I Refused the Moretti Name Chapter 08
That evening, the Moretti family came to Alden again.
Reception said Sofia’d been waiting downstairs for almost two hours. When I left work, she was sitting in the lounge of the hotel next door with an untouched club soda.
She stood when she saw me. “Give me ten minutes.”
“If this is about the foundation, call your lawyer.”
“It’s about the courthouse.”
I checked the time, then slid into a booth by the window.
Sofia placed the sapphire bracelet on the table. “I want to return this first. Your name is engraved inside. I shouldn’t have kept wearing it.”
“It doesn’t buy anything on the audit.”
“I know.” She laced her fingers together. “I’m trying to admit that I had a choice.”
I kept quiet and let her fill the silence.
She watched the bubbles climb the side of her glass. “I didn’t have an asthma attack at court. When I saw the west wing being cleared, I knew all I had to do was say I couldn’t breathe. They would take me home.”
The truth didn’t feel like a victory. It only brought back six neat promises on my phone and the clerk asking
whether I still wanted the name.
I had suspected Sofia that morning, but I’d gone to court anyway because I wanted to give my family one last chance to prove me wrong.
“After you came back, they swore nothing would change,” Sofia continued. “Then they planned your dinner, filed the name petition, and took back the west wing. I didn’t know if my room would be next, or my place at the table.”
“So you made sure they kept leaving me.”
“I never ordered them to go.” She looked up sharply. “I only had to look scared, and they chose me. That was their choice.”
“Yes, it was.”
She stared at me, clearly unprepared for agreement.
“You exploited their favoritism, but you didn’t create it,” I said. “You’re responsible for what you did. They’re responsible for the fact that it worked every time.”
Luca braced one hand on the booth. “I thought I was protecting her.”
“You were protecting yourself from watching her panic. Leaving with her was easier than asking whether she was safe with Matteo. Every time you chose the fastest way to stop the scene, you taught her exactly which button to press.”
His face tightened because he knew I was right.
Tears slipped down her cheeks. “I’ll repay the money. Please don’t report it.”
“I can’t. My identity was forged, and that money didn’t belong to the Morettis in the first place.”
Heels clicked to a stop outside our booth. Mom stood at the end of the aisle. After the audit findings, security had been told not to let Sofia travel alone. She’d ditched her detail, but her location had reached Luca’s phone anyway.Luca came, and Mom followed.
Mom’s face had gone white. “You weren’t sick at the courthouse?”
Sofia rose too fast. “Mom, I can explain.”
“What about Elena’s birthdays? Every time she needed us, you suddenly needed us more.”
“Not every time!” Sofia’s voice cracked. “Some attacks were real. I have asthma, and I was truly terrified you’d stop loving me.”
Luca’s eyes turned hard. “So Elena was supposed to be abandoned over and over?”
“Don’t dump your choices on her,” I said.
Mom and Luca both looked at me.
“When Sofia cried, you circled the wagons and left together. When I could hail a cab, spend a birthday alone, or fix my own paperwork, you treated me like I could wait forever.” I closed the bracelet in its box and handed it to Mom. “This isn’t a bargaining chip. Return it when you’re ready to say what promise you broke. Sofia found the weak spot in this family, but you’re the ones who built it.”
Mom covered her mouth as tears spilled through her fingers.
“I wasn’t born needing less love,” I said as I stood. “I just never made you afraid of losing me until I actually left.
Mom whispered, “I thought giving you space was respecting how strong you are.”
“Space is something you offer. Neglect is what happens when you disappear and expect the other person to thank you for not being a burden.”
My ten minutes were up. I picked up my bag and looked at Sofia one last time.
“Five tomorrow. The money and the records had better be there.”
This time, no one called me cruel. Maybe because, for once, they were looking at the damage instead of the person who named it.
