“The watch doesn’t prove who stole the money,” Luca said. “But it proves David knew where to look.”
We sat in Matteo’s office while afternoon sunlight moved across the floor.
My husband’s pocket watch lay between us.
For years, I’d believed David’s final days had been ordinary.
He’d kissed Lily’s forehead.
Promised to repair our kitchen drawer.
Left for work carrying a thermos of coffee.
Then never come home.
Now I was learning he’d been worried about something he hadn’t shared with me.
I didn’t know whether to feel proud of him or angry.
Maybe both.
Matteo opened the back of the watch with a small tool.
A thin paper disc had been tucked beneath the photograph.
On it were six handwritten numbers.
Luca compared them with the account records.
“It’s a transaction identifier.”
Matteo nodded.
“David wanted us to find one specific transfer.”
“Why this one?”
“Because it was the first payment he couldn’t reconcile.”
Luca called Daniel.
Within an hour, the independent accountants began tracing the number.
I watched the brothers work side by side.
They still didn’t trust each other completely.
But there was something familiar in the way they leaned over the documents.
The same furrowed brow.
The same habit of tapping a finger when thinking.
For the first time, they looked like family.
At 4:30 p.m., Daniel returned with the initial findings.
“The transfer was for $640,000,” he said.
I stared.
Six hundred and forty thousand dollars.
More money than I’d earn in a decade.
“Where did it go?” Luca asked.
“From the foundation reserve into an entity called Bellini Community Development.”
Matteo exhaled.
“Richard.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That’s what we thought. But the authorization was entered under another name.”
He placed a printed page on the desk.
Luca read it.
Then went completely still.
AUTHORIZED BY: ANTONIO MORETTI.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Luca looked at Matteo.
“My father authorized it.”
Matteo examined the date.
“Eight years ago.”
“Before he died.”
“Yes.”
Luca stood abruptly.
“Then Dad knew.”
Matteo shook his head.
“Not necessarily.”
“His name is right there.”
“Names on financial records can be used without permission.”
Luca turned sharply.
“Are you defending him now?”
“I’m asking you not to make the same mistake he made with me.”
That stopped Luca.
He lowered himself back into the chair.
Daniel pointed toward a second line.
“The transaction was entered manually, then approved through a separate banking credential.”
“Whose?” Luca asked.
Daniel hesitated.
“Yours.”
Luca stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“The credential belonged to your executive office.”
“I never approved this.”
Matteo looked at him.
“Are you certain?”
Luca’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
I watched him.
For the first time, I understood how easily an empire could hide things from the person whose name stood above the door.
Later that evening, we returned to Chicago.
Luca insisted I take the rest of the week off with full pay.
I refused at first.
Then he reminded me that Lily needed me.
He also arranged a consultation with a pediatric orthopedic specialist and instructed his office to handle the financial guarantee directly, without waiting for the disputed charity funds.
By the following morning, the hospital confirmed that Lily’s surgery was scheduled.
I sat on our kitchen floor and cried.
Lily crawled into my lap.
“Mommy, are those happy tears?”
I held her close.
“Yes, baby.”
“Then why do they look sad?”
I kissed her hair.
“Sometimes happy takes a while to reach your face.”
She thought about that.
Then wiped my cheeks with her sleeve.
At the mansion, the investigation uncovered another problem.
Someone had used Luca’s executive credentials to approve payments over several years.
Some were legitimate operating expenses.
Others were not.
Daniel traced many of the approvals to a financial administrator named Elaine Mercer.
She’d worked for the Moretti organization for twenty-three years.
Luca trusted her.
She’d been present when his father died.
She knew the family.
When she was brought into the conference room, she looked neither frightened nor surprised.
“Elaine,” Luca said, “I need you to explain these transactions.”
She studied the papers.
Then removed her glasses.
“I wondered when somebody would finally ask.”
Luca frowned.
“You knew?”
“I knew things weren’t right.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
Elaine looked toward Matteo.
“Because the last person who questioned those accounts lost his family.”
Matteo said nothing.
Luca leaned forward.
“Who authorized the transfers?”
Elaine folded her hands.
“Some came from Richard Bellini’s office. Some were processed through your father’s old business arrangements.”
“And mine?”
She looked exhausted.
“Your office approved them electronically.”
“I never saw them.”
“I know.”
Luca stared.
“How?”
“Because Vanessa asked me to route certain correspondence away from you.”
Silence filled the room.
Elaine continued.
“She said you were overwhelmed. She said Richard was helping you keep the charitable divisions organized.”
