Chapter 5: The Price of Silence
Isabella snatched up her phone.
“You had no right to read that.”
“It appeared on my table,” Luca said.
“Who is voting?”
“The Moretti Foundation board.”
“My brother doesn’t control that board.”
“He will by noon.”
Luca called Victor and placed the phone on speaker.
His brother answered at once.
“Do you have the key?”
“No,” Luca said.
“But Isabella does have a problem.”
Silence followed.
Then Victor laughed.
“So Sofia’s little insurance policy survived.”
“You knew about the card?”
“I knew your wife enjoyed recording people.”
“You forged transfers from Matteo’s trust.”
“Careful, Luca.
Accusations can become expensive.”
Luca’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Come to the house.”
“I’ll see you at the board meeting.”
The call ended.
Isabella reached for her handbag.
The officer stepped into her path.
“You haven’t been detained,” he said, “but the false report will be documented.”
She turned to me.
“May I speak to Emma privately?”
“No,” Luca said.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
I followed her only as far as the open doorway.
Luca and the officer remained close enough to see us.
Isabella lowered her voice.
“I will give you two hundred thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“You resign today.
You tell the police you misunderstood what happened in the kitchen, and you say Rosa planted the necklace.”
Rosa’s chair scraped behind us.
I took out my phone and tapped the recording button.
“Say the amount again.”
Isabella’s eyes narrowed.
“Do you think Luca will protect you forever?”
“I don’t need forever.
I need the truth.”
“You need money.
Women like you always do.”
“Women like me?”
“Women who enter wealthy homes and make lonely men feel heroic.”
I lifted the phone.
“Thank you.
That was clear.”
She knocked it from my hand.
Luca picked it up before she could reach it.
The recording was still running.
“You offered Emma money to lie,” he said.
“I was testing her loyalty.”
“You have none of your own to test.”
A black sedan stopped outside.
Victor entered carrying a leather folder, his silver hair as neat as his dark suit.
“Good,” he said.
“Everyone is together.”
Luca stepped toward him.
“Did you move money from Matteo’s trust?”
Victor opened the folder.
“These transfers carry your signature.”
“They’re forged.”
“Then you can explain that to the board.”
He laid down another document.
The heading read TEMPORARY REMOVAL OF CHAIRMAN.
Isabella smiled.
“The emergency vote has already begun.”
“You said noon,” Luca replied.
“I lied.”
Victor turned the laptop toward him.
Six board members appeared on the screen.
A gray-haired woman spoke first.
“Luca, financial investigators received documents connecting your authorization codes to eleven unauthorized transfers.”
“My codes were copied.”
Victor held up the damaged memory card.
“And your caregiver produced a conveniently edited recording that blames Isabella.”
Luca checked his palm.
The card was gone.
Isabella held it between two fingers.
“Looking for this?”
She snapped it in half.
Matteo cried out.
Rosa pulled him against her before he could run forward.
The board member removed her glasses.
“Until this is resolved, Luca Moretti is suspended from the foundation and all trust decisions.”
Victor slid the brass key from the table during the confusion.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Give that back.”
He twisted away and raised the key.
“Too late.
Box 317 belongs to the acting trustee now.”
Luca looked at the laptop.
One board member after another lifted a hand.
Victor counted the votes, then smiled at his brother.
May you like
“Six in favor.
Luca, you no longer control Matteo’s trust.”
