Chapter 8 - Luca’s Last Recording
Thomas Vale refused the ambulance.
“I trusted one ambulance tonight,” he told Cross. “That was enough.”
They moved him into a secure Moretti vehicle instead.
Vanessa sat beside him.
Roman noticed she had stopped crying.
Not because she felt better.
Because there were no tears left.
Emily sat opposite Roman in the warehouse office while Cross established a perimeter.
Between them on the desk lay Edward Carter’s notebook.
Twelve years of dust covered the edges.
Roman wanted to open it.
Emily had not yet allowed him.
It belonged to her father.
He understood.
Thomas entered twenty minutes later after Cross cleaned the wound near his temple.
Emily stood.
“You knew my father?”
Thomas nodded.
“Not well.”
“Were you there when he died?”
“No.”
“Victor said—”
“Victor tells truth when truth hurts more than lies.”
Emily stared.
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Thomas sat slowly.
“I met Edward twice.”
“When?”
“The week before the warehouse incident.”
Roman leaned forward.
“Why?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Your father sent me.”
Roman’s stomach tightened.
“Salvatore knew Edward was investigating sabotage?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Edward approached him.”
Emily looked shocked.
“My father went to Salvatore?”
Thomas nodded.
“He believed the Moretti company was being targeted.”
Roman frowned.
“Targeted by Victor?”
“Not exactly.”
Thomas looked between them.
“Victor wasn’t working alone.”
Roman leaned back.
“There’s someone else.”
“There was always someone else.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward Vanessa.
“Conrad.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Roman’s face hardened.
Thomas continued.
“Conrad Sinclair needed control of three waterfront development projects. The Morettis owned critical access points. Victor wanted money and influence. Conrad wanted land.”
Emily understood.
“They staged accidents.”
“Yes.”
“Then bought weakened properties?”
Thomas nodded.
“Or forced partnerships.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“And my father?”
“Salvatore discovered it.”
“When?”
“After Edward warned him.”
“Then why didn’t he expose them?”
Thomas sighed.
“Because Victor showed him something.”
“What?”
“A federal file.”
Roman went still.
Thomas continued.
“Evidence of old Moretti crimes. Enough to send Salvatore away for the rest of his life and bring investigators onto everything.”
Roman looked away.
Salvatore had chosen silence.
Not because he approved.
Because he was compromised.
Emily’s voice was bitter.
“So everybody protected themselves.”
Thomas nodded.
“Almost everybody.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“Luca.”
“Yes.”
Roman looked at Thomas.
“Tell me about Luca.”
Thomas took a long breath.
“Three years ago, Luca found one of Edward’s copied invoices inside a construction archive.”
Roman remembered.
Luca had suddenly become obsessed with old company records.
Roman had assumed he was preparing for an audit.
“He came to me because my name appeared in the transportation logs,” Thomas continued. “We started digging.”
“Why didn’t he come to me?”
“Because he didn’t know what Salvatore had told you.”
“Nothing.”
“Luca wasn’t sure.”
Roman absorbed that painful truth.
His brother had doubted him.
Or perhaps tried to protect him.
Thomas continued.
“We found payments from Victor to inspectors. Transfers through Sinclair development subsidiaries. Old insurance settlements.”
“And Edward?”
“He was the first person who documented the pattern.”
Emily finally opened the notebook.
The first page contained her father’s handwriting.
Dates.
Addresses.
Elevator numbers.
Contract numbers.
Then one sentence:
Accidents create opportunity for whoever arrives prepared.
Emily traced the words.
“My mother always said he wrote like he was fighting the paper.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“He spoke that way too.”
Roman looked at the notebook.
“Can I?”
Emily hesitated.
Then handed it over.
Roman turned pages.
Halfway through, he stopped.
A name.
V. SARTO — not principal.
Roman looked at Thomas.
“What does ‘not principal’ mean?”
Thomas nodded grimly.
“Edward knew Victor wasn’t the top.”
“Conrad?”
“No.”
Vanessa looked up.
“Then who?”
Thomas stared at the page.
“I never found out.”
Roman’s frustration sharpened.
“You had twelve years.”
“I had twelve years of people trying to kill evidence.”
Cross entered.
“We recovered Vanessa’s upload.”
Vanessa stood.
“And?”
“The recording reached Conrad’s server.”
“Did he open it?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Seven minutes ago.”
Vanessa grabbed her phone.
No signal.
Cross shook his head.
“We’re using secure lines only.”
“Call him.”
Roman said, “Wait.”
Vanessa glared.
“He’s my father.”
“And he helped cover Edward’s death.”
“He may still be in danger.”
Roman studied her.
Then handed her a secure phone.
“Speaker.”
Vanessa dialed from memory.
It rang.
Once.
Twice.
Five times.
Conrad answered.
“Vanessa?”
She nearly collapsed with relief.
“Dad.”
“Where are you?”
“Warehouse C.”
Silence.
“Leave.”
“Victor confessed.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Conrad’s voice became tired.
“This isn’t a phone conversation.”
“It became one twelve years ago when you signed Edward Carter’s death report.”
Emily looked up.
Roman watched her.
Conrad went silent.
Vanessa continued.
“Did you know Victor killed him?”
“No.”
“Did you know Edward was alive after the warehouse accident?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa shut her eyes.
“God.”
Conrad continued.
“I arrived at the clinic after he died.”
“Why sign the report?”
“Victor had evidence that could destroy everything.”
“You mean destroy you.”
“Yes.”
The honesty stunned Vanessa.
“I was a coward.”
Emily whispered, “At least he knows.”
Conrad heard her.
“Who is that?”
Vanessa looked at Emily.
“Edward Carter’s daughter.”
Silence.
Then Conrad said softly, “Emily.”
She took the phone.
“You don’t get to say my name like you know me.”
“You’re right.”
“My mother spent years believing my father caused his own death.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“And you did nothing.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Conrad’s voice cracked.
“Because every year that passed made telling the truth cost more.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“That is the most expensive excuse I’ve ever heard.”
Conrad did not defend himself.
Then he said, “Your father saved Roman’s father.”
“I know.”
“He saved me too.”
Emily frowned.
“How?”
“The first sabotaged elevator was supposed to carry Salvatore and me.”
Roman straightened.
Conrad continued.
“Edward stopped it. We both would have died.”
Vanessa whispered, “Dad…”
Conrad’s voice became urgent.
“Listen. Victor is not the person you should be afraid of now.”
Roman took the phone.
“Who?”
Conrad hesitated.
“Roman, your father made a deal after Edward’s death.”
“With whom?”
“Someone who promised to end the sabotage if Salvatore stayed silent.”
“Name.”
Conrad breathed slowly.
“I never met him directly.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I knew only the initials.”
Roman looked at Edward’s notebook.
“What initials?”
Conrad answered.
“D.M.”
Thomas went pale.
Roman noticed.
“You know.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
Roman stood.
“You know exactly who that is.”
Thomas stared at the floor.
“Tell him,” Conrad said through the phone.
Roman’s voice became quieter.
“Thomas.”
Thomas finally looked up.
“David Moretti.”
Roman froze.
His uncle.
Salvatore’s older brother.
A man Roman had known all his life.
A man who had served as family patriarch after Salvatore died.
A man currently waiting at Harbor Crest Tower under security lockdown.
Roman stared at Thomas.
“David?”
Thomas nodded.
“Edward believed David was behind the original scheme.”
Roman whispered, “Why?”
“To weaken Salvatore.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Conrad continued through the phone.
“Victor worked for David before he worked for me.”
Roman’s mind raced backward through decades.
Business disputes.
Family arguments.
David constantly criticizing Salvatore’s decisions.
David insisting Roman was too emotional after Luca died.
David advising him to stop investigating the crash.
Roman’s voice went cold.
“Did David order Luca’s death?”
Thomas looked away.
“I don’t know.”
Roman slammed his hand against the desk.
“You knew enough to warn me!”
“I knew Luca met David the week before the crash.”
Roman stared.
“What?”
“Luca said he wanted to give his uncle one chance to explain.”
Roman looked at Cross.
“Call the tower.”
Cross tried.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
“Security line is down.”
Roman’s phone buzzed.
A message arrived from Harbor Crest.
One photograph.
David Moretti stood inside Roman’s private penthouse.
Beside him was a teenage boy Roman recognized immediately.
His nephew.
Luca’s son, Nicholas.
A message appeared beneath the image.
COME HOME, ROMAN. WE NEED TO FINISH WHAT YOUR BROTHER STARTED.
Roman stared at the screen.
Every trace of restraint left his eyes.
Emily saw it and understood.
Victor had been a servant.
Conrad had been a coward.
Vanessa had been afraid.
But the person at the center of everything was not running away.
David Moretti was waiting.
May you like
And he had Luca’s son.
---
