12. Maria
— · —
Maria
The café Giuliana chose is on the outskirts of the city.
Far from Moretti territory. Far from prying eyes and family spies. The kind of place where two women can meet without anyone noticing or caring.
Luca is parked across the street. Close enough to watch the entrance. Far enough that Giuliana won’t know he’s there.
“If anything feels wrong-” he started this morning.
“I text you the code word and you come running. I know.” I kissed him. “I can handle my sister.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Then what?”
“I’m worried about what she might tell you.” His jaw tightened. “I’ve been digging into Tommy’s finances. There’s more here than we thought. A lot more.”
“How much more?”
“The kind of more that puts people in prison.”
I think about that now as I push through the café door. Giuliana is already here, tucked into a corner booth, hunched over a cup of coffee like she’s trying to disappear into it.
She looks terrible.
Not the glowing, triumphant woman from Nonna’s birthday party. This woman is hollow-eyed. Thin. Her designer clothes hang loose on her frame, and there’s something haunted in her expression.
Something afraid.
“Thank you for coming.” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “I wasn’t sure you would.”
“I almost didn’t.” I slide into the booth across from her. “What do you want, Giuliana?”
“I need to tell you something.” She wraps her hands around her coffee cup. They’re shaking. “About Tommy. About what he’s been doing.”
“You mean besides fucking my sister for eight months and getting her pregnant?”
She flinches. “I deserve that.”
“You deserve a lot more than that.”
“I know.” Her eyes are wet. “Maria, I know. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But that’s not-” She takes a breath. “He’s not who I thought he was.”
“I could have told you that.”
“No, I mean-” She leans forward. Drops her voice. “He’s been lying. To everyone. Including me.”
Something in her tone makes me pause.
“What do you mean?”
“He told me your marriage was over. That you didn’t love him.
That you two hadn’t been intimate in months.
” Her laugh is bitter. “I believed him because I wanted to. Because he made me feel special. Like I was the only one who really understood him.” She can’t look at me.
“It started that spring, the one you spent in and out of the clinic. You’d ask me to drive you home after the injections, and he’d be waiting, and somewhere in there I let him convince me you’d already checked out.
That I wasn’t taking anything that was still yours. ”
“And now?”
“Now I know he was saying the same things to someone else.” Giuliana meets my eyes. “At the same time.”
My stomach drops.
“What do you mean, someone else?”
She pulls out a USB drive. Slides it across the table.
“Do you remember the woman at the restaurant? The blonde? The day you threw wine at me?”
Amanda. The one Giuliana snapped at. The one who looked at me like she felt sorry for me.
“What about her?”
“Her name is Amanda Cole. She used to be your friend, didn’t she? Back in college?”
The name hits me like a punch to the gut.
Amanda. My Amanda. My best friend from before Tommy, before the Morettis, before any of it.
“What does Amanda have to do with this?”
Giuliana’s face crumbles.
“She’s pregnant too. With Tommy’s baby. About as far along as me.” Her voice breaks. “Three women, Maria. He got three women pregnant at the same time. You. Me. And her.”
***
The world tilts sideways.
Three women.
Three pregnancies.
Tommy was juggling three relationships - three lives - and none of us knew about the others.
“That’s not all.” Giuliana’s voice is barely audible. “He’s been stealing money. Millions. From the restaurants. From Victor’s accounts. From everywhere.”
She pushes the USB drive closer.
“He asked me to sign some papers a few months ago. I didn’t read them carefully. I trusted him.” Her laugh is hollow. “He put some of the accounts in my name. If anyone investigates - if this comes out-”
“You’ll be the one holding the bag.”
“Yes.” She’s crying now. Silent tears streaming down her face. “I was so stupid. I thought he loved me. I thought I was special. But I was just - I was just another-”
“Another weapon.” My voice is flat. “Another pawn in whatever game he’s playing.”
“Yes.”
I should feel satisfied. Should feel vindicated.
Instead, I feel hollow.
Because I’m looking at my sister - foolish, selfish, desperate Giuliana - and I see myself. Two years ago. Five years ago. The woman who believed Tommy’s lies because believing them was easier than facing the truth.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Because I don’t have anyone else.” Giuliana wipes her eyes. “You hate me, you should hate me, but you’re still my sister. And Tommy-” Her voice hardens. “Tommy deserves to burn.”
“And the other half of the evidence?”
“Amanda has it. They were working together, I don’t know the details, but she has records that prove where the money went. What he’s been doing.” Giuliana meets my eyes. “If you can get her to talk, if you can combine what she knows with what I’m giving you-”
“We can destroy him.”
“You can protect yourself. Your baby.” Her hand drifts to her own stomach. “And maybe, maybe mine too.”
I pick up the USB drive.
“This doesn’t make us okay.”
“I know.”
“I don’t forgive you.”
“I know.”
I stand.
“But thank you. For telling me.”
I walk out.
***
Luca
She shows me the USB drive in the car.
I plug it into my laptop and watch as file after file downloads. Bank transfers. Shell companies. Offshore accounts. A trail of stolen money leading through half the financial institutions in Europe.
“Holy shit.”
“How bad is it?”
“Bad. Really bad.” I scroll through the documents. “He’s been siphoning money for years. Not just from your accounts - from Victor’s. From the family business. From everyone.”
And this is the part I’ve been waiting five years for.
On its own, a drive full of transfers is just noise - numbers no prosecutor would ever bother to untangle.
But I know this map. I built it, account by account, in a rented office while my family pretended I was dead.
I recognize the shell companies. The dummy directors.
The account in Liechtenstein that everything eventually feeds.
Giuliana didn’t hand me a case tonight. She handed me the last missing pages of one I’ve been assembling since the day they threw me out.
“How much?”
“Millions. Maybe tens of millions.” I look up at her. “Maria, this isn’t just a divorce case anymore. This is criminal.”
“Can we use it?”
“We can send him to prison.”
Her face softens into something I don’t expect. Not triumph. Not satisfaction.
Relief.
“There’s more,” she says. “Amanda. The third woman. She has the other half of the evidence.”
“I know who Amanda is. I’ve been digging.” I close the laptop. “She’s Victor’s surprise witness for the custody hearing. He’s been pressuring her to testify against you.”
“What could she possibly testify?”
“That you didn’t want the baby. That you expressed doubts about motherhood.” I take her hand. “But Maria - if she has evidence of Tommy’s crimes, if we can convince her to turn-”
“Then Victor loses his witness and we gain a co-conspirator.”
“Exactly.”
She’s quiet for a moment.
“She was my friend once. Before Tommy. Before any of this.” Her voice is soft. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how she got mixed up with him.”
“People make bad choices when they’re desperate.”
“Like Giuliana.”
“Like Giuliana.” I squeeze her hand. “But unlike Giuliana, Amanda has leverage. She has evidence. And if we can show her that she’s better off with us than against us-”
“We can end this.”
“We can end this.”
***
That night, we spread the files across the kitchen table.
Bank statements. Wire transfers. Corporate documents. A spider web of corruption that stretches back years - long before Maria entered the picture, long before I was exiled.
“This goes deeper than Tommy,” I say. “Some of these accounts - they have Victor’s fingerprints all over them.”
“They were working together?”
“Or Victor was using Tommy as a front. A fall guy.” I tap one of the documents. “If this comes out, it’s not just Tommy who goes down. It’s the whole empire.”
Maria is quiet for a moment.
“Good.”
I look up at her.
“Good?”
“They destroyed my life. They tried to take my baby. They blamed me for everything while Tommy was stealing millions and sleeping with half the city.” Her eyes are fierce. “If the whole empire burns, I won’t lose any sleep over it.”
I pull her close. Kiss her hard.
“Have I told you lately that I love you?”
“You might have mentioned it.”
“Good.” I kiss her again. “Because watching you become this, this warrior, is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
She laughs. Pushes me away.
“Focus. We have work to do.”
“I am focused.” My hands find her waist. “Extremely focused.”
“Luca-”
“The files can wait an hour.” I back her against the kitchen counter. “Or two.”
“We don’t have time-”
“We have time.” I lift her onto the counter. Step between her legs. “We always have time for this.”
***
We don’t make it to the bedroom.
The kitchen counter is cold against her back, but she doesn’t seem to care. Her legs are wrapped around my waist, her hands fisting my shirt, her mouth hungry against mine.
“Here?” She’s breathless. “Now?”
“Here.” I pull her shirt over her head. “Now.”
“The files-”
“Can wait.” I kiss her neck. Her collarbone. The swell of her breasts above her bra. “I need you.”
“You had me last night.”
“I need you again.” I unhook her bra. Watch it fall. “I’ll always need you.”
She shivers as the cool air hits her skin. I warm her up with my mouth - kissing, licking, sucking until her nipples are hard peaks and she’s making those sounds I love.
“Luca-”
“Tell me what you want.”
“You. Inside me. Now.”
I don’t make her wait.
My hands find her jeans. Unbutton them. Slide them down her hips along with her underwear until she’s bare from the waist down, sitting on my kitchen counter like the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“God.” I step back. Just to look at her. “You’re-”
“Shut up and touch me.”
I touch her.
My fingers find her center - already wet, already ready - and she gasps as I stroke her.
“Like this?”
“More. Harder.”
I give her more. Two fingers sliding inside while my thumb circles her clit. She’s gripping the edge of the counter, head thrown back, chest heaving.
“Look at me.” I tilt her chin up. “I want to see you.”
She looks at me. Dark eyes glazed with pleasure. Cheeks flushed. Lips parted.
“I love you,” I say, my fingers still working her. “I love watching you come apart. I love being the one who does this to you.”
“Luca - I’m close-”
“I know.” I speed up. “Let go. Let me see you.”
She comes with a cry, her whole body shaking, walls clenching around my fingers. I work her through it, drawing out every wave until she’s limp and gasping.
“Good?” I grin.
“Shut up.” But she’s smiling. “Your turn.”
She reaches for my belt. Unbuckles it with shaking hands. Pushes my jeans down.
I’m hard. Straining. Aching for her.
“Condom,” I manage.
“Don’t need one. Already pregnant, remember?”
Oh fuck.
She wraps her hand around me. Strokes once, twice. Then guides me to her entrance.
“Maria-”
“I want to feel you. Really feel you.”
I push inside.
Bare.
For the first time.
Jesus Christ.
She’s warm and wet and perfect, and I have to stop moving immediately or this is going to be over embarrassingly fast.
“You okay?” Her voice is concerned.
“More than okay.” I take a breath. “You feel - God, Maria, you feel incredible.”
“Then move.”
I move.
It’s harder this time. Faster. More desperate.
The kitchen counter creaks beneath us. The files flutter to the floor. Neither of us cares.
All that matters is this - her body against mine, her breath in my ear, her voice crying my name as I drive into her again and again.
“Tell me you love me.” I don’t know why I need to hear it. I just do.
“I love you.”
“Tell me you’re mine.”
“I’m yours.” She pulls me closer. “I’m yours, Luca. Only yours.”
I come with her name on my lips.
She follows a moment later, her nails raking down my back.
We collapse against each other, sweaty and satisfied.
“We should clean up the files,” she mumbles against my chest.
“Later.”
“The evidence-”
“Can wait.” I press a kiss to her hair. “Everything can wait.”
She laughs.
For one perfect moment, there’s nothing else.
Then her phone rings.
***
Renata’s name flashes on the screen.
Maria answers. Listens. Her face goes white.
“When? Are you sure?” She looks at me. “We’ll be there.”
She hangs up.
“What is it?”
“Victor filed an emergency motion. The hearing’s been moved up.” Her voice is hollow. “And Maria - he’s bringing Amanda. She’s going to testify against me.”
The perfect moment shatters.
“Then we need to get to Amanda first.” I grab my laptop. “We need to show her that she’s on the wrong side.”
“And if we can’t convince her?”
“Then we destroy her testimony in court.” I take Maria’s hand. “One way or another, we’re winning this. I promise you.”
I just hope it’s a promise I can keep.