Chapter 8 - The Account Luca Thought I’d Never Find
The offshore account wasn’t technically offshore.
That was the clever part.
It was held by a Delaware entity with a bank account in Nevada.
Ordinary enough to avoid immediate suspicion.
The entity was called Northstar Advisory Holdings.
The owner on paper was a trust.
The beneficiary was harder to identify.
But a subpoena solved that.
Luca.
Balance:
$2.8 million.
I stared at the figure.
Rachel sat across from me.
Dad stood near the window.
Nobody spoke.
Finally I said:
“He told me we couldn’t afford a new washing machine.”
Dad looked over.
“What?”
“Six months ago.”
I laughed once.
It came out wrong.
“He said we needed to budget.”
Rachel closed the folder.
“People compartmentalize.”
“He made me split groceries.”
Dad shut his eyes.
That, somehow, offended him more than the millions.
“Jessi.”
“I’m okay.”
I wasn’t.
But this wasn’t grief anymore.
It was clarity.
Luca hadn’t hidden money because we were struggling.
He had created struggle inside our marriage while secretly accumulating wealth.
Why?
Control?
Ego?
Exit strategy?
All three?
The account had received transfers from Romano Consulting.
Then Northstar purchased two properties.
One was a condo.
Occupied by Sabrina.
That matched her story.
The other was a lake house in Wisconsin.
I recognized it.
Luca had taken me there once.
He said it belonged to a friend.
We spent our third anniversary there.
I stared at the property record.
“He owned it?”
“Through Northstar,” Rachel said.
My stomach turned.
Every room had become evidence.
Every memory needed reclassification.
Dad sat beside me.
“Stop for today.”
“No.”
“You’re spiraling.”
“I’m working.”
“You’re punishing yourself.”
That stopped me.
He continued.
“You are trying to discover the exact moment you should have known.”
My eyes burned.
“Maybe.”
“You won’t find it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because deception works by making each individual lie small enough to accept.”
I looked at him.
“That sounds personal.”
Dad’s expression shifted.
“There are things about your mother I should have told you.”
My heart tightened.
“What things?”
“Not today.”
“Dad.”
“Not while you’re already carrying this.”
I stared at him.
“What did Mom know?”
He looked away.
That frightened me.
Before I could press him, Rachel’s assistant entered.
“Luca is downstairs.”
Rachel frowned.
“He doesn’t have an appointment.”
“He says he won’t leave.”
I stood.
Dad said:
“No.”
“I need to hear him.”
“You’ve heard enough.”
“Not from his face.”
Dad understood.
Numbers gave truth.
Faces gave motive.
Rachel arranged a conference room.
Luca entered looking different.
Unshaven.
Wrinkled shirt.
No confidence.
He sat opposite me.
“Are you sleeping?”
I stared.
“That’s why you came?”
“No.”
He rubbed his hands.
“Kessler fired me.”
I already knew.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked surprised.
“You are?”
“I’m sorry Leo’s father lost his job.”
His expression tightened.
Not the same as being sorry for him.
“What do you want, Luca?”
He looked at Rachel.
“Can she leave?”
“No.”
“Your father?”
“He isn’t here.”
Technically true.
Dad was watching from an adjacent room.
Luca exhaled.
“I want to fix this.”
“The marriage?”
“Everything.”
“Start with Northstar.”
His face went pale.
There.
He hadn’t known I knew.
“How did you—”
“The account.”
Silence.
“The properties.”
More silence.
“The $2.8 million.”
He closed his eyes.
“I can explain.”
“That phrase is losing value.”
He leaned forward.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“When it was safe.”
“Safe from whom?”
“Kessler.”
“You stole from them.”
“No.”
“Then what did you do?”
“Consulting.”
“Through your mother?”
“It’s complicated.”
“No. It’s layered.”
I placed one page between us.
“Vendors paid Wendy. Wendy’s company moved money into Northstar. You controlled Northstar.”
He stared.
“You’ve always been good at making things sound criminal.”
“I’m describing transactions.”
“I brought those vendors business.”
“You were paid by your employer to choose vendors.”
“They underpaid me.”
There.
The entitlement.
Finally.
“Kessler made millions from contracts I negotiated,” he said. “I got a salary.”
“So you decided you deserved secret commissions.”
“I created value.”
“And forged my signature?”
His face hardened.
“I needed someone with financial credibility attached.”
“So you used me.”
“I thought we were partners.”
“Partners consent.”
He looked down.
For the first time, he seemed ashamed.
“I screwed up.”
“You committed crimes.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know enough.”
His eyes rose.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
“I’m giving it.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“Why Sabrina?”
“She helped with paperwork.”
“Were you sleeping with her?”
“No.”
I believed him.
Oddly.
“Anyone else?”
He stiffened.
My stomach dropped.
There.
One second.
One answer.
“Who?”
“Nobody.”
“Luca.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“We were having problems.”
I laughed.
“When?”
He looked away.
“Last year.”
I thought of pregnancy.
The fertility appointments.
The month we discovered I was expecting.
“How long?”
He said nothing.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
“Who?”
His lips parted.
Then Rachel’s assistant opened the door.
“Jessica, there’s someone asking for you.”
“Who?”
She looked uncomfortable.
“Wendy.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course.”
But then the assistant added:
“She brought a police officer.”
Luca’s head snapped up.
My heart started pounding.
And when Wendy entered the lobby, I saw immediately what she had come to do.
She wasn’t there to talk.
She was there to accuse me of keeping Leo from his father.
May you like
And she had decided to make the fight public.
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