you never removed because you had no reason to."
"I have reason now."
"Yes," Marco said.
"But he sent me a message two nights ago.
He knows Serena is here.
He knows about Lucia.
And he said if I don't handle it quietly—"
"He'll handle it himself."
"Yes."
Damiano moved to the door.
"Call your contact at the financial crimes unit," he said.
"The one you used for the Renaldi situation."
Marco stood.
"Damiano.
If we move on Ferrante directly, he'll release those documents before we can contain them."
"Let him."
Marco blinked.
"The documents he's holding," Damiano said, "are only dangerous if I have no heir.
Lucia exists.
Lucia is mine.
The moment that is established legally, his leverage disappears." He paused at the door.
"He spent four years hiding her.
I'm going to spend the next four days making sure she can never be hidden again."
He opened the door.
Serena was standing in the corridor with Lucia on her hip.
Lucia looked at Damiano.
"Are you still being mean?" she asked.
Despite everything, something moved across Damiano's face that was almost a smile.
"Not to you," he said.
Lucia considered this carefully.
"Okay," she said.
May you like
"That's better."
Marco, standing behind Damiano, pressed his hand briefly over his eyes.
