Everyone laughed when the three-year-old pointed at the pregnant woman and said, “Her tummy fell off.” Nobody laughed when the fake belly was exposed—and a photograph inside a locked black box revealed a secret Alessandro Moretti had been searching for three years.

Two weeks after the royal wedding.

The Federal District Court of New York was packed to maximum capacity for the final sentencing hearing of Lorenzo Moretti and Vanessa Bellini.

Lorenzo sat at the defense table in an orange prison jumpsuit, his hands restrained by heavy handcuffs and ankle chains. His silver hair was thin and unkempt, his face hollowed out by months spent in solitary confinement. Beside him, Vanessa wept continuously into her hands, her glamour entirely gone.

Sitting in the front row of the gallery were Alessandro and Elena Moretti.

Elena looked stunning in a sharp navy wool suit, her wedding ring glinting brightly under the courtroom lights. Alessandro sat beside her, his arm resting over the back of her chair, a dark, unyielding presence that dominated the room.

The federal prosecutor stepped up to the podium.

“Your Honor,” the prosecutor announced, holding up thick volumes of evidence. “The defendants orchestrated a multi-year syndicate involving kidnapping, illegal medical drugging, grand extortion, and the attempted assassination of a minor child. They showed zero remorse for their actions, treating human lives as corporate tools.”

The Judge, a stern woman with decades on the bench, looked down over her glasses at Lorenzo.

“Lorenzo Moretti,” the Judge said, her voice dropping like an iron gavel. “You abused your power, your family, and the legal system to satisfy a grotesque appetite for wealth and control. You stole a child from her mother’s arms and poisoned your own nephew.”

“Your Honor, please!” Lorenzo’s lawyer pleaded. “My client is elderly and has heart conditions—"

“Silence!” the Judge ordered sharply.

She turned her gaze to the defense table.

“For the charges of grand conspiracy, child trafficking, attempted murder, and corporate treason,” the Judge declared, “I sentence you, Lorenzo Moretti, to three consecutive life terms in a maximum-security federal facility without the possibility of parole.”

Lorenzo collapsed back into his chair, a choked gasp escaping his lips as his legal team lowered their heads in defeat.

“And for you, Vanessa Bellini,” the Judge continued, looking at the weeping woman, “for your active participation in child extortion, false identity fraud, and evidence destruction, I sentence you to twenty-five years in federal prison.”

BANG!

The gavel slammed down onto the wooden block, bringing a definitive, absolute end to the dark shadow that had hung over the Moretti family for three agonizing years.

Federal marshals immediately stepped forward, grabbing Lorenzo by the shoulders to haul him out toward the holding cells.

As Lorenzo was dragged past the front row, he paused for a fraction of a second, looking into the eyes of Alessandro.

Alessandro did not smile. He did not boast.

He simply raised his hand, gently wrapping it around Elena’s shoulders, and looked at his uncle with cold, absolute indifference—the look a king gives to a dead insect beneath his boot.