Chapter 8 - The Last Person Inside the Estate

The Geneva meeting ended in twelve minutes.

The return flight felt longer than eight hours.

Marco locked the Moretti estate remotely.

Nobody entered.

Nobody left.

Twenty-three protected identities had been requested from the emergency network.

The download failed at nineteen.

Four names escaped.

Luca did not know which four.

That was the problem.

When they arrived, security chief Daniel Orsini met them at the main entrance.

He had served Luca’s father.

Then Luca.

Twenty years.

He looked exhausted.

“Boss.”

Luca studied him.

“Who accessed the server?”

“We don’t know.”

“You are security.”

“I know.”

Emma watched his hands.

One thumb kept rubbing the side of his index finger.

Nervous.

She had seen him do that once before.

Two months ago.

When Belini complained about staff discussing missing pay.

Emma looked at Luca.

He noticed.

Of course he did.

“Orsini,” Luca said.

“Yes?”

“Your office.”

The man hesitated.

Half a second.

Enough.

Marco moved first.

Not violently.

Just between Orsini and the corridor.

Orsini exhaled.

Then laughed.

“I wondered who would notice.”

Emma’s stomach dropped.

Luca’s expression became empty.

“You.”

Orsini nodded.

“For how long?”

“Longer than you’ve been boss.”

Alessandra stared.

“You worked for Matteo.”

“I worked for stability.”

Luca’s voice cooled.

“Men who steal from maids often call it stability.”

Orsini’s jaw tightened.

“This was bigger than payroll.”

“I know.”

“You were too young when Giovanni put you in charge.”

“I was thirty.”

“Exactly.”

Marco almost smiled despite the tension.

Orsini continued.

“Your father made the organization sentimental. safe houses. pensions. protection funds. He spent millions preserving people who were no longer useful.”

Emma saw Luca’s face harden.

There it was.

The philosophy beneath the theft.

Workers as costs.

Witnesses as liabilities.

People as numbers.

Belini had spoken the same language without realizing where it ended.

Luca asked, “The four identities.”

Orsini said nothing.

“Who?”

“No.”

Marco searched him.

Phone.

Keycard.

Old metal token.

Alessandra recognized it.

“Dad’s emergency override.”

Luca looked at Orsini.

“You kept it.”

“Your father trusted me.”

“No.”

Alessandra’s voice sharpened.

“He trusted the position.”

That landed.

Marco opened the token.

Four names appeared.

Rosa Marin.

Dr. Serra.

Elena Rinaldi.

And Emma Carter.

Emma stopped breathing.

“Me?”

Luca turned.

Why would Emma be in the emergency network?

Orsini smiled faintly.

“You still don’t know.”

Luca stepped closer.

“Explain.”

Orsini looked at Emma.

“Her father.”

Emma’s stomach tightened.

“My father repairs heating systems.”

“Now.”

Silence.

Emma stared.

Orsini continued.

“Before that, Thomas Carter handled accounts for Giovanni Moretti.”

Luca looked at Marco.

Marco was already searching.

Thomas Carter.

Accountant.

Moretti Family Office.

Employed twelve years earlier.

Resigned after discovering unauthorized emergency withdrawals.

Emma felt dizzy.

“My father never told me.”

“He was paid to disappear quietly.”

“By whom?”

Orsini smiled.

“Giovanni.”

Luca frowned.

“To protect him?”

“Yes.”

Emma looked at Luca.

Another person hidden by his father.

Another life rewritten.

Orsini continued.

“Thomas helped Giovanni identify Matteo’s first reserve accounts.”

Luca understood.

“That is why Emma was hired here.”

Emma stared.

“What?”

Orsini looked at her.

“Your application was not random.”

Luca’s eyes hardened.

“I did not hire her.”

“No.”

“Who did?”

Orsini looked toward Belini.

Belini went white.

Emma’s pulse jumped.

Belini shook her head.

“I recommended Alcázar’s staffing list. I did not know her father.”

Orsini smiled.

“Exactly.”

Matteo had placed Emma inside the estate through a staffing company.

Not because she was poor.

Not because she was convenient.

Because her father knew something.

Luca’s voice became dangerous.

“What did Matteo want from Thomas?”

“The missing ledger.”

Alessandra stared.

“What ledger?”

“The original emergency account book Giovanni never found.”

Marco’s phone rang.

He answered.

Then looked at Emma.

Her face changed before he spoke.

“Your father is missing.”

Emma stopped breathing.

“He was home this morning.”

“Not now.”

Luca turned toward Orsini.

“Where?”

Orsini said nothing.

Luca did not threaten him.

He looked at Marco.

“Take him downstairs.”

Orsini laughed.

“You think Matteo wants the ledger?”

Luca stopped.

Orsini’s smile faded.

“He wants Thomas to open it.”

Emma felt cold.

“What does that mean?”

Orsini looked at her.

“The missing ledger is not paper.”

He nodded toward Luca.

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“It’s the account that proves who really owned the Moretti contingency fund before Giovanni died.”

And apparently, it had been hidden under Emma’s family name for twelve years.