143.🪞 The Scarred Daughter the Mafia Boss Refused to Send Back

Chapter 02 - A Bargain Without Perfume

Mateo did not ask Adelaide to sit immediately.

That, strange as it sounded, was the first mercy.

Most people rushed to make women like her comfortable, not because they cared, but because discomfort made them feel guilty. Chairs appeared. Tea was offered. Voices became syrupy. They overcompensated for the face they wished they had not noticed.

Mateo simply watched her.

Then he looked past her shoulder.

“Leave us.”

Chloe stiffened. “Excuse me?”

Mateo’s eyes did not move from Adelaide.

“I said leave us.”

Evelyn gave a polished laugh. “Mr. Moretti, surely we should all discuss—”

“No.”

One word.

No anger.

No volume.

The room obeyed anyway.

Rockford’s mouth opened, closed, then opened again. “Mateo, if there has been a misunderstanding—”

“There has been.” Mateo finally looked at him. “You mistook debt for strategy.”

Rockford went quiet.

Chloe recovered first. “Adelaide knows nothing about business.”

Adelaide had spent six years doing unpaid bookkeeping for Jones Financial every time their accounting department needed quiet emergency labor. Chloe knew this. Rockford knew this. Evelyn knew this.

That was how lies worked in rich families. They were not built because nobody knew the truth. They were built because everyone agreed not to use it.

Mateo rested one hand on his desk.

“Miss Jones,” he said, still looking at Chloe. “If your sister knows nothing, why send her to secure a fifteen-million-dollar obligation?”

Chloe flushed.

Adelaide surprised herself by answering.

“Because if you rejected me, they could blame your cruelty. If you accepted me, they could blame my obedience.”

Mateo’s gaze returned to her.

This time, he almost smiled.

Almost.

“Accurate.”

Evelyn grabbed Chloe’s wrist and pulled her backward. Rockford followed more slowly, giving Adelaide one last look that tried to be regret and became cowardice halfway there.

The door closed.

Silence filled the study.

Adelaide realized she was breathing too carefully.

Mateo noticed.

“You may sit.”

“I’d rather stand.”

“That wasn’t a command.”

“I know.”

His brows lifted slightly.

She should have been terrified. Perhaps she was. But terror had worn many faces in Adelaide’s life, and Mateo Moretti’s was not the first. A stepmother smiling over medical bills could be terrifying. A father pretending not to hear could be terrifying. A sister suggesting your death as a joke could be terrifying.

A man with power was only frightening in a new suit.

“What do you know about the missing money?” he asked.

“That there is missing money.”

“And?”

“And my father drinks more when he is guilty than when he is worried.”

Mateo watched her more closely.

“How much has he been drinking?”

“Enough to make me think he is both.”

This time the smile came and went in one clean line.

“You speak carefully.”

“I learned from people who weaponize loose words.”

He motioned toward the chair without speaking.

Adelaide sat.

Only then did he open the black folder on his desk.

“Fifteen million dollars vanished through four investment vehicles tied to Jones Financial. The signatures point to your father. The timing points to your stepmother. The benefit points to your sister’s fiancé.”

“Preston?”

“The senator’s son.”

Adelaide looked down at her hands.

Chloe had been engaged to Preston Whitmore for nine months. He sent enormous flower arrangements and kissed Evelyn’s cheek too slowly. Adelaide had never liked him. She had also never imagined he mattered enough to steal from a Moretti.

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“I believe you.”

She looked up.

“Why?”

“Because if you were part of it, they would not have sent you here honestly.”

Adelaide laughed once before she could stop herself.

Mateo leaned back. “That amused you?”

“No. It was just the first time anyone in that house and honest belonged in the same room.”

His eyes moved to the scar on her face.

Not pityingly.

Not hungrily.

Clinically, perhaps. As if noting damage and wondering who had caused it.

She lifted her chin before shame could lower it.

“The scar bothers most people.”

“It does not bother me.”

“You’re very disciplined.”

“I’m very familiar with damage.”

The answer took the air out of whatever defensive reply she had prepared.

Mateo closed the folder.

“Here is what will happen. Your family expects me either to reject you or to punish them by keeping you. I will do neither.”

“That sounds promising.”

“I will announce that we are considering the contract for thirty days.”

“Considering marriage?”

“Publicly.”

“And privately?”

“Privately, you will help me identify who stole from me.”

Adelaide stared at him.

“You want me to spy on my family.”

“I want you to tell me where to look.”

“There’s a difference?”

“Yes. Spies pretend not to have a choice. I’m giving you one.”

She folded her fingers together to keep them still.

“And if I say no?”

“I return you home tonight with no punishment.”

She did not believe him quickly.

He seemed to respect that.

“And my father’s debt?”

“Remains his.”

“And my sister?”

“Remains exactly what she is.”

A tiny ache opened behind Adelaide’s ribs. She was tired of being the person other people used to postpone consequences.

“What would I get?” she asked.

Mateo’s expression sharpened.

“Good.”

“Good?”

“You asked the correct question.”

He reached into the folder and withdrew a second document.

“A private residence under my protection for the next thirty days. Access to your mother’s medical settlement records, which I believe were altered. Payment for your time, not as charity. And if your family stole my money, I ensure none of the blame touches you.”

The words medical settlement stopped her.

“My mother died in a car accident.”

“Yes.”

“What settlement?”

Mateo’s face changed so slightly she might have missed it if she had not spent her life studying rooms for danger.

“You didn’t know.”

Adelaide’s mouth went dry.

“Know what?”

He did not answer immediately.

Instead, he turned the paper toward her.

At the bottom was an account number.

Beside it was a name.