Chapter 9 - The Enemy Inside the CompanyWe were back in New York fourteen hours later.
Luca did not sleep on the flight.
Neither did I.
By the time we entered Moretti Capital’s headquarters at six twenty in the morning, forty-three attorneys, twelve senior executives, two forensic accounting teams, and Finn’s security staff were already working.
I had never seen the company like that.
Screens filled with transaction maps.
Conference rooms occupied.
Phones ringing.
People moving with the controlled urgency of a building that had discovered a fire somewhere inside its walls but did not yet know which floor was burning.
Luca became different the moment the elevator doors opened.
Not colder.
Sharper.
He kissed my forehead.
Then looked at Finn.
“Status.”
“Belladonna received one hundred ninety-six million through six transactions.”
“Authority?”
“Your digital credentials.”
“Impossible.”
“Verified twice.”
“Physical token?”
“Also verified.”
Luca’s face hardened.
“My token is in my safe.”
“We checked.”
Finn paused.
“It isn't.”
Luca looked at him.
“What?”
“The safe was opened legitimately at 2:13 yesterday morning.”
“I was in Switzerland.”
“I know.”
“Who accessed my office?”
“No forced entry.”
“Cameras?”
“Offline for seventeen minutes.”
I folded my arms.
“That sounds familiar.”
Luca looked at me.
“The photographs.”
“Someone doesn't need to fabricate reality if they can control what people see.”
Finn nodded.
“We're checking internal access.”
“Board meeting?” Luca asked.
“Nine.”
“Move it to eight.”
Finn left.
I followed Luca into his office.
He immediately opened the wall safe.
Empty compartment.
The token was gone.
I watched him.
“Who knows the code?”
“Me.”
“Only you?”
“Yes.”
“Not your assistant?”
“No.”
“Finn?”
“No.”
“Me?”
He looked at me.
“You know the emergency override.”
I did.
My stomach tightened.
Luca saw it.
“No.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“You thought it.”
“So did you.”
“No.”
I stared.
“Not even for one second?”
“No.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Three years earlier, that would have made me emotional.
Now it made me calm.
Trust was not dramatic anymore.
It was practiced.
“Then who?”
He walked to his desk.
“The code wasn't used.”
“What?”
“The safe logs biometric access separately.”
He turned the screen.
Fingerprint authentication.
Successful.
Luca Moretti.
2:13 a.m.
I stared.
“Someone copied your fingerprint?”
“Possible.”
“How?”
“Many ways.”
“That is disturbing.”
“Yes.”
I looked toward the door.
“Who has physical access to this office?”
“Executive staff. Security. Cleaning team.”
“And board members?”
“Not without escort.”
I thought about Richard Sinclair.
“Could he?”
“No.”
“Vanessa?”
“No.”
“Then they have someone inside.”
Luca nodded.
At eight, the board assembled.
I did not attend.
Technically I held no position at Moretti Capital.
Instead, I sat with the forensic team reviewing the Swiss documents.
At eight seventeen, I found something.
A series of numbers beside Belladonna Holdings.
Not account numbers.
Dates.
I compared them with the transaction history.
Every date matched a major acquisition made by Moretti Capital after Carlo’s death.
I called Luca.
He answered immediately.
“What?”
“Belladonna isn't new.”
Silence.
“What do you mean?”
“Your father references it in records going back twenty years.”
“Belladonna didn't exist in our corporate database until six months ago.”
“Maybe not under that name.”
I heard movement.
“Keep going.”
“The numbers beside it correspond to acquisitions.”
“Which acquisitions?”
I listed four.
Silence.
Then Luca said, “Those were Richard’s deals.”
My pulse accelerated.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Then Belladonna may be his shadow company.”
“Send me everything.”
I did.
Twenty minutes later, the board meeting ended unexpectedly.
Luca returned with two security officers.
“What happened?”
“Richard didn't attend.”
“Where is he?”
“No one knows.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Also missing.”
I stood.
“Evan?”
“On his way.”
At nine twelve, Evan entered.
I had not seen him since before the divorce.
He looked older.
More tired.
He hugged me carefully.
Luca watched.
I noticed.
He noticed me noticing.
“I am experiencing no irrational jealousy,” he said.
Evan stared.
“What?”
“Therapy,” I explained.
“Ah.”
Luca frowned.
“I dislike both of you.”
For one second, the tension broke.
Then Evan placed a recorder on the table.
“My grandfather gave me this.”
“When?” Luca asked.
“Last week.”
“What's on it?”
“His statement.”
“About Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Is it coherent?”
“Mostly.”
Evan pressed play.
An old man’s voice filled the room.
Weak.
Unsteady.
But clear.
“My name is Adrian Vale. I served as chief financial officer of Moretti Group from 1998 until 2014.”
He coughed.
“I am making this recording because I may not remember tomorrow what I remember today.”
I swallowed.
“Carlo Moretti discovered in 2013 that Richard Sinclair had been using acquisition structures to divert assets.”
Luca stood motionless.
“Richard did not steal directly from Carlo. He created failures. Charities. Family companies. Property trusts. He forced them into distress, then used Moretti capital to acquire their assets cheaply.”
My father.
Harbor Education Trust.
The old anger returned.
“Carlo benefited at first because he did not ask enough questions.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Then Thomas Bennett confronted him.”
My breath stopped.
Evan looked at me.
The recording continued.
“Bennett told Carlo that ignorance was not innocence when a man had built a system that rewarded cruelty.”
The same language from my father’s note.
“Carlo began investigating. Richard discovered it.”
A pause.
“Carlo wanted to remove him quietly.”
Luca whispered, “Of course he did.”
“What?” I asked.
“He would protect the company name before exposing the truth.”
Adrian continued.
“I told Carlo that silence would only give Richard time.”
Another cough.
“I was right.”
The recording became rough.
“Richard created Belladonna as insurance. Ownership interests. Debt instruments. Voting rights hidden through trusts.”
Luca stepped toward the recorder.
“If activated together, Belladonna could acquire enough leverage over Moretti Capital to force a restructuring.”
Finn swore quietly.
I understood only part of it.
“So Richard can take the company?”
Luca’s face was grim.
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly?”
“He can make it impossible for me to control without triggering debt covenants.”
“English.”
“He can force me to choose between losing control and destroying enormous value.”
“How much?”
“Billions.”
I stared.
Adrian’s recording continued.
“Carlo created a countermeasure.”
Everyone went silent.
“The evidence is in Vault 317. But evidence alone will not stop Richard.”
Luca frowned.
“What will?”
Adrian answered as if he had heard him.
“Thomas Bennett.”
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Evan looked at me.
I shook my head.
“My father is dead.”
The recording continued.
“Thomas created the legal structure Carlo used to protect the company.”
I could barely breathe.
My father?
A history professor?
“What legal structure?” Luca demanded at a recording.
Adrian’s voice weakened.
“A trust.”
Luca froze.
“Carlo placed seventeen percent of Moretti Capital into an irrevocable voting trust.”
Finn stepped forward.
“Seventeen percent?”
“That would be enough,” Luca whispered.
“For what?”
“To block Belladonna.”
Hope hit me.
Then Adrian spoke again.
“The trustee was Thomas Bennett.”
My knees weakened.
Evan caught my arm.
I pulled away gently.
“My father died nineteen years ago.”
Luca was calculating.
“If the trustee dies, authority passes according to the trust document.”
“To whom?”
Nobody answered.
We searched the Swiss files.
Thirty minutes.
Forty.
Then I found a thin folder marked H.E.T.
Harbor Education Trust.
Inside was a copy of the Moretti voting trust.
Luca read the succession clause.
His face changed.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“No.”
“What?”
He handed me the page.
I read.
Upon the death of Thomas Bennett, trustee authority would pass to his surviving spouse.
My mother.
I laughed once.
Impossible.
“My mother restores paintings.”
Luca kept reading.
“Upon her death or incapacity, it passes to his eldest surviving child.”
Me.
I stared.
“I don't want seventeen percent of your company.”
“You don't own it.”
“What?”
“You control the vote.”
“That sounds worse.”
Evan leaned closer.
“There is a condition.”
I read it.
The trust became active only upon a formal challenge by Belladonna Holdings.
Which had happened yesterday.
I sat down.
All these years.
My father had carried a secret tied to the Moretti family.
My mother had inherited it.
And neither had told me.
“My mother knows.”
Luca looked at me.
“Yes.”
Anger rose so quickly I felt dizzy.
I called her.
She answered cheerfully.
“Isabella? How was Switzerland?”
“You knew.”
Silence.
Two words.
Enough.
“Mom.”
Another silence.
Then she sighed.
“I hoped you would never need to.”
I closed my eyes.
“You knew about Carlo?”
“Yes.”
“About Richard?”
“Some.”
“About the trust?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
“Dad is dead.”
“I am aware.”
“That's not funny.”
“I wasn't joking.”
I stood and walked toward the window.
“Do you understand what is happening?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Martin Hale called me yesterday.”
Of course.
“Mom, Belladonna activated.”
“I know.”
“Then we need the trust.”
“I know.”
“Where is it?”
Silence.
“Mom?”
“Isabella.”
Something in her voice changed.
My anger disappeared.
“What?”
“Sofia is with me.”
Every person in the room went still.
“Yes.”
“She was playing in the garden ten minutes ago.”
My blood froze.
“Was?”
“She is inside now.”
I gripped the phone.
“Mom.”
“She is safe.”
I could barely breathe.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because a car stopped outside the house.”
Luca was already signaling Finn.
“What car?”
“Black Mercedes.”
“Did anyone get out?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
My mother inhaled.
“Richard Sinclair.”
May you like
The room became silent.
“He is standing at my front door.”
