Chapter 15
The divorce took months.
Sylvia did not rush it simply because she wanted Trent gone.
There were accounts to divide, financial disclosures to review, and questions about debts attached to transactions she had once approved.
Her order of protection remained in place while the legal process moved forward.
Trent contested parts of the financial allegations and the assault-related accounts.
His attorneys were allowed to do their jobs.
So were everyone else’s.
Raymond’s security company lost its Moretti contracts.
It downsized rather than collapsing overnight.
Several employees transferred to other firms.
Recovery claims over disputed payments continued through lawyers and insurers.
The financial findings were referred for external review.
The outcome did not arrive in one dramatic scene.
That suited Sylvia.
She had learned to distrust anything that promised one moment could fix years of choices.
Her own consequences remained visible too.
She did not return to the Moretti Hospitality board.
At least not immediately.
She reimbursed certain costs tied to the unauthorized advances she had initiated and completed a governance program before becoming eligible for any future committee role.
She did not call that unfair.
“I made those decisions,” she told Alessio.
Trent had exploited them.
That did not make them disappear.
Alessio’s assault complaint followed its own path.
The circumstances involving Sylvia mattered.
So did the fact that Alessio had continued using force after she was safely behind him.
On Caroline’s recommendation, he kept attending anger-management counseling.
He stopped treating the sessions like punishment around the fourth week.
At the private club, he also changed procedures.
No spouse could exercise another family member’s voting authority without independent review.
Security contractors could not report through the same executive approving their invoices.
Employees received an outside channel for reporting misconduct.
The older members complained about bureaucracy.
Alessio told them they would survive.
Sylvia moved into a small condo near Lincoln Park.
Smaller than the home she had shared with Trent.
Lighter.
Quieter.
The first thing she did was replace the bathroom lock.
Not because she feared someone getting in.
Because the old one reminded her of trying to keep somebody out.
Months after the board meeting, Alessio came by carrying a box of books Sylvia had left at his house years earlier.
She opened the door.
Her arm was out of the sling now.
“You could’ve sent somebody.”
“I could have.”
She took the box.
Neither moved.
Their relationship had improved, but it had not returned to what it had been.
Sylvia no longer wanted the version where Alessio solved everything.
Alessio no longer wanted a sister who hid mistakes because she feared disappointing him.
That left them without their old roles.
Maybe that was healthy.
Maybe it was simply unfamiliar.
“I’m making coffee,” Sylvia said finally.
Alessio looked past her into the apartment.
It was the closest thing to an invitation she had offered in weeks.
“You asking me in?”
Sylvia considered him.
Then she opened the door a little wider.
“I’m saying I’m making coffee.”
Alessio smiled faintly.
He stepped inside without taking the box back from her.
Sylvia did not close the door immediately.
For several seconds she stood there with one hand on it, deciding how far open she wanted it.
Then Alessio heard the lock click behind him.
May you like
He could not tell yet whether his sister was learning to trust him again or simply learning that she could decide for herself who was allowed through the door.
This time, he did not ask.
