Chapter 14 - ALEANDRO'S HIDDEN ACCOUNT|
Aleandro demanded a full audit of every company connected to the Lantern Fund.
He had approved several transfers years earlier, believing they covered medical expenses and witness protection. He had never examined the final recipients because his father had insisted that certain family accounts were too sensitive for ordinary review.
Now the same payments appeared in a ledger describing child transfers and concealed assets.
"I signed these," he admitted.
Marcus sat across from him.
"That doesn't prove you knew what they were for."
"It proves I didn't ask."
Aleandro stared at the account statements.
He had spent years telling himself that his father's business was complicated, that certain decisions had to remain private, and that loyalty meant not challenging every instruction.
Nico had questioned those assumptions.
Aleandro had called him naive.
Now the consequences of that mistake were sitting in a rehabilitation room, trying to remember his daughter's name.
Sophia joined the meeting.
"I need you to tell me everything you know about my family's property."
Aleandro showed her the original purchase records. Her parents had owned a small building in Queens that included the laundromat where Sophia now lived. The property had been acquired by a Moretti holding company through a foreclosure process that investigators were now questioning.
Sophia's parents had believed the sale was legitimate.
They had lost the building, their savings, and eventually their connection to the neighborhood where Sophia grew up.
"You didn't steal it personally," she said.
"No. But the company I control benefited from it."
"What will you do?"
"Return the property if the legal review confirms the claim. Pay compensation where appropriate. And release every record to the investigators."
She looked at him.
"Even if it damages your empire?"
"Especially then."
Marcus placed a new report on the table.
"There's another issue. The account was accessed last night using a code assigned to someone in the organization."
"Who?"
"Bruno Falco."
Bruno had served as Aleandro's operations chief for eleven years. He had helped manage the ports, arranged security, and sat beside Aleandro during the funeral.
He was one of the few people Aleandro trusted without question.
"Bring him in," Aleandro ordered.
Bruno arrived an hour later, calm and composed.
He denied manipulating the trust. He claimed the transfers were approved by Richard and that he had merely followed instructions. When Aleandro showed him the coded entries related to Emma, Bruno's expression barely changed.
"Your father was protecting the child," he said.
"From whom?"
"From people who believed she was entitled to money that should have remained in the family."
"Who told you that?"
Bruno smiled faintly.
"Richard."
Aleandro leaned forward.
"My father has been dead for four years."
"Has he?"
The room went silent.
Bruno adjusted his cuffs.
"Have you ever seen the original death certificate? The full medical report? The body?"
Aleandro felt the old unease return.
"What are you suggesting?"
Bruno rose.
"I'm suggesting you stop pretending that the family secrets end with Nico."
He walked toward the door.
Marcus moved to stop him, but Aleandro raised a hand.
"Let him go."
Bruno turned back.
"You have until midnight to decide whether you're protecting the family or destroying it. After that, someone else will make the decision for you."
He left.
Moments later, Marcus received a message.
The security cameras at the protected residence had gone offline.
May you like
Sophia and Emma were inside.
And someone had opened the outer gate.
