Chapter 4 - The Son Who Tried to Steal Her Future
Nico arrived within twenty minutes of Luna finding the documents.
This time, she had asked him to come.
He entered the apartment quietly, saw the papers spread across the table, and went still.
“Did Liam have access to your accounts?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Your passwords?”
“Some.”
“Did you ever authorize a business loan?”
“No.”
Nico picked up the papers carefully.
His expression became colder with every page.
“Liam has been trying to secure funding for a private venture,” he said.
“What venture?”
“He wanted to open a luxury nightlife group. Restaurants, clubs, private lounges.”
“With my identity?”
“It appears so.”
Maya looked at Nico.
“You knew?”
“I knew he wanted money. I did not know he was willing to commit fraud.”
Luna stared at him.
“Do you know everything about your son?”
The question was sharp.
Unfair, maybe.
But Nico did not flinch.
“No,” he said. “And I should have known more.”
Luna looked at the forged application again.
The betrayal was no longer only emotional.
Liam had expected her to remain quiet, heartbroken, and confused long enough for him to trap her financially too.
“He thought I would never check,” she whispered.
Nico’s voice lowered.
“He thought you were predictable.”
Luna looked up.
“And now?”
Nico met her eyes.
“Now he is about to learn he was wrong.”
Nico did not take over.
That mattered.
He recommended an independent attorney who did not work for the Rossi family. He arranged a fraud specialist. He asked Luna what she wanted before every decision.
The answer was not revenge.
It was accountability.
Within days, the loan application was reported. The bank froze the file. The company investigating Liam’s venture uncovered additional false documents, including investor promises made using Rossi family connections he did not actually possess.
Liam had spent years using his father’s reputation as leverage.
He told investors Nico supported him.
He told vendors the Rossi family guaranteed payment.
He told Amber he would build a life with her.
He told Luna he loved her.
The pattern was always the same.
Liam used people as bridges to the future he wanted.
But he never planned to carry anyone across with him.
When Nico confronted him, Luna was not there.
She did not need to be.
Later, Nico told her only one part of the conversation.
“I told him he would not use my name again.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said I chose you over him.”
Luna looked down.
“And did you?”
May you like
Nico was quiet.
Then he said, “I chose the truth over the version of him I wanted to believe.”
