Chapter 9 - THE ACCOUNTANT WHO DISAPPEARED WITH THE TRUTH|
Daniel Russo had worked for Luca Moretti for eleven years.
He wasn't a man who disappeared without warning.
He was methodical, cautious, and almost painfully organized.
He carried two pens in his jacket pocket because he didn't trust himself to remember where he'd left the first.
He sent appointment reminders days in advance.
And whenever he traveled, he told his wife exactly when to expect him home.
So when his wife called Luca shortly after midnight, crying because Daniel hadn't returned, I knew something was terribly wrong.
Luca listened to her for less than a minute before calling Gabriel.
"Find out where Daniel was last seen."
I stood beside my mother's hospital bed, listening as fear crept through the room.
The man who had discovered the forged signatures was missing.
And he'd disappeared hours after finding a ledger that could expose everyone involved.
Detective Ramirez was notified.
She asked Luca to provide Daniel's last known movements and any messages relevant to the investigation.
Gabriel contacted the hospital's security office to preserve the footage showing Daniel's departure.
His car had been captured leaving the parking garage at 8:43 p.m.
He'd been alone.
But another vehicle appeared to follow him out.
A dark SUV.
Its license plate wasn't clear in the available images.
Luca watched the footage without speaking.
Then he reached for his phone.
Naomi stopped him.
"Luca, don't send your men looking for someone to punish."
He stared at her.
"Daniel could be in danger."
"Then give the police everything they need to find him."
His face hardened.
For a moment, I thought he might ignore her.
Instead, he handed Gabriel the phone and ordered him to cooperate fully with Detective Ramirez.
I watched that exchange closely.
I'd spent five years hearing stories about what happened to people who crossed Luca Moretti.
Men disappeared from business meetings and returned too frightened to speak.
Contracts were canceled overnight.
Rivals suddenly changed their minds after receiving mysterious telephone calls.
I knew Luca had built his reputation on fear.
But fear was the very thing Vanessa had used against my mother.
I didn't want another family destroyed in the name of saving mine.
"Luca," I said quietly.
He turned.
"Don't make this worse."
His expression shifted.
"You think I would?"
"I think you're angry."
"And I know what angry people with power can do."
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"You're right."
It was the first time I'd ever heard him say those words to a housemaid.
At three in the morning, my mother's heart monitor began sounding an alarm.
A nurse hurried into the room, followed by Dr. Patel.
I was asked to wait outside while they examined her.
I stood in the hallway, shaking so hard that Rosa wrapped her arms around me.
I couldn't lose my mother.
Not after everything she'd survived.
Not after the years she'd spent raising me alone following my father's death.
She'd worked two jobs to make sure I graduated high school.
She'd skipped meals so I could attend community college.
She'd sold her wedding dress to help pay for my first apartment.
And now she was lying in a hospital bed because I'd trusted the wrong people with my paycheck.
Rosa held me tighter.
"She raised a fighter, Claire."
I buried my face against her shoulder.
"I don't want to fight anymore."
"I know, sweetheart."
"But you don't have to fight alone."
Dr. Patel eventually emerged with cautious reassurance.
My mother had experienced an episode of dangerous heart-rhythm instability, but the team had stabilized her.
Her evaluation could no longer be postponed.
The doctors were planning a procedure as soon as they had completed the necessary preparations.
I sat beside her bed and watched her sleep.
Her hands looked impossibly small against the white sheets.
I remembered how she'd taught me to tie my shoes when I was little.
How she'd brushed my hair before school.
How she'd stood outside in the snow to cheer at my graduation.
I pressed her fingers against my cheek.
"Please stay," I whispered.
"I still need you."
Just before sunrise, Luca received a call from Detective Ramirez.
Daniel's car had been found near an industrial building along the Chicago River.
The driver's door was open.
His phone lay beneath the seat.
And there were signs suggesting he'd left the vehicle in a hurry.
I felt sick.
"Is he alive?" I asked.
Luca repeated the question into the phone.
Then he listened.
His expression changed slightly.
"They don't know yet."
I closed my eyes.
Another person was in danger because of the same stolen money.
Minutes later, Gabriel entered with Daniel's wife on a video call.
She was crying, but she had something important to share.
"Daniel sent me an email yesterday," she explained.
"He said not to open the attachment unless something happened."
Luca immediately asked her to forward the message to Detective Ramirez and preserve the original.
She agreed.
Maya stood beside me while we waited for news.
When the detective called again, she explained that Daniel's email contained a portion of the suspicious ledger and a short written message.
Luca listened, his face growing colder with every word.
Finally, he turned toward me.
"Claire, Daniel found the reason they needed your name."
I swallowed.
"What reason?"
Luca hesitated.
"The forged confession was only the beginning."
I stared at him.
He continued quietly.
"They planned to accuse you publicly, force my companies into a financial investigation, and use the crisis to take control of several major properties."
My stomach tightened.
"And Vanessa?"
Luca's face seemed carved from stone.
"According to the ledger, she was promised a share of the proceeds."
Then his phone rang again.
This time, Detective Ramirez had found someone alive near the industrial building.
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But the injured man was barely conscious.
And the first thing he'd told the officers was that Adrian Vale had tried to kill him.
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