Chapter 9 - TWO LETTERS, TWO VERSIONS OF ME
Caroline found the archive that broke the story open.
Octavia kept copies.
Of course.
One folder labeled:
Wynn Matter.
Inside:
Letter to Luciano:
Maeve has accepted the two-million-dollar settlement, denies you are biological father, and requests permanent no contact.
Letter to Maeve:
Luciano has accepted a two-million-dollar family settlement, waives involvement, and requests no contact.
Both false.
Then internal instructions:
No direct communication between parties.
Route all requests through family office.
If Maeve appears at Ferretti properties, notify Octavia.
If Luciano asks about children, refer to paternity closure.
Then a note handwritten by Octavia:
Never allow them to compare stories.
There.
The entire system in seven words.
Then why did she tell the boys:
Dad took money to forget us?
Maeve explained.
That afternoon at the club, before I arrived, Silas asked Octavia:
“Why doesn’t Dad come?”
Octavia said:
“Because your father took the family’s money and agreed to forget this mistake.”
Silas asked how much.
Octavia said:
“Two million.”
She had turned the agreement upside down again.
Why say that to a five-year-old?
Control.
If the boys believed I rejected them, they would stop trying to reach me.
Silas had already asked the receptionist:
“Is Luciano here?”
Octavia heard.
Then he tried to run toward the front lobby.
Chain.
The lie and the restraint were the same act in different forms.
Keep the child from reaching the father.
Still, one question remained.
Why?
Five years earlier, perhaps she feared scandal.
But years later?
The corporation was stable.
My father’s death was old history.
Maeve had never gone public.
The boys had no legal claim to company control simply because they were mine.
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So what exactly had Octavia still been protecting?
Chapter Ten answered that.
