Chapter 15
Genevieve lost everything that depended on the Moretti name.
Not her money.
Not her clothes.
Not the things that could be replaced.
Access.
Influence.
Rooms.
People.
No council.
No capos.
No family gatherings around Ethan.
No ability to send instructions through Julian.
That was what she feared.
“You’re erasing me.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
“You are.”
“I’m removing your authority.”
“Same thing.”
I almost smiled.
“No.”
Important distinction.
Julian lost his rank.
He accepted it.
Not gracefully.
But honestly.
“What happens to me now?”
I looked at him.
“You figure out who you are when your mother is no longer your reason.”
His face tightened.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
I glanced toward the ballroom.
“You apologize to the people you helped endanger.”
“Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
“Especially Lily.”
His expression changed.
He had probably never imagined apologizing to a housekeeper’s three-year-old daughter.
Good.
That was part of the problem.
People like Julian believed rank determined whose pain mattered.
Later, he sat across from Lily.
Sarah beside her.
Ethan beside me.
Julian struggled for several seconds.
Then:
“I tried to stop you from telling the truth.”
Lily stared.
“Yes.”
No mercy.
No cruelty.
Just fact.
Julian continued.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at Ethan.
Then at Julian.
“You hit his daddy.”
“Yes.”
“That was bad.”
“Yes.”
She thought about it.
Then returned to coloring.
Conversation over.
Julian looked at me.
I almost laughed.
He wanted resolution.
A child gave him accountability instead.
Maybe that was enough.
Ethan leaned toward Lily.
“You can use my blue crayon.”
May you like
She accepted it.
No Moretti ceremony ever mattered as much as watching my son share something freely after surviving people obsessed with inheritance.
