Chapter 8
The first person to turn against Damien was not Bianca.
It was one of the temporary guards.
Ethan Cole contacted Evelyn through an attorney.
He wanted immunity from any employment-related claim and protection from Damien.
Alessandro agreed to hear him.
Ethan explained that Damien had recruited him six months earlier.
Not for violence.
For information.
He wanted schedules.
Guard rotations.
Access codes.
Which staff members were loyal to Daniel.
Which managers spoke directly to Alessandro.
“Why?”
“He said he was taking over after the wedding.”
“Did he say I approved it?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro's expression did not change.
“What were you supposed to do during the reception?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Keep Daniel away from the west office corridor.”
“Why?”
“I wasn’t told.”
“Who was going inside?”
“Damien.”
That corridor led to Alessandro’s private office.
There was nothing unusual inside.
Except an old wall safe built behind a bookcase.
Alessandro had not opened it in years.
The combination had belonged to him and Elena.
He went there immediately after the meeting.
The safe opened.
Inside were legal papers, old jewelry boxes, family photographs, and one sealed envelope.
Elena’s handwriting was on the front.
ALESSANDRO — IF I’M WRONG, BURN THIS.
His hands stopped.
He had never seen it.
The envelope had been pushed behind an old jewelry case.
He opened it.
Inside were three pages.
Elena had written them six weeks before her death.
She had become suspicious of Damien.
Not because of the car.
Because of money.
She believed he was using contractors to hide payments she could not identify.
She had asked Alessandro twice to review them.
He vaguely remembered the conversations.
He had told her Damien handled those accounts.
Elena had written:
You trust him because he never asks for credit. That is exactly why I don’t trust him.
Another line made Alessandro sit down.
Bianca knows more about Damien’s business than she pretends.
Alessandro reread it.
Bianca?
Four years ago, he barely knew her.
He had met her only once.
Or believed he had.
The final page contained a name.
Victor Moretti.
Damien and Bianca’s father.
Alessandro had not heard that name in nearly twenty years.
Victor Moretti had once owned a small freight company on Chicago’s South Side.
The company collapsed after a disastrous dispute with Rizzano Logistics.
Alessandro had been twenty-seven.
Victor blamed him personally.
Two years later Victor died.
Damien had never mentioned that history when he began working with Alessandro.
He had presented himself as a man trying to build a future separate from his father.
Elena apparently never believed him.
At the bottom of the letter she wrote one final sentence.
Ask Damien why his sister was at the St. Gabriel fundraiser before he ever introduced you to her.
Alessandro stared at the page.
He remembered the fundraiser.
May you like
He remembered meeting Bianca there years later.
But Elena was saying Bianca had been watching him long before that.
