Chapter 9 - The Moretti Price
The evidence against Adrian grew quickly.
Sofia's team found that the contract he had used to claim ownership of Vivien's work was never completed. The payment had been routed through a company tied to the Sinclair family's property group, then transferred to a shipping firm that federal investigators had already been watching.
The man with the anchor pin was identified as Peter Harlan, a financial intermediary who had arranged transfers for several shell companies.
Damien's investigation had been focused on Harlan for months. The wedding had been a chance to obtain the original records. Instead, Harlan had fled before the meeting could happen.
Now he was trying to negotiate.
“He wants immunity,” Marco told Damien.
“He can speak to the investigators.”
“He says he has information about Adrian.”
“Then he can provide it.”
Marco hesitated. “He also says the Sinclair family knew what the funds were for.”
Damien looked toward the glass wall of his office. “We need evidence, not another story.”
He had spent years learning that a rumor could start a war and a fact could end one. He was determined not to let Vivien become a weapon in someone else's negotiation.
That evening, he told her what the investigators had found.
“Adrian may have been laundering money,” he said. “Or he may have been knowingly helping someone else do it.”
Vivien sat quietly.
“Was my work part of it?”
“Possibly. Your design files were listed as an asset in a company valuation. The false payment agreement made it appear that Vale Creative owned them.”
She shook her head. “He stole my work and used it to make his company look more valuable.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To obtain financing. To impress investors. To build leverage.”
Vivien stared at the table.
“He told me I was lucky he gave me a chance.”
Damien's expression hardened.
“You were not lucky. He was.”
She looked at him.
“I'm angry,” she said. “Not because he married someone else. Not because he lied about me. I'm angry because I spent two years believing I wasn't good enough.”
Damien reached across the table, then stopped before touching her hand.
“May I?”
She placed her fingers in his.
“You don't have to earn the right to be treated honestly,” he said.
She looked down at their joined hands.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you treat people honestly?”
He did not answer quickly.
“I have not always,” he said. “I have used fear when I should have used patience. I have protected people and called it loyalty when sometimes it was control. I'm trying to change what I inherited, but I won't pretend I am already a different man.”
Vivien appreciated the answer more than a promise.
“Then keep trying.”
“I intend to.”
A few days later, Harlan agreed to provide evidence to federal investigators. He delivered records showing that Adrian had knowingly signed false documents and had used the Sinclair companies to conceal payments. The authorities began preparing formal charges.
Adrian called Vivien that night.
She almost ignored it. Then she answered and put the phone on speaker with Sofia listening.
“You need to tell them the files are incomplete,” Adrian said.
“They aren't.”
“You don't understand what this will do.”
“I understand exactly what it will do.”
“Celeste's family will be destroyed.”
“That's not my responsibility.”
“Vivien, I can make this right. I'll pay you.”
“You already owed me.”
“I can give you a position. A partnership. Whatever you want.”
She closed her eyes.
“You should have offered that when it mattered.”
He went quiet.
Then his voice changed.
“You're making a mistake.”
“No, Adrian. I'm correcting one.”
She ended the call.
Damien was waiting outside the room.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
Then she walked toward him and rested her forehead against his chest.
He wrapped his arms around her, careful and steady.
For the first time, she did not feel like she was borrowing someone else's strength.
She felt her own returning.
The investigation moved into a more serious phase when federal agents contacted Sofia. They wanted to interview anyone who could explain the false ownership documents and the transfer of design assets into the company valuation.
Vivien agreed to cooperate.
She spent three hours answering questions, showing the original files, and explaining how the brand identity had been created. The investigators asked whether Adrian had ever mentioned the Sinclair companies.
“He said they were investors,” Vivien replied. “He told me the partnership would give us access to larger clients.”
“Did you know the money was connected to shell companies?”
“No.”
“Did you ever sign a transfer of intellectual property?”
“Only the draft he sent me. It was conditional on payment. The payment never happened.”
They asked about Damien.
Vivien answered honestly. She explained that she had met him at the wedding by mistake, that she had initially believed he was a hired companion, and that she had learned of his family background later.
“Has he asked you to withhold information?”
“No.”
“Has he asked you to change your statement?”
“No.”
“Has he offered you money?”
“He has offered help. I declined financial support.”
The investigator made a note.
When the interview ended, Vivien felt exhausted but relieved. She had told the truth without needing to soften it.
Outside the building, Damien was waiting across the street. He did not approach until she nodded.
“How did it go?”
“Long.”
“Did they treat you fairly?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She looked at him. “You didn't call anyone?”
“No.”
“You didn't ask what I said?”
“I'll let Sofia tell me what I need to know for the case. Your statement belongs to you.”
She smiled faintly.
“Thank you.”
They walked toward a café. Damien bought her a sandwich and sat with her while she ate.
“Do you ever wish you had never met me?” he asked.
Vivien considered the question.
“Sometimes I wish the wedding had been less complicated.”
“That's fair.”
“But I don't wish I hadn't met you.”
He looked at her.
“I don't know what this becomes,” she continued. “Your life is dangerous. Mine is finally becoming mine again. I don't want to lose that.”
“You shouldn't.”
“Can we take it slowly?”
“Yes.”
“And no more surprises about who you are.”
He gave a small smile. “I can agree to that.”
The next day, Harlan's records were turned over to investigators. They showed that Adrian had approved false invoices and knowingly used the disputed design assets to inflate the value of Vale Creative. The records also connected his company to a network of payments that had passed through the Sinclair property group.
Celeste issued a statement saying she had not known the full extent of the transactions. She had separated from Adrian and was cooperating with the inquiry.
Adrian's public confidence began to fracture.
For the first time, he could not control every version of the story.
The investigators later informed Sofia that Celeste had provided access to company correspondence after separating from Adrian. Her messages showed that she had questioned several unusual transfers but had accepted Adrian's explanation that they were temporary property investments.
She was not automatically cleared, but her cooperation mattered.
Vivien felt an unexpected sympathy for her. Celeste had been the woman in the white dress, the person Vivien had once imagined as the reason Adrian had left. Now she seemed less like a rival and more like another person who had been given a carefully edited version of the truth.
Vivien sent her a brief message through Sofia, saying she hoped she would be safe and that she did not blame her for what Adrian had done.
Celeste replied with a simple thank-you.
It did not create a friendship. It did allow Vivien to let go of a resentment that had never really belonged to Celeste.
The real betrayal had come from the man who had promised honesty to both of them.
Sofia reminded Vivien that the legal process could be slow. There might be delays, requests for additional records, and negotiations over compensation. She advised Vivien not to measure progress by how quickly Adrian faced consequences.
“Your case is about your rights,” Sofia said. “The investigation is about the financial network. They overlap, but they are not the same thing.”
Vivien understood.
She signed the final authorization for the forensic review and kept a copy for her own records. Then she went back to work on a new client presentation.
For once, she did not wait for the legal process to give her permission to move forward.
She could pursue justice and build a life at the same time.
That night, Damien asked whether she wanted to attend the next meeting with Sofia.
“Only if there's something I need to contribute,” Vivien said.
“There is. Your original files are central to the ownership question.”
“Then I'll come.”
He nodded. “And if at any point you want to stop, tell me.”
Vivien smiled. “I know.”
May you like
She understood now that his promise was not that nothing difficult would happen. It was that he would not take her choices away when it did.
That mattered more than any grand declaration.
