Chapter 9 - The Verdict of the Public
The steps of the Palace of Justice in Milan were packed with over two hundred journalists, photographers, and curious citizens the following morning.
At ten o'clock, Gianluigi Moretti stood before the cameras, wearing a three-thousand-euro suit, holding a leather folder.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press!" Moretti shouted, playing to the cameras with practiced theatricality. "We are here today to expose the truth behind the so-called charitable foundation created by Lorenzo Duca! We have evidence that the woman he intends to marry was nothing more than a domestic servant who used her position to—"
The heavy oak doors of the courthouse opened.
Lorenzo Duca stepped out onto the marble plaza. He did not bring bodyguards. He did not bring lawyers. He walked alone, holding the hand of seven-year-old Mia, who was wearing a bright blue coat and holding her stuffed rabbit.
Beside them walked Renata.
The crowd went dead silent as Lorenzo walked right up to Moretti's podium, taking the microphone directly out of the surprised lawyer's hand.
"Mr. Moretti," Lorenzo said, his voice carrying clearly through the public address system across the crowded square. "You claim that my bride was a domestic servant."
"I... well, the employment records show—" Moretti stammered, backed up against his own banners.
"She was a servant," Lorenzo interrupted, looking directly into the main television camera. "She worked eighteen hours a day to feed her child. She washed my floors with hands that were raw from cold water. And while she was doing that, the men you represent—the Rossi family—were stealing millions from the port authority, bribing judges, and threatening children in gardens."
Lorenzo turned, holding his hand out to Renata. Renata stepped forward, taking her place beside him at the podium, looking out over the sea of reporters without flinching.
"I did not give Renata a foundation because she needed my money," Lorenzo declared, his voice ringing with fierce, absolute devotion. "I gave her a foundation because she is the most honorable, courageous, and noble human being I have ever met in my life. And if any man in this city wishes to challenge her character, he can answer directly to me."
The crowd stared at Lorenzo for two seconds.
Then, somewhere near the back of the square, a single person began to applaud. Then another. Within five seconds, the entire plaza erupted into a thunderous, roaring ovation that echoed off the ancient marble columns of the courthouse.
Reporters lowered their cameras to clap; citizens cheered; and Gianluigi Moretti quietly packed his leather folder into his briefcase, slipped down the side steps, and vanished into the crowd, never to be seen in Milan again.
Mia looked up at Lorenzo, pulling on his sleeve. "Coffee man?"
"Yes, little one?" Lorenzo asked, dropping down onto his knee beside her.
May you like
"Can we get ice cream now?" Mia asked innocently. "The loud man gave me a headache."
Lorenzo let out a booming laugh that filled the plaza, picking Mia up onto his shoulder as the crowd cheered even louder, wrapping his arm around Renata as they walked down the steps together into the bright afternoon sun.
