Chapter 10 - The Lie Beneath the Marriage
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Vincent did not speak for nearly a minute.
He stared at the photograph as if the image might change if he looked hard enough. Luca stood beside Elias Voss outside the records vault, one hand resting on the older man's shoulder.
It could have been an innocent meeting.
But after the kidnapping, the shooting, and the financial transfers, innocence had become difficult to assume.
“Call him,” I said.
Vincent looked at me.
“Rebecca said not to alert him.”
“Then don't call him to accuse him. Call him and ask where he was three days ago.”
“That will tell him we're watching.”
“He already knows we're watching. The question is whether he thinks we have enough evidence.”
Vincent looked at Rebecca through the video call.
“What do you recommend?”
“Nothing direct. Let the agents track the vault records and locate Elias. If Luca is involved, he'll make another move when he realizes the box is being searched.”
I disliked waiting, but I understood the logic.
The following morning, the agents entered the vault with a warrant. Box 317 contained old contracts, bank statements, a ledger, and a packet of letters tied with faded blue ribbon.
The original portfolio was there.
So was a document bearing my father's signature.
The ledger showed payments moving through the jewelry company and several shell corporations. Some transfers were linked to Victor Sloane's businesses. Others had passed through accounts controlled by Elias Voss. Several entries referred to "special security expenses" and "family protection."
Rebecca read the documents carefully.
“This gives us a credible financial case,” she said. “But the murder allegations will require more.”
I opened the packet of letters.
The first was from my father to Vincent's father, dated six weeks before their deaths.
I have found the missing funds. The accounts are being used to finance operations neither of us authorized. I believe Elias is involved, but I cannot prove who is directing him.
The second letter was more disturbing.
If anything happens to me, do not let our children inherit this lie. The truth is worth more than the fortune.
I pressed the paper against the table.
My father had known he was in danger.
He had tried to leave evidence behind.
And someone had made sure I grew up believing his death was an ordinary tragedy.
Vincent found another document in the ledger.
A transfer dated the day before his father's death had been approved by two signatures.
One belonged to Elias.
The other belonged to Luca.
Vincent's expression hardened.
“Luca was twenty-three. He had no authority to approve this.”
Rebecca looked up.
“Then someone gave him authority he shouldn't have had.”
“Or he forged the signature,” I said.
We examined the remaining pages. The same approval code appeared beside transfers made shortly before both deaths. A handwritten note identified the code as belonging to a private security account.
The account was still active.
Rebecca called the bank's legal department and requested preservation of the records.
Then she closed the folder.
“This is enough to justify a formal investigation into the financial activity. We still need corroboration tying the payments to the killings.”
I looked at the letters.
“Elias can give us that.”
“If he cooperates,” Rebecca said.
As though summoned by his name, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered on speaker.
A strained voice whispered, “Claire?”
“Elias?”
“Yes. Listen carefully. I don't have much time.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere they haven't found me yet.”
“Who?”
“Victor. Luca. I don't know who else. They know the records are missing.”
“Why did you hide them?”
“Because I helped them hide the money in the first place.”
The room went silent.
Elias continued, his voice breaking.
“I told myself I was protecting the company. I told myself the money would be returned. Then your father found the accounts, and Vincent's father threatened to expose everything. Victor said there was only one way to keep the empire from collapsing.”
“You knew they were going to kill them?”
“I knew they were planning to silence them. I didn't know the plan would go that far until it was too late.”
Vincent's hands curled into fists.
“Where are you?” he demanded.
Elias flinched at the sound of his voice.
“Vincent?”
“Tell us where you are.”
“I can't. They're watching me.”
“Then give us something we can verify.”
Elias took a shaky breath.
“The original security orders are in a private archive. The payments were disguised as protection contracts. The initials beside the final authorization belong to Victor Sloane, but Luca arranged the meeting.”
“Why did you meet Luca at the vault?” I asked.
“He wanted the ledger. He said he could destroy it before anyone found it.”
“Why didn't he?”
“Because I gave him a copy and kept the original. I thought it would buy me time.”
Vincent leaned toward the phone.
“You let my father die.”
“I know.”
“You let Claire's father die.”
“I know.”
“You watched me build a life around a lie.”
Elias began to cry.
“I was a coward.”
For the first time, I felt something colder than anger.
Pity.
Not forgiveness. Never that.
Just the knowledge that a man's cowardice had helped destroy two families.
“Will you testify?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then contact Rebecca through the secure channel she gives you. Do not meet Vincent or his men. Do not go to the vault. Do not trust anyone who says they can protect you without involving the authorities.”
Elias agreed.
The call ended.
Rebecca immediately arranged for the agents to locate him. She also warned us that the investigation could become public within days.
Vincent stood by the window, staring at the city.
“Luca was there when my father died,” he said. “He held my shoulder at the funeral. He promised me we'd keep the family together.”
I approached him slowly.
“People can love someone and still betray them.”
He looked at me.
“Do you believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Can you still love someone who has hurt you?”
I thought of the man he had been, the man he had become, and the little boy asleep in the next room.
“Yes,” I said. “But love doesn't erase what they did. And it doesn't mean you have to let them do it again.”
He nodded slowly.
Then Rebecca's phone rang.
She listened, her expression changing.
“What happened?” I asked.
She ended the call.
“Elias has been found.”
“Is he safe?”
“He's alive,” she said. “But someone tried to kill him before the agents reached him.”
Vincent turned sharply.
“Who?”
Rebecca looked at the photograph from the vault.
“The security team identified the vehicle used in the attack.”
May you like
She placed the screen on the table.
The car was registered to a company owned by Luca Moretti.
