Chapter 10 - The Enemy Was Already Inside the Mansion
By breakfast, the Moretti mansion looked normal.
That was intentional.
Staff moved through hallways.
Coffee was served.
Cars entered and left.
Aleandro returned at 8:17 wearing the same suit he had worn all night.
Vittorio was nowhere to be seen.
His bedroom had been emptied.
Tomas remained missing.
Daniel stayed under guard.
Adrian returned to Warehouse Seven to maintain the illusion that he and Aleandro remained enemies.
Marco walked beside Aleandro toward the study.
“You realize we have at least five separate lies operating simultaneously.”
“Six.”
“What’s the sixth?”
“I told Rosa everything was under control.”
Marco nodded.
“That one is definitely the least believable.”
Inside the study, Mia was sitting on the carpet drawing.
Aleandro stopped.
“Why are you here?”
Mia looked up.
“Rosa said you said I can stay close.”
“I said secure room.”
“This is secure.”
Rosa appeared.
“She escaped the secure room.”
“I walked.”
Mia corrected her.
Rosa folded her arms.
“She walked out after convincing one of your men she needed the bathroom.”
Aleandro looked toward Marco.
“Which man?”
“Anthony.”
“Fire him.”
Mia gasped.
“No! I tricked him.”
Aleandro looked at her.
Mia seemed sincerely distressed.
Aleandro sighed.
“Don’t fire him.”
Marco smiled.
“Your command structure has changed dramatically.”
Aleandro ignored him.
Mia held up her drawing.
“I made Mommy.”
He accepted it.
House.
Car.
Trees.
Several people.
A man wearing a blue jacket.
“Who is this?”
“Mr. Blue.”
Marco looked over.
“Who?”
“Mr. Blue.”
“Where did you see him?”
Mia pointed toward the drawing of the car.
“He talks to bad man.”
“Vittorio?”
Mia did not know the name.
Aleandro showed her a photograph.
“Is this the bad man?”
She nodded.
“Old mean man.”
Rosa hid a smile.
Aleandro pointed at Mr. Blue.
“When did you see him?”
“When Mommy went outside.”
The night Elena disappeared.
“Where?”
“By kitchen window.”
“What did he look like?”
“Blue.”
“Yes. Anything else?”
“Funny hand.”
Aleandro crouched.
“What was funny?”
Mia held up her left hand.
She bent two fingers inward.
“Like this.”
Marco’s expression changed.
A man with two damaged fingers.
“Do we know anyone?”
Marco thought.
Then froze.
“Steven Hale.”
The accountant.
Steven had lost two fingers in a boating accident.
And he frequently wore navy suits.
Aleandro remembered the meeting.
Steven had been nervous when Northstar came up.
They had assumed fear.
Perhaps it was guilt.
“Where is Hale?”
Marco called security.
One minute later:
“Gone.”
“When?”
“Left at seven twelve.”
“Destination?”
“Main accounting office downtown.”
Aleandro shook his head.
“No.”
He understood.
Steven Hale had access to every Moretti corporation.
Every bank authorization.
Every tax record.
Vittorio might design the conspiracy.
But someone had to execute the financial destruction.
“Hale is moving the money today.”
Marco called the banks.
Too late.
Three accounts had already been flagged.
Two transfers worth twelve million dollars were pending.
Another account showed Aleandro authorizing a payment to a foreign shell company.
He had not.
“They’re accelerating,” Marco said.
“Because Adrian told Vittorio I’m scared.”
“Your plan is working.”
“So far.”
“That does not sound comforting.”
Aleandro called Steven directly.
The accountant answered.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Where are you?”
“Office.”
“No, you’re not.”
Silence.
Aleandro continued.
“Mia remembers you.”
Another silence.
Steven hung up.
Marco immediately traced the phone.
Industrial district.
Near Northstar’s registered address.
Aleandro sent no armed team.
Instead, he called James Carver using the number in Matthew’s notebook.
A man answered.
“Who is this?”
“Aleandro Moretti.”
Silence.
Then:
“I’ve been waiting four years for that call.”
Aleandro looked at Marco.
“We need to meet.”
Carver replied, “No. You need to decide.”
“Decide what?”
“Whether you want to save an empire or save the people caught inside it.”
Aleandro’s expression hardened.
“Those are not mutually exclusive.”
“They may be.”
“I have evidence.”
“So do I.”
“Vittorio Greco.”
“I know.”
“Adrian is alive.”
Another pause.
“I know that too.”
Aleandro was surprised.
“How?”
“Matthew told me before he died.”
That hit harder than expected.
Carver continued.
“Your housekeeper’s husband was braver than most of the men in your organization.”
Aleandro looked toward Mia.
“Yes.”
“He tried to expose Northstar. I failed to protect him.”
“You won’t fail Elena.”
“If she cooperates, I can protect her.”
“I’m not negotiating her safety.”
“You don’t get to dictate everything anymore, Mr. Moretti.”
Aleandro almost ended the call.
Then Mia touched his hand.
He looked down.
She whispered, “Mommy?”
Aleandro breathed once.
“Carver. Where?”
The investigator gave an address.
Public parking garage.
Thirty minutes.
“No weapons.”
Aleandro glanced at Marco.
Marco shook his head vigorously.
“Fine.”
After the call, Marco said, “You are not walking into a federal investigator’s meeting unarmed.”
“I gave my word.”
“You gave it surprisingly quickly.”
“I’m adapting.”
“I hate adaptation.”
Before they left, Aleandro looked at Mia’s picture again.
Mr. Blue.
Damaged hand.
Steven Hale.
One detail bothered him.
Steven Hale had joined Moretti accounting six years ago.
But Matthew’s notebook, four years earlier, contained entries initialed S.H.
So Steven had been with Vittorio before joining Aleandro.
Aleandro opened the employee file.
Reference letter.
Signed by a company called Vale Consulting.
He searched older records.
Vale Consulting had another director.
Lydia Greco.
Vittorio’s daughter.
Supposedly living in London.
Marco stared.
“Vittorio’s daughter is involved?”
“Maybe.”
Then another record appeared.
Lydia Greco had entered the United States six days earlier.
No departure.
The conspiracy was not three men.
It was a family operation.
And while Aleandro had focused on Vittorio, Adrian, Daniel, Tomas, and Steven, Lydia Greco had remained invisible.
Until a surveillance camera showed her entering Mia’s preschool six months earlier.
Aleandro stared at the image.
The woman had been watching Mia long before Elena ever found the first document.
Which meant Elena’s disappearance had never been only about what she discovered.
May you like
Someone had been planning to use her daughter from the beginning.
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