Chapter 6 - The Media StormOf course, in a city like Chicago, secrets don't stay buried in kitchens.
Two days after Luca and I crossed the line from enemies to something far more dangerous, the bomb dropped.
“MORETTI EMPIRE IN SHAMBLES: BILLIONAIRE CEO FILES FOR DIVORCE AMID RUMORS OF SECRET FAMILY!”
The headline blared across the front page of the Chicago Tribune and every digital news aggregator from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Paparazzi staked out my townhouse, long black lenses poking over the wrought-iron fence like mechanical vultures. Social media erupted with speculation about the "mysterious first wife" who had suddenly resurfaced with two secret heirs to the Moretti fortune.
Evelyn Shaw—now publicly humiliated by the sudden filing of her high-profile divorce—retaliated in the most vicious way possible.
She called a press conference.
Sitting on a podium surrounded by high-priced legal counsel, Evelyn wept into designer tissues, painting herself as the innocent victim of a manipulative ex-wife who had "trapped" a billionaire with hidden children to extort a multi-million-dollar payout.
"Nia Carter is a gold-digger who engineered this entire deception," Evelyn sobbed into the microphones, cameras flashing blindingly in her face. "Luca was deceived! Those children were kept from him maliciously to blackmail Moretti Global!"
By noon, my phone was ringing off the hook. Reporters hammered on my front door. The sanctuary I had built for my children was suddenly under siege.
I was sitting in my living room, staring blankly at the television screen broadcasting Evelyn’s defamatory press conference, when the front door burst open.
Luca strode in, looking like a thunderstorm wrapped in a Brioni suit. His face was thunderous, his eyes blazing with a fury that could incinerate steel.
"Turn that off," he commanded, marching over to the TV and clicking the power button with the remote.
"Your soon-to-be-ex-wife is currently telling the entire world that I'm an extortionist," I said calmly, though my hands were shaking as I set my coffee mug down. "Good luck explaining that to your investors."
"Let my investors panic," Luca snarled, stopping in front of me and dropping a thick stack of legal documents onto the coffee table. "Evelyn just signed a non-disclosure and defamation settlement under threat of immediate bankruptcy litigation. Her press conference was her last desperate gasp."
He dropped to one knee in front of my chair, taking my trembling hands in his.
"Nia, look at me," he commanded softly.
I raised my eyes to meet his.
"We are going to hold our own press conference tomorrow morning at Moretti Global headquarters," Luca said, his voice ringing with absolute, unshakable authority. "We are going to tell the truth. Not a corporate spin. The absolute truth: that I walked away from the best thing that ever happened to me, that you raised our children with grace and strength, and that I am the luckiest, most undeserving man on earth to be given a second chance."
"Luca, the media circus—"
"Let them circus," he interrupted, a fierce, confident smile touching his lips. "Let them write whatever they want. Because the only thing that matters is you and those two kids upstairs. I spent four years living in a shadow because I was too proud to realize what real wealth looked like. I'm not letting you go again."
I stared at him, my heart swelling until it felt too big for my chest.
May you like
All the bitterness, all the cold self-preservation of the past four years melted away, replaced by the warmth of a love that had survived the harshest winter.
"All right," I whispered. "Let's show them the empire."
