Chapter 11 - The Matriarch’s Downfall
The Moretti estate was quiet when Luca arrived.
The aftermath of the ruined engagement party had left the mansion feeling hollow.
Luca walked through the front doors, dismissing the remaining guards with a wave of his hand.
He found his mother in the solarium, sitting in her favorite wingback chair, sipping tea and reading a novel. She looked perfectly at peace, entirely unfazed by the chaos of the previous night.
“Luca, darling,” Eleanor smiled without looking up. “I heard the police took Vanessa. Good riddance. I always knew she was trash.”
“Did you, mother?”
Luca walked over to the glass table and set the velvet box down in front of her.
Eleanor looked at the box, her smile faltering slightly. “What is this?”
“Open it.”
She slowly reached out and popped the lid. She saw the diamond heirloom necklace.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“I also found a bank receipt,” Luca said, his voice echoing in the glass room. “One million dollars. Transferred to Vanessa a week before Michael died.”
Eleanor went perfectly still.
She didn’t deny it. She didn’t panic. She just closed the velvet box with a soft click.
“She was pregnant with a thug’s child, Luca. She was going to poison our bloodline. I paid her to leave.”
“And when she didn’t leave, you told Gino to run Michael off the road.”
“It was an accident!” Eleanor snapped, her aristocratic composure cracking for the first time. “Gino was only supposed to scare him! To take the journal! Michael swerved into the guardrail on his own.”
“He was your son,” Luca whispered, horrified by the coldness in her eyes.
“And you are my son!” Eleanor stood up, her eyes blazing. “I protected this family! I built this empire with your father! I wasn’t going to let a pathetic boy tear it down for a street rat.”
She stepped closer to Luca.
“You’re just like him, you know. Falling for that little maid. Bringing her into our home. It’s disgusting.”
“Sophie has more honor in her injured arm than you have in your entire soul.”
Eleanor scoffed. “What are you going to do, Luca? Kill your own mother?”
“No.”
Luca pulled out his phone and hit dial. He put it on speaker.
“Yes, Mr. Moretti?” a voice answered. It was the Chief of Police.
“Chief,” Luca said, not breaking eye contact with his mother. “I have a confession for you regarding the murder of Michael Moretti.”
Eleanor’s face drained of color.
“I’ve also sent you offshore bank records proving my mother funded a cartel operative nine years ago,” Luca continued. “She’s at the estate. I suggest you send a squad car.”
He hung up.
Eleanor stared at him, hyperventilating. “You’re turning me in? You’re destroying the family name!”
“I’m cleaning it.”
Luca turned his back on her and walked out of the solarium.
He didn’t look back as her screams echoed through the empty halls, cursing his name, cursing Michael, cursing Sophie.
By the time he reached his car, the distant wail of police sirens was approaching the estate gates.
It was over. The rot had been cut out.
Luca sat in the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. He let out a long, shuddering breath. The grief of eight years finally crashed over him, washing away the anger, leaving only a profound, heavy silence.
His phone buzzed.
It was a text from Sophie.
Leo is asleep. Mom is resting. We’re waiting for you.
Luca looked at the message. The heaviness in his chest slowly dissolved, replaced by something he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
Hope.
May you like
He put the car in drive and headed back to the city. Back to his new family.
TITLE: The New Matriarch
