Chapter 6 - Dante’s Son Came Home
Luca Moretti waited outside the gates with his hands visible.
No weapon.
No entourage.
That somehow made him more frightening.
Dante went outside.
I watched through the security cameras.
Sofia stood beside me.
“You believe Nolan?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Do you believe your brother?”
“No.”
That answer was less comforting.
Luca and Dante faced each other across ten feet of wet pavement.
Three years of silence seemed to stand between them.
Dante spoke first.
“You were told never to return.”
Luca smiled.
“Things changed.”
“You accessed Margaret Carter’s trust.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To keep it from people worse than me.”
Dante’s expression sharpened.
“That sounds almost noble.”
“It isn’t.”
Luca looked directly at the nearest camera.
At me.
“Nolan Pierce isn’t the architect.”
My pulse jumped.
“He’s a recruiter.”
Sofia muttered a curse.
Luca continued.
“He finds vulnerable beneficiaries.”
“People with inheritances.”
“Family trusts.”
“Old property.”
“He gains access.”
“He isolates them.”
“Then someone converts their assets into collateral.”
I felt sick.
Dante asked the question I couldn’t.
“For whom?”
Luca smiled.
“The consortium.”
Dante’s face changed.
Sofia noticed.
“What consortium?”
She asked me quietly.
“I don’t know.”
Neither did I.
But Dante clearly did.
He ordered the gates opened.
Sofia spun toward him.
“You can’t be serious.”
“He came here for a reason.”
“He always has a reason.”
Luca entered the house fifteen minutes later.
When he saw me, he stopped.
“You look like Margaret.”
“I barely remember her.”
“She remembered you.”
I hated how easily he said her name.
“You used my trust.”
“I opened the file.”
“You gave Nolan my information.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Luca looked toward Dante.
“That’s the problem.”
He removed a flash drive from his coat.
“Someone inside Moretti Holdings sold the Carter file.”
Dante took the drive.
“To Nolan?”
“To the people Nolan works for.”
I crossed my arms.
“Why come back now?”
Luca looked directly at me.
“Because they moved too quickly.”
“West Fulton wasn’t supposed to transfer yet.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
Dante’s voice hardened.
“Tell her.”
Luca exhaled.
“Because once West Fulton transferred into your forged corporation, you became legally useful.”
I felt my heartbeat in my throat.
“Useful for what?”
“For taking the blame.”
Silence.
Luca continued.
“The consortium has been laundering money through redevelopment projects for years.”
“They needed a clean civilian face when investigators finally looked.”
“And Nolan chose you.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Dante caught my elbow.
Luca’s next sentence made everything worse.
“The federal inquiry opens Monday.”
Today was Friday.
Three days.
May you like
“And when it opens,” Luca said, “every document points directly at Evelyn Carter.”
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