Chapter 9 - The Betrayal Behind the Lion's Ring|
By Monday afternoon, the Moretti family had won an important court battle and lost nearly two million dollars.
I sat beside Olivia in Natalie's downtown office.
The windows overlooked the Chicago River.
Below us, people walked along the sidewalks, unaware that a family's entire future was being fought over just a few floors above them.
Natalie had brought in an independent forensic accountant named Ana Morales.
Ana was a meticulous woman with short black hair and an extraordinary ability to recognize patterns hidden inside financial records.
For nearly three hours, she examined the accounts connected to Richard Hayes.
Then she turned her laptop toward us.
"This wasn't a single theft."
Luca leaned forward.
"What do you mean?"
Ana displayed a timeline.
Small transfers had begun shortly after Antonio Moretti's funeral.
At first, the amounts were modest enough to disappear inside routine administrative expenses.
Then they increased.
By the time Vanessa became engaged to Luca, the transfers were much larger.
Some had been disguised as consulting fees.
Others appeared as property-management expenses.
Several were connected to invoices issued by companies with no verified employees.
Olivia watched the screen.
Then she signed.
My father's charity paid for those invoices?
The interpreter Natalie had arranged for our financial meetings voiced the question.
Ana nodded.
"Some payments came from accounts associated with the foundation."
"Others came from corporate entities that were supposed to maintain its properties."
Olivia closed her eyes.
Her father had built the foundation to support arts education and accessibility programs.
Now someone had used it as a private bank account.
"How much altogether?" Luca asked.
Ana hesitated.
"Our preliminary findings suggest several million dollars may have been diverted over multiple years."
The room went silent.
Then she enlarged a transaction authorization.
One name appeared again and again.
Dominic Moretti.
Luca's cousin.
The man whose gold lion ring had appeared in Olivia's threatening photograph.
Dominic had grown up beside Luca.
He had attended family holidays, birthdays, and funerals.
After Antonio's death, he became one of the managers responsible for the family's property holdings.
Luca trusted him.
Almost as much as he had trusted Richard.
"Bring him here," Luca said.
Natalie immediately shook her head.
"Not without speaking to Detective Ruiz."
"If Dominic is involved, confronting him privately could compromise the investigation."
Luca's jaw tightened.
For a moment, I saw the old version of him.
The man who could make Chicago's most dangerous people tremble with one phone call.
Then he looked toward Olivia.
She signed slowly.
No more secrets.
Luca exhaled.
"You're right."
He called Detective Ruiz.
By late afternoon, investigators were reviewing Dominic's role in the transfers.
They also discovered something surprising.
Several of the suspicious companies had used the same registered business address.
A private office building near the Chicago waterfront.
The leaseholder was a company associated with Vanessa's father, Victor Bellini.
I remembered hearing his name during the engagement celebrations.
He was a wealthy businessman who had spent years trying to establish relationships with Chicago's most influential families.
Luca had never liked him.
But Vanessa insisted her father was simply protective.
Now Victor Bellini's company appeared to be connected to the missing money.
"Was Vanessa involved from the beginning?" I asked.
Ana shook her head.
"Not necessarily."
"The records suggest Richard and Dominic may have started the diversion before she entered the family."
Olivia looked toward Luca.
Then she signed.
She didn't create the problem.
She found people who were already willing to betray us.
The interpreter voiced her words.
Luca stared at the financial timeline.
"Then my family was being robbed before I ever met her."
Natalie nodded.
"And the wedding may have been an attempt to complete a much larger transfer before anyone challenged the paperwork."
For a moment, I almost felt sorry for Luca.
He had built his reputation on loyalty.
Yet the people closest to him had been selling pieces of his family's future.
But sympathy didn't erase responsibility.
His sister had warned him repeatedly.
He simply hadn't listened.
That evening, Olivia and I returned to the art studio.
We sat together at a long table covered with paintings and photographs.
She was exhausted.
So was I.
But she refused to stop working.
She opened a folder containing the foundation's previous grant applications.
Then she showed me a photograph of a community theater near the lakefront.
Her father had intended to turn the abandoned building into a center offering accessible performances, art classes, and training programs.
Olivia had been developing the project for two years.
This is why I need the inheritance, she signed.
Not to buy expensive things.
To finish what Father started.
I looked at the drawing.
Children and adults were gathered around a stage.
Above the entrance were the words:
THE OPEN DOOR CENTER.
"It's beautiful," I whispered.
Olivia smiled sadly.
Then her phone vibrated.
A message had arrived from an unfamiliar number.
She showed it to me.
Tell Luca to meet me at the old warehouse on Cermak Road.
Tonight.
No lawyers.
No police.
If he wants the truth about his father, he needs to hear it from me.
Below the message was a photograph.
A man's hand rested on a steering wheel.
On his finger was a gold ring bearing a carved lion.
Dominic Moretti.
I immediately called Luca.
When he answered, I read the message aloud.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then his voice became very quiet.
"Claire, tell Olivia I'm coming."
I swallowed.
"You're not going alone, are you?"
Luca paused.
Then he said something I never expected from him.
"No."
May you like
"I've spent too many years trying to solve problems without witnesses."
And when he ended the call, I realized the most dangerous meeting of his life might also be the first one where he refused to act like a mafia boss.
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