Chapter 5 - MICHAEL MORETTI
Michael Moretti arrived before dawn.
Galen’s younger brother was forty-two.
Quieter.
Less intimidating.
The Moretti most relatives described as reasonable.
He had spent years smoothing arguments Galen preferred to end.
Eira adored him.
Galen trusted him.
That trust changed the moment Michael saw Serena’s tablet.
He stopped walking.
“Where did you find that?”
Galen looked at him.
“You knew it existed.”
Michael closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Ainsley remained in the adjoining room under guard.
Galen stood near the fireplace.
“What were you lying about?”
Michael did not answer immediately.
Then he said:
“Serena was planning to leave the estate.”
Galen stared.
Not leave him.
The estate.
Serena wanted Galen and Eira to move into a smaller home in the city.
No relatives coming in without notice.
No family dinners every week.
No bodyguards outside Eira’s nursery.
She wanted a life where Galen was still Galen Moretti without every Moretti living inside their marriage.
“She told you.”
“Yes.”
“Why not me?”
“She tried.”
Galen remembered the arguments.
He had heard criticism.
Not fear.
Michael continued.
Serena felt the estate was swallowing their marriage.
Ainsley made it worse.
Vanessa? no. Different story. Keep.
Family guests appeared constantly.
Older relatives corrected Serena’s parenting.
Everyone had opinions about how a Moretti daughter should dress, speak, eat, behave.
Serena hated it.
Galen defended the family more often than he defended her.
Not because he loved them more.
Because their presence felt normal to him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
Michael looked ashamed.
“I thought she would calm down.”
Galen laughed bitterly.
Another person deciding what Serena’s feelings meant.
Then Michael revealed the deeper secret.
Serena had asked him to help her rent a house.
Not secretly forever.
Only so she could show Galen a real alternative.
Somewhere close.
Somewhere Eira could have a yard without guards.
Michael found one.
Serena visited it.
She loved it.
Then Ainsley discovered the plan.
“How?”
Michael looked toward the adjoining room.
“I told her.”
Galen went still.
Michael had trusted Ainsley.
She presented herself as Serena’s closest friend.
Michael believed she could help Serena and Galen talk.
Instead Ainsley told Galen a distorted version.
Galen remembered.
Three weeks before Serena died, Ainsley told him Serena was “talking about leaving.”
He confronted Serena.
She became angry.
He asked if she wanted a divorce.
She said:
“If you hear the word leaving and only think I mean you, then you’re proving my point.”
He never understood.
Now he did.
“She wanted me to leave this house with her.”
Michael nodded.
“Yes.”
Galen sat.
The truth hurt differently from Ainsley’s betrayal.
Ainsley manipulated.
Michael remained passive.
Galen misunderstood.
Serena tried.
All three failures met in the same marriage.
Then Michael said:
“There’s more.”
Of course.
The night Serena died, she called Michael too.
After calling Galen.
Michael answered.
Galen looked up sharply.
“She said she was dizzy.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her to sit down.”
Galen’s expression hardened.
“I was twenty minutes away.”
Michael’s voice broke.
“So was I.”
He was driving home.
He thought Serena sounded anxious.
Not critically ill.
She told him Ainsley had been there.
Michael assumed they had argued.
He told Serena he would come after he dropped something off.
He delayed.
By the time he arrived, the ambulance was already there.
Galen stared.
Michael had carried that guilt silently for eighteen months.
Not because he caused Serena’s death.
Because he knew she asked for help and he decided he understood the urgency better than she did.
Galen looked toward the tablet.
Serena’s final video continued.
They had stopped it too soon.
He pressed play again.
Serena appeared.
“Ainsley lied.”
“She wants Galen to think I’m leaving him.”
“I’m not.”
Then Serena breathed slowly.
“Michael knows about the house.”
A pause.
“And there is one reason he hasn’t told Galen.”
Michael went pale.
Galen turned.
The video continued.
“Michael bought it.”
Galen stared.
Michael whispered:
“No.”
Serena looked directly into the camera.
“Not for me.”
“For Galen.”
The room became completely still.
May you like
Then she said:
“Michael was planning to ask his brother to leave the Moretti family with us.”
