Chapter 7: The Room Where Everyone Chose
One officer stepped forward.
“Luca Moretti?”
The company attorney raised his hand.
“Before anyone speaks, Mr.
Moretti has been accused of authorizing fraudulent transfers.”
Elena handed him the board petition.
“His access must be suspended immediately.”
Luca did not move.
“On whose evidence?”
“Bank records carrying your approval code,” Elena said.
Marco looked at the attorney.
“Those records were supplied by Elena.”
“And verified by an outside auditor,” the attorney replied.
Elena pointed at me.
“The same records show payments to Emma Reed.”
The officer faced me.
“Ma’am, we need you to remain here.”
Isabella whispered, “Sign the confession, Emma.
It may be your only way out.”
I pulled the scarf away from her.
“No.
This is your way out.”
The thread tore beneath my fingers.
A black flash drive fell into my palm.
Elena lunged across the table.
Marco caught her wrist.
“Don’t.”
“That belongs to the company.”
“Then you won’t mind us examining it,” Luca said.
The attorney took the drive.
“Nobody touches this until it is catalogued.”
Elena’s voice softened.
“Mr.
Harris, your firm has represented my family for twenty years.
Do not throw that away over a servant’s story.”
“My name is Emma Reed.”
Mr.
Harris looked at me, then at the letter.
“Margaret Reed’s daughter?”
“You knew my mother?”
“She came to my office twelve years ago.
Elena arrived before I could take her statement.”
Elena pulled free of Marco.
“Be careful, Harris.”
“No,” he said.
“I was careful then.
A good woman paid for my cowardice.”
One of the officers collected the drive.
Marco placed the two keys and Luca’s father’s letter beside it.
Elena turned to Isabella.
“Tell them Emma gave you the drive.”
Isabella backed away.
“She didn’t.”
“I have messages proving you planned to take control of Luca’s trust.”
“And I have recordings of you telling me what to say.”
Elena’s face changed.
“You recorded me?”
“After you threatened my brother.”
Luca looked at Isabella.
“You had evidence and still framed Emma?”
“I thought I could trade it for my safety.”
I stepped toward her.
“You threatened my father’s care.”
“I was trying to frighten you.”
“You planted a copied key in my coat.”
“Elena gave it to me.”
“But your hand put it there.”
Isabella’s mouth trembled.
“Yes.”
“And you sh0ved me.”
“Yes.”
The admission settled over the room.
I pointed to my swollen ankle.
“Look at what your fear made you do.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry would have been telling the truth before you were trapped.”
Elena laughed.
“How touching.
Isabella apologizes, Emma becomes a martyr, and Luca pretends he never benefited from the money.”
Luca faced the board members.
“Freeze every Belladonna account.
Suspend my authority if you must, but examine every transfer—including mine.”
Elena stared at him.
“You would lose the company.”
“If keeping it requires hiding what you did, then yes.”
Mr.
Harris opened a laptop.
“The drive can be copied without altering the original.”
One officer nodded.
“Proceed.”
Files filled the screen: account numbers, payment dates, forged approvals, and scanned signatures.
A folder marked M.
REED contained my mother’s original report.
My hand covered my mouth.
Luca stood beside me.
“She documented everything.”
Mr.
Harris opened an audio file.
Elena’s voice filled the room.
Once Luca marries Isabella, she appoints me co-trustee.
After that, he can object as loudly as he likes.
Isabella’s recorded voice answered.
And Emma?
Plant the key.
If she talks, use her father.
Elena rushed toward the laptop, but the officers stepped between her and the table.
“This is stolen material,” she shouted.
“No,” Marco said.
“It is evidence.”
Elena pointed at Luca.
“Without me, your father would have lost everything.”
“He lost his honor instead.”
“I protected you!”
“You protected your accounts.”
The officer took Elena’s handbag and asked her to turn around.
She looked at me while metal restraints closed around her wrists.
“You think this restores your mother’s name?
People remember scandal, not corrections.”
I walked close enough that she had to meet my eyes.
“Then I’ll make sure they remember the correction.”
Elena turned to Luca as the officers led her toward the door.
“You were always too weak to be a Moretti.”
Luca opened the door for them.
“No, Elena.
I was weak when I believed silence was strength.”
Isabella began to follow, but the second officer stopped her.
“You are also being detained for evidence tampering, conspiracy, and the ass@ult of Ms.
Reed.”
Isabella looked at me.
“Please tell them I helped at the end.”
“You helped yourself at the end.”
Her shoulders folded.
As she crossed the threshold, Mr.
Harris’s laptop chimed.
He stared at a newly opened ledger.
“There is another name on these transfers.”
Luca came to his side.
“Whose?”
Mr.
Harris turned the screen toward me.
May you like
Thomas Reed.
My father.
