Chapter 4 - The Man Matteo Called Family
Vittorio Moretti arrived at the estate the next morning.
He came voluntarily.
That made him more frightening.
He was sixty-two, elegant, silver-haired, and carried himself with the relaxed confidence of a man who had spent decades being welcomed through every Moretti door.
Matteo had trusted him since childhood.
After Matteo's father died, Vittorio had become mentor, adviser, and family patriarch.
Sofia had called him Uncle Vito.
And Grant claimed he had murdered her.
Matteo met Vittorio in the library.
Clara stayed away.
At least she tried.
Bruno refused.
The dog planted himself outside the library doors and would not move.
Clara sat beside him.
Inside, voices remained low.
Then Vittorio emerged.
Bruno stood.
A growl began.
Vittorio stopped.
Interesting.
“Bruno,” he said.
The dog did not approach.
Vittorio looked at Clara.
“So you're the maid.”
Clara stood.
“Yes.”
“The famous one.”
“I wasn't aware I was famous.”
“You've caused quite a disturbance.”
His smile was warm.
His eyes were not.
Matteo appeared behind him.
“Clara.”
One word.
A warning.
She stepped back.
Vittorio left.
Bruno watched until the car disappeared.
Matteo looked down at him.
“You remember him too, don't you?”
That afternoon, Grant finally told the entire story.
Four years earlier, he had helped Vittorio move money from Moretti companies.
At first, Grant believed the transfers were authorized.
Then Sofia discovered them.
She confronted Grant.
He panicked.
Bianca knew about some transfers because her family's company was being used as an intermediary.
But neither had understood the full scheme.
Vittorio had been building a financial empire behind Matteo's back.
Sofia planned to tell Matteo.
She never got the chance.
“Why didn't you tell me after she died?” Matteo asked.
Grant looked ashamed.
“Because Vittorio had evidence that made me look responsible.”
“You were responsible.”
“For the theft. Not her death.”
Matteo's voice hardened.
“You let me bury my sister believing it was an accident.”
“Yes.”
Grant lowered his head.
“And I will regret that until I die.”
Clara watched Matteo struggle with rage.
But he did not explode.
He walked away.
That night, Clara found him outside.
Snow covered the gardens.
Bruno walked ahead.
“You shouldn't be out here without a coat,” Matteo said.
“Neither should you.”
He looked at her.
“Do you always argue?”
“Only when I'm right.”
“That often?”
“Constantly.”
He smiled faintly.
Then the grief returned.
“I trusted Vittorio.”
Clara stood beside him.
“Trust isn't stupidity.”
“It feels like it.”
“That's because betrayal rewrites memories.”
Matteo looked at her.
“How do you know?”
Clara hesitated.
Then told him about Grant Hayes.
Not the estate manager.
Her former fiancé.
The coincidence in names had bothered her since arriving.
Her Grant had promised marriage, stability, family.
Then Clara discovered he had emptied their savings and disappeared with someone else.
“He left me with debt and a note.”
Matteo's jaw tightened.
“What did the note say?”
“That I was too trusting.”
“Coward.”
Clara laughed softly.
“Yes.”
Matteo moved closer.
“So that's why you needed this job.”
“Partly.”
“And why Bianca's comments bothered you.”
Clara looked away.
“I don't like being treated like I'm foolish.”
“You aren't.”
“I drop things.”
“That is not the same as being foolish.”
She smiled.
“No?”
“No.”
Matteo touched a loose strand of hair near her cheek.
His movement was slow enough for her to step away.
She didn't.
Their eyes met.
For once, there was no mystery.
No dog.
No investigation.
Just two people standing beneath falling snow.
Matteo leaned closer.
Then Bruno barked.
They jumped apart.
Clara laughed.
“Your dog has terrible timing.”
Matteo looked at Bruno.
“I disagree.”
Bruno barked again.
This time differently.
Alert.
Matteo turned.
A light moved near the greenhouse.
Security immediately responded.
Someone had entered the grounds.
The intruder escaped.
But inside the greenhouse, they found a message painted across a sheet of glass.
STOP DIGGING OR THE MAID PAYS FOR SOFIA'S MISTAKE.
Matteo went completely still.
Clara stared at the words.
She expected him to become angry.
Instead, he looked terrified.
“Pack.”
“What?”
“You're leaving tonight.”
Clara's chest tightened.
“You said I wasn't leaving.”
“That was before someone threatened you.”
“Which is exactly why leaving alone would be stupid.”
“You won't be alone.”
“I don't want guards.”
“This isn't a discussion.”
Clara stepped closer.
“No. You don't get to decide my life because you're afraid.”
Matteo stared at her.
“I can keep you alive.”
“And I can choose where I live.”
His jaw tightened.
“Clara.”
“No.”
Bruno stood between them, looking from one to the other.
Clara softened.
“You spent years letting Sofia's death teach you that everyone you love must be controlled to be protected.”
Matteo flinched.
She immediately regretted the words.
But she continued.
“I understand why. But I'm not Sofia.”
Silence.
“And I'm not leaving because Vittorio wants me frightened.”
Matteo's voice became quieter.
“What if something happens to you?”
Clara looked into his eyes.
“Then we make smart choices together.”
Together.
The word changed him.
He looked away.
Finally he nodded.
“Main house. Security with you outside. Bruno stays with you.”
“Fine.”
“And you don't leave the grounds.”
“Matteo.”
“Compromise.”
She sighed.
“Fine.”
That night, Clara could not sleep.
At 2:00 a.m., she found Matteo in the library.
He had a folder open.
“What's that?”
“Vittorio's financial records.”
Clara sat beside him.
They worked until dawn.
At 5:16, Clara noticed something.
A property company.
She recognized the address.
“The old grooming facility.”
Matteo looked at her.
“What?”
“The place your former groomer worked before coming here.”
Matteo searched the records.
The facility belonged indirectly to Vittorio.
Suddenly Bruno's behavior made sense.
The groomer had not been random.
He had been hired by Vittorio.
But why terrorize a dog?
Then Clara remembered Sofia's recording.
Bruno knows.
“He wasn't trying to groom Bruno,” she whispered.
Matteo understood.
“He was trying to make Bruno aggressive.”
“Why?”
“To justify removing him.”
Because Bruno remembered Vittorio.
And if Bruno became “dangerous,” Matteo might have had him sent away.
The dog was not merely Sofia's pet.
He was a witness who could not speak.
Matteo called his security chief.
They searched the former grooming facility.
Inside a locked cabinet, they found veterinary sedatives.
Photographs of Bruno.
Training notes.
And one final file.
A photograph of Clara.
Taken two weeks before she started working at the estate.
Clara stared at it.
“That isn't possible.”
Matteo's face hardened.
“You were being watched before you came here.”
“But why?”
He opened the folder.
Inside was her employment application.
At the bottom was a handwritten instruction:
Hire her. She looks enough like Sofia to unsettle the dog.
Clara stopped breathing.
She had not accidentally entered Matteo Moretti's house.
Someone had deliberately put her there.
May you like
And suddenly her entire employment felt like part of a plan.
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