Chapter 10 - The Trial of Dante Moretti
Victor claimed Dante personally authorized illegal transactions.
The signatures looked authentic.
Dante faced decades in prison.
Cara refused to believe it.
Vanessa surprised everyone by becoming his strongest defender.
“He didn't sign those.”
Prosecutors disagreed.
Then Noah noticed something.
The boy was looking through photocopies when he pointed at Dante’s signature.
“You don't make your D like that.”
Everyone stopped.
“What?”
Noah grabbed a birthday card Dante had signed.
The difference was tiny.
But real.
Dante’s genuine signature crossed the letter D from right to left.
The forged documents crossed left to right.
A handwriting expert confirmed it.
Then Marcus discovered the source.
Julian.
Before his arrest, he had spent years forging Dante’s approvals.
Victor had purchased the documents from him.
The case began collapsing.
But Victor still had one weapon.
Samuel Cross.
He claimed Dante ordered the murder.
Cara remembered the restaurant.
Something had bothered her for weeks.
The service cart.
She had placed her tray on it.
Bellini’s used security cameras in the service corridor.
One camera faced the private booths indirectly through a decorative mirror.
The police had reviewed direct footage.
Nobody checked the reflection.
Cara ran to her manager.
The recordings had been archived.
They found the night of the conspiracy.
In the mirror, Julian’s hands were visible.
So was his phone.
And on its screen, briefly reflected, was a message.
CROSS IS IN THE CAR. FINISH DANTE TONIGHT.
The recipient name appeared at the top.
V. ROMANO.
Federal agents arrested Victor forty-eight hours later.
The conspiracy collapsed.
Dante was cleared of Cross’s murder.
Several corporate charges remained tied to his father’s era, but prosecutors acknowledged Dante had cooperated.
He resigned permanently as CEO.
Reporters asked whether he regretted losing his empire.
Dante looked toward Cara.
May you like
“No.”
And for once, he meant it.
