Chapter 7
Raffaele met Gregory only once before lawyers shut down direct contact.
The meeting was recorded by counsel and attended by both attorneys.
Gregory looked smaller without the wedding.
No tuxedo.
No ballroom.
No bride beside him.
Just a man in a suit whose company books were being examined.
Raffaele began with one question.
“Why did you tell Bianca Emma’s dress was cheap?”
Gregory looked irritated.
“This is what you wanted to discuss?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t.”
Claire placed his message on the table.
Don’t let her humiliate you on your wedding day.
Gregory glanced at it.
“That doesn’t say cheap.”
“Bianca says you told her Sophia replaced the Bellweather dress.”
“I may have misunderstood.”
“You paid Bellweather’s invoice.”
Silence.
“You knew exactly what Emma was wearing.”
Gregory’s attorney shifted beside him.
Gregory answered:
“I was trying to keep Bianca calm.”
Raffaele stared at him.
“By making her angry at my daughter?”
“At Sophia.”
“My daughter.”
Gregory looked away.
Raffaele continued.
“Why?”
“Because every time Bianca thought I was losing control of the wedding, we fought.”
“So you blamed Sophia.”
“Sometimes.”
“Why Sophia?”
Another hesitation.
“Because Bianca already felt threatened by her.”
That interested Claire.
“Why?”
Gregory sighed.
“Look at Sophia. She runs half her father’s legitimate businesses. She walks into a room and everyone listens. Bianca always thought Sophia judged her.”
“Did she?”
“Probably.”
Raffaele’s voice became colder.
“Probably is doing a lot of work.”
Gregory finally became angry.
“You want me to admit I lied to my fiancée sometimes? Fine. I lied.”
“About financial problems?”
Silence.
“About my daughter sabotaging your wedding?”
Silence.
“About what happens to your company after you marry?”
Gregory looked toward his lawyer.
The lawyer quietly advised him not to answer.
Meeting over.
As they stood, Gregory said something without being asked.
“You people were going to let my company die over invoice technicalities.”
Sophia was not in the room.
Raffaele heard the resentment anyway.
“You never asked me to save it.”
“You shouldn’t have needed asking.”
There it was.
Entitlement disguised as loyalty.
Gregory believed twelve years working beside the Carbones had earned rescue.
He believed the wedding would make that rescue unavoidable.
And when Sophia enforced ordinary accounting rules, he treated her like someone withholding money that already belonged to him.
Claire watched Gregory leave.
“He thinks he was betrayed first.”
Raffaele nodded.
May you like
That made him more dangerous.
People could justify almost anything once they decided they were collecting a debt.
