Chapter 7 - The Account in Matteo’s Name

Federal agents surrounded the estate.

Matteo did not run.

That surprised everyone.

He placed the ledger on the table.

Then walked outside.

Hands visible.

I followed to the doorway.

An agent approached.

“Matteo Rinaldi?”

“Yes.”

“You are being detained regarding financial fraud and money laundering.”

Matteo looked at him.

“Who filed the evidence?”

The agent did not answer.

Matteo glanced toward Sofia.

She already knew.

Richard.

Of course.

But Sofia shook her head.

Not Richard.

Someone else.

Matteo was taken to a federal office.

Not arrested.

Yet.

His lawyer arrived.

So did Daniel.

So did Victor.

Sofia disappeared before agents entered the house.

Elena stayed with Matteo.

That mattered.

In the interview room, an investigator placed bank documents on the table.

Account holder:

MATTEO RINALDI.

Opened twelve years ago.

Balance:

$41,800,000.

Transfers connected to the stolen foundation money.

Matteo stared.

“I was nineteen.”

“Yes.”

“I did not open this.”

The investigator slid over a signature card.

Matteo’s signature.

Perfect.

Too perfect.

Elena whispered:

“Richard forged it.”

The investigator looked at her.

“We are not assuming that.”

Matteo leaned back.

“Who controlled the account?”

“Initially?”

“Yes.”

The investigator turned another page.

“Daniel Rinaldi.”

Silence.

Matteo looked at his father.

Daniel stood outside the glass.

He could not hear.

But he saw Matteo’s expression.

Matteo asked:

“Bring him in.”

Daniel entered.

The investigator showed him the documents.

Daniel stared.

“This account is not his.”

“It has his name.”

“I opened it.”

Matteo went still.

“You what?”

Daniel looked at him.

“I opened it.”

“Why?”

“For you.”

Matteo laughed bitterly.

“Everyone does things to me ‘for me.’”

Daniel continued.

“The money did not come from the foundations.”

The investigator said:

“Records say it did.”

“They are false.”

“How do you know?”

Daniel looked at Matteo.

“Because the forty million came from Lucia.”

Matteo frowned.

“My mother?”

“Yes.”

Daniel explained.

Before the boating attack, Lucia transferred money out of accounts Richard controlled.

Not stolen foundation money.

Money Richard had already stolen.

She moved it into a trust under Matteo’s name.

The account federal agents found was that trust.

Matteo looked at the investigator.

“So Richard made clean evidence look dirty.”

Daniel nodded.

“After Lucia died, I kept the account hidden.”

Matteo turned.

“And paid Richard from it?”

“Yes.”

His face hardened.

“You used my mother’s money to pay her enemy.”

“To keep you alive.”

Again.

Always the same sentence.

Matteo stood.

“I am tired of being the excuse.”

Daniel flinched.

Matteo continued.

“You paid him because you were afraid.”

“Yes.”

“You stayed gone because you were afraid.”

“Yes.”

“You believed fake letters because you were afraid.”

Daniel’s eyes filled.

“Yes.”

“Then say that.”

Daniel looked at him.

“I was afraid.”

Silence.

For the first time, Daniel did not call fear protection.

He called it fear.

The investigator asked:

“Can you prove Lucia created the trust?”

Daniel nodded.

“The original charter is in a safe deposit box.”

“Where?”

Victor answered from the doorway.

“Voss Private Bank.”

Everyone looked at him.

Matteo frowned.

“You knew?”

Victor nodded.

“I witnessed the charter.”

Elena stared.

“You helped Lucia?”

“Yes.”

“Then why keep working with Richard?”

Victor closed his eyes.

“Because helping Lucia was the bravest thing I did.”

Then looked at his daughter.

“And I spent every year after becoming a coward again.”

The investigator ordered the bank records retrieved.

Within two hours, the charter arrived.

Lucia’s signature.

Victor’s witness signature.

Daniel as trustee.

Matteo as beneficiary.

The forty million was not evidence against Matteo.

It was evidence against Richard.

But one detail remained.

The account showed a withdrawal two months ago.

Eight million dollars.

Authorized by Daniel.

Matteo looked at him.

“You said you stopped paying Richard.”

Daniel went pale.

“I did.”

“Then where did eight million go?”

Daniel stared at the page.

“I did not authorize that.”

Elena whispered:

“Then who did?”

The investigator turned the signature card.

A second authorized trustee had been added three months earlier.

Matteo read the name.

SOFIA VOSS.

Silence.

Daniel looked stunned.

“I never added her.”

Matteo stood.

Sofia had vanished.

The decoy ledger.

The warnings.

The secret meetings.

The account.

Everything shifted.

Elena whispered:

“She stole it.”

Matteo shook his head.

“Maybe.”

Then looked at the date.

The withdrawal occurred the same day Sofia first met Daniel.

Matteo asked:

“Where did the money go?”

The investigator answered:

“A company in Switzerland.”

“Owned by?”

He looked at another page.

Then at Victor.

“Victor Voss.”

Elena slowly turned toward her father.

Victor’s face became empty.

“I have never seen that company.”

The investigator replied:

“According to these records, you created it twenty-six years ago.”

Victor sat down.

And suddenly the question was no longer whether Sofia had stolen eight million.

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