Chapter 4 - Six Women Had Walked Away
Dominic Moretti did not react like a guilty man.
He reacted like an insulted one.
"Daniel Moretti."
Chase frowned.
"What?"
"The D. Moretti on that registration is Daniel Moretti."
Luca looked at him.
"Who is Daniel?"
"My cousin."
"I know every cousin you have."
"You knew every cousin who stayed in the family."
Dominic walked toward the monitor.
"Daniel left for Arizona fifteen years ago. He used our surname to start businesses all over the country."
Chase searched.
There was, in fact, a Daniel Moretti.
Born in Queens.
Same generation as Dominic.
Moved to Arizona.
Business filings in Nevada and New Mexico.
Dead four years.
Elena folded her arms.
"Convenient."
Dominic gave her a tired look.
"Believe it or not, I did not arrange my cousin's death four years ago in preparation for your arrival tonight."
"That's reassuring."
Luca remained focused on the screen.
"Why would Daniel register a New York hospitality vendor?"
Dominic shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Did you know Vantage belonged to him?"
"No."
"Did you ever discuss it?"
"No."
"And yet your finance department paid the company for years."
"I oversee finance. I don't personally vet every contractor."
Elena interjected.
"But somebody did."
Luca looked at Chase.
"Find whoever onboarded the vendor."
"Tonight?"
"Now."
Dominic exhaled sharply.
"Luca, there are family guests upstairs waiting for us."
"Let them wait."
"You would humiliate both families because of a dead cousin's registration?"
Luca's eyes shifted.
"This stopped being about the dinner."
For the first time, Dominic's composure cracked.
Only slightly.
"Nothing stops being about family."
He left.
No one tried to stop him.
Anthony turned immediately to Elena.
"Now can we go?"
"You can."
"I'm not leaving you here."
"I'm thirty-two."
"That doesn't make this safe."
Elena laughed softly.
"Interesting time for you to become protective."
His face fell.
She regretted the sharpness almost immediately.
Almost.
"Elena..."
"Did you know about the dress?"
"Yes."
"Did you know tonight was supposed to be an engagement discussion?"
His silence hurt more than the answer.
She nodded.
"Go upstairs."
"I was trying to help."
"Who?"
"Our family."
"That's what I thought."
He left slowly.
Elena stared at the closed door.
Luca stood several feet away.
"You should be angry at me too."
She turned.
"Why?"
"I agreed to meet you."
"You didn't agree to deceive me."
"I benefited from it."
That was more honesty than she'd expected.
"Why did you agree?"
He leaned against the conference table.
The man was so tall that even casual movements seemed disproportionately large.
"I was told the Russo family proposed it."
Elena blinked.
"Our family?"
"Yes."
"I assumed yours did."
"No."
A new anger rose.
"Who specifically?"
"Your father and Anthony met Dominic."
"When?"
"Six weeks ago."
Elena laughed without humor.
"Of course."
Luca watched her.
"Do you want to know why?"
"Not from you."
"Fair."
Silence settled.
On the security monitors, hotel guests continued moving through hallways.
Normal lives.
Normal dinners.
No one knew a financial investigation had begun three floors below.
Elena's eyes returned to Vantage's registration.
"Why did six women reject you?"
Luca looked genuinely caught off guard.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"That's relevant?"
"Not to the invoices."
"Then why ask?"
"Because apparently I'm supposed to marry you and no one told me, so I'm collecting data."
He stared at her.
Then looked away.
"Six is exaggerated."
"How many?"
"Five."
She almost smiled.
"That's significantly better."
"Two were never serious discussions."
"Three, then."
"One family withdrew."
"Why?"
"They wanted access to businesses I wouldn't give them."
"Two."
"One woman said she didn't want the attention that came with my name."
"Reasonable."
He nodded.
"One said I frightened her."
Elena studied him.
"Did you?"
"I walked into the room."
"That wasn't my question."
His eyes returned to hers.
"No."
She believed him.
Not because Luca seemed harmless.
He did not.
He seemed like a man capable of making very difficult decisions without needing anyone's approval.
But he also seemed intensely aware of physical boundaries.
He had offered his hand when she fell.
He had accepted refusal immediately.
He had never touched her.
When Dominic had tried to pressure her, Luca stopped him.
That mattered.
"Why does everyone mention your size?" she asked.
"You did."
"No. Everyone else did before I arrived."
He shrugged.
"I'm six-seven. People notice."
"You're not a building."
"Some people disagree."
She smiled despite herself.
He noticed.
"Are you always this calm?"
"No."
"What makes you angry?"
His gaze dropped to the threatening note.
"That."
Something in his voice changed the air.
Not menace toward Elena.
Protection, perhaps.
But she didn't need another man deciding she required saving.
"I can handle myself."
"I know."
"Then don't turn this into some macho protection performance."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
"I was planning to find whoever threatened a guest inside my hotel."
She paused.
"That's acceptable."
Chase returned with two printed reports.
"Vendor onboarding."
Luca took them.
"Who approved Vantage?"
"Thomas Bale submitted it."
"The operations director."
"Yes. Finance approval came from..." Chase hesitated.
"Say it."
"Dominic."
Elena looked toward the door his uncle had used.
"And ownership verification?"
"No record."
"Insurance certificate?" she asked.
"Expired three years ago."
"Tax form?"
"On file."
"Bank details?"
Chase handed her another page.
Vantage's payments went to an account at Hudson Metropolitan Bank.
Elena scanned the routing information.
"Can you compare this account with other vendors?"
"Not without finance permissions."
Luca reached for the phone.
"I can get them."
Chase stopped him.
"There's more."
He slid across a list of payments.
Over nine years, Vantage had received $6.8 million.
Elena's mouth went dry.
"Six point eight?"
Chase nodded.
Luca didn't move.
"How much of that was during the last three years?"
"Four point one."
The rate had accelerated.
Someone had become greedier.
Or desperate.
Elena noticed something.
"These amounts."
"What?"
"They stay below fifty thousand most of the time."
Chase looked closer.
"You're right."
"Approval threshold?"
Luca answered.
"Fifty thousand requires ownership review."
"So whoever designed this knew exactly where the line was."
Most invoices were $43,000 to $49,900.
Rarely more.
The $51,200 entry Elena had seen was split into two payment codes.
She felt the satisfaction of a pattern revealing itself.
Then discomfort.
Because this wasn't amateur theft.
It was systematic.
Patient.
Institutional.
"Nine years," she whispered.
Luca stared at the total.
His father had still been alive nine years ago.
The old patriarch, Matteo Moretti, had built the Grand into the family's flagship.
He had died six years earlier.
Meaning the fraud had begun under him.
Elena looked at Luca.
"Who ran the hotel nine years ago?"
"My father."
"And finance?"
"Dominic."
"Operations?"
Luca's eyes hardened.
"Thomas Bale."
Same men.
Same structure.
Chase said, "There's one more connection."
Elena waited.
"Vantage's mailing address changed four years ago."
"After Daniel Moretti died?"
"Three weeks after."
"To where?"
Chase turned the page.
The new address was not the mailbox store Elena remembered.
It was a small commercial building in Brooklyn.
Luca went still.
Elena noticed.
"You know it."
"Yes."
"What is it?"
He looked at Chase.
Chase appeared confused.
Elena repeated, "Luca?"
Finally he answered.
"My father owned that building."
"Owned?"
"It was sold after his death."
"To whom?"
Luca stared at the address.
"My uncle."
Dominic.
Elena felt the case tighten again.
Before anyone could speak, Chase's radio crackled.
"Security to Mr. Chase."
He answered.
"Go."
"We have a woman asking for Ms. Russo."
Elena frowned.
"Who?"
"She won't give her name."
"Where is she?"
"Lobby."
A pause.
"She says she's one of the women who was supposed to marry Mr. Moretti."
Luca's expression changed.
"Which one?"
The radio voice lowered.
"She says that's why she needs to talk."
Elena felt the night turn again.
"What did she say exactly?"
Chase listened.
Then looked directly at Luca.
"She said she didn't reject you because she was afraid of you."
Luca froze.
Chase continued.
"She says someone paid her to walk away."
And suddenly the stories about five failed brides did not seem like embarrassing family history.
May you like
They seemed connected.
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