Chapter 8 - His Mother Chooses a Side
Bianca Moretti received Dante in the formal drawing room of her Gold Coast townhouse.
Nora came with him.
Bianca disliked that immediately.
"I asked for my son."
"And your son brought counsel," Nora said.
"I'm family."
"So is Celeste."
Bianca's expression hardened.
Dante sat opposite his mother.
"Did you know Arbor Ridge paid Javier's bond?"
Bianca did not pretend ignorance.
"Yes."
Nora stopped writing.
Dante felt something inside him fall.
"Why?"
"Because Celeste asked the family office to assist an employee who had not yet been convicted of anything."
"He attacked Leo."
"I was told the facts were disputed."
"You saw Mia."
Bianca's face tightened.
"Don't use my grandchildren to manipulate me."
Dante almost laughed.
"Manipulate you?"
Bianca stood.
"You have always believed being angry makes you right."
"Did you know Arbor Ridge was receiving Moretti Meridian money through Northstar?"
Silence.
There.
A hesitation.
Bianca walked toward the fireplace.
"I knew the family office administered certain consulting entities."
"For what purpose?"
"Tax and investment efficiency."
Nora asked, "Who authorized Arbor Ridge to accept funds routed from Moretti Meridian?"
Bianca looked at her.
"This isn't a deposition."
"No. In a deposition you'll be under oath."
Bianca's chin lifted.
Dante had rarely seen anyone speak to his mother that way.
"Answer her," he said.
Bianca turned.
"Celeste structured it."
"Did you know?"
"I trusted her."
The bitter irony nearly made Dante smile.
"That's my defense too."
Bianca looked at him.
He continued.
"You always told me trust wasn't an excuse for ignorance."
"Dante—"
"Did you know Celeste planned to remove me from Isabel's trust?"
Bianca did not answer quickly enough.
Dante stood.
"Mom."
"I knew she was concerned."
"She told Mia judges might take them."
"I did not know that."
"Did you sign anything?"
Bianca's face changed.
Dante felt fear.
"What did you sign?"
"An affidavit."
Nora closed her eyes.
Dante whispered, "Against me?"
"I described what I've seen."
"What have you seen?"
"Your temper."
"My grief?"
"Your recklessness."
"Give me an example."
Bianca's voice sharpened.
"You fired a contractor in front of Leo."
"He stole from me."
"You shouted at Celeste at Christmas."
"She brought Bellaforte buyers to dinner after I told her no."
"You smashed a glass after Isabel's funeral."
Dante stared.
"So you're the source."
Bianca looked away.
"Some of it."
His own mother had helped create Celeste's file.
"Why?"
"Because I was frightened."
"Of me?"
"Of what you're becoming."
Dante went still.
Bianca's eyes filled.
"You have been trying to hold everything since Isabel died. The company. The children. The family. You don't bend, Dante. You break things."
He wanted to reject every word.
Some of it was true.
That made the betrayal sharper.
"And Celeste doesn't?"
Bianca's mouth tightened.
"Celeste has always been disciplined."
"She ordered Javier to provoke me."
"Allegedly."
"She called him."
"That proves a call."
"My son says she wanted his tablet."
"He's eight."
Dante flinched as though struck.
Bianca saw it.
He spoke very quietly.
"Don't do that."
"What?"
"Don't make my child's age a reason his truth matters less."
Bianca sat down.
For a moment she looked old.
Then she said the thing Dante had not expected.
"Your father wanted Celeste to run the company."
Dante stared.
"What?"
"Lorenzo believed she was the best lawyer and the best strategist in the family."
"Then why did he appoint me?"
Bianca looked ashamed.
"Because he believed investors wouldn't accept her."
Dante's anger vanished.
"Because she was a woman."
Bianca nodded.
"He thought the old partners wanted a son."
Dante sat back down.
Suddenly Celeste's resentment had roots.
Ugly, old ones.
"He told her?"
"Eventually."
"When?"
"The year before he died."
Dante understood more than he wanted to.
Celeste had spent twenty years protecting the company.
Dante, younger and more charismatic, had inherited the CEO chair.
That did not excuse what she had done.
But motive was emerging.
Bianca continued.
"Your father told her she should have been chief executive."
"And then?"
"He asked her to keep supporting you."
Dante closed his eyes.
A humiliation disguised as praise.
Nora asked, "Did Lorenzo authorize Northstar?"
Bianca looked at her.
"No."
"Did Celeste tell you he did?"
Bianca hesitated.
"Yes."
That mattered.
Dante stood.
"You're being used."
Bianca's face hardened again.
"Or you're trying to convince yourself everyone who questions you is being used."
His phone vibrated.
A court notification.
Nora read over his shoulder.
Her expression fell.
"What?"
"The judge granted an emergency interim order."
Dante's stomach tightened.
"What does it do?"
"You're still the children's father. No custody change."
He exhaled.
"But?"
Nora continued.
"Until the hearing, you may not exercise the children's eighteen-percent voting interest without approval from a temporary independent fiduciary."
Bianca whispered, "Dante..."
He looked at her.
Because of her affidavit, Celeste had achieved the first corporate objective.
Dante still had his children.
But he had just lost control of their votes.
And within thirty seconds his phone rang again.
Charles Delaney.
May you like
The board was calling another emergency meeting.
This time, Dante already knew what they intended to take next.
