Chapter 4 - Teresa Was Not Running From the Morettis

For twenty-six years, Luca had remembered Madrid incorrectly.

Not because the memory was false.

Because he had only been eight.

He remembered hunger.

Rain.

His mother counting coins.

He remembered sleeping in a narrow hotel bed while Teresa sat awake beside the door.

What he had never understood was why they were there.

The letter explained part of it.

Teresa had discovered that Carlo Bellini, Isabella’s father, was moving money through Moretti charities and shipping accounts.

Millions.

Enough to weaken the family.

Enough to buy people around it.

Teresa had found copies.

Carlo found out.

So she took Luca and disappeared.

Not from the Moretti family.

From a man operating inside its financial network.

Emma watched Luca read.

His face remained controlled.

Only his fingers betrayed him.

They tightened around the page whenever Teresa mentioned fear.

Belini sat across from him wearing a red dress she had not changed from the restaurant.

For once, she seemed smaller inside it.

Luca looked at her.

“Carlo was your grandfather.”

“Yes.”

“Did you know what he did?”

“No.”

“You knew enough to search for Carmen.”

“I knew there was a ledger.”

The room went silent.

Marco looked at her.

Luca did not blink.

“You knew about the ledger.”

Belini’s shoulders lowered.

“My mother wrote about it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because Isabella believed it could destroy both families.”

“That was her decision?”

“No.”

“Then whose?”

Belini looked at Luca.

“Mine.”

Honest.

Finally.

Luca opened the black ledger.

Names.

Transfers.

Companies.

Dates stretching back almost three decades.

Some belonged to Bellini-controlled firms.

Some belonged to Moretti businesses.

Emma noticed one name repeated more often than the others.

Bellini Foundation.

Then a newer entry.

Only eleven months old.

She pointed.

“This one.”

Luca looked.

The amount was recent.

So was the account.

Marco pulled the banking record.

The beneficiary company still existed.

And its controlling officer was Belini.

Carmen stared at her.

“You continued it.”

Belini shook her head.

“No.”

Luca turned the ledger toward her.

“Your company.”

“I inherited it.”

“The transfer is eleven months old.”

“I didn’t authorize it.”

Marco asked:

“Who can?”

“Me. My accountant. My attorney.”

Emma looked at Belini’s face.

For the first time, her fear did not look like guilt.

It looked like recognition.

Luca noticed too.

“Who?”

Belini whispered:

“Matteo Vescari.”

Marco was already reaching for his phone.

Belini looked at Luca.

“He manages the foundation.”

“How long?”

“Six years.”

“Where is he?”

She went pale.

“He was supposed to meet me after lunch.”

Luca’s voice became quiet.

“For what?”

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

Belini stared at the ledger.

“To tell me whether Carmen still had the key.”