Chapter 9 - The Vote That Could Not Be Bought

Gabriel Serra arrived at the courthouse carrying a confession his attorney had advised him not to sign.

Emma watched him cross the marble lobby with the deliberate steps of a man who had spent his life keeping other people's secrets.

Luca waited near the hearing room.

"Why did you sign the death identification?" he asked.

Serra looked exhausted.

"Nabil showed me the report after the crash. He said Alessandro was dead and the body had to be released before the family was attacked again."

"You knew the dental comparison was wrong?"

"Not at first. I learned later. Then I was told admitting it would put your life in danger."

"So you signed the amended annex too."

"I certified the papers I was given. I told myself your father must have approved them."

Luca's expression stayed controlled.

"You told yourself what was convenient."

Serra lowered his head.

"Yes."

Inside the courtroom, counsel described the disputed Black Crown structure. The judge reviewed the supporting records and maintained a temporary order preventing the trustees from transferring the disputed shares while the case proceeded.

It wasn't a final victory.

It was enough to stop the midnight vote.

Outside, reporters shouted questions Luca refused to answer.

The Moretti family had spent generations keeping its business inside guarded rooms.

Now its secrets were entering public records.

Matteo received word that Nabil's flight had been stopped under a lawful inquiry arising from the financial investigation. Authorities were coordinating interviews and preservation of evidence. No one pretended the case was finished.

Belini arrived with her attorney in a deep-red coat.

She stopped when she saw Emma.

"All this over a notebook?"

Emma looked back at her.

"No. Over the people who believed a waitress couldn't understand them."

Belini's composure faltered.

"I didn't know they would hurt anyone."

"You knew they hurt my career."

"I was told you were a risk."

"To whom?"

Belini said nothing.

Luca stepped forward.

"Did you know Alessandro survived the crash?"

A long pause.

"My father told me months afterward."

"And you said nothing."

"He said if you found out, people would die."

"So you planned to marry me while knowing I was mourning a living man."

Her eyes shone.

"I thought I could stop this before anyone else got hurt."

"By taking control of everything?"

Belini had no answer.

For once, even Emma saw the fear beneath her polished cruelty.

Belini had been raised to obey a family that treated affection as another kind of contract.

That explained her choices.

It did not excuse them.

Later that afternoon, Luca met Alessandro at the independent prosecutor's office.

Their reunion had been kept private until identity verification could be completed.

A forensic specialist confirmed that the body buried under Alessandro's name had been Vittorio Greco.

The result carried consequences no family influence could erase.

Vittorio's widow had spent three years without a true answer.

Luca sat opposite his father.

"You need to tell her yourself."

Alessandro nodded.

"I will."

"You need to tell the authorities everything."

"I know."

Emma watched from the far end of the room.

She wanted the story to end with a returned father and a repaired family.

But truth was not the same as forgiveness.

Alessandro unfolded the statement he had prepared.

It detailed the attempted assassination, his concealment, the false death record and his failure to correct it while others suffered.

Then he looked at Luca.

"I knew Nabil and Raffaele were dangerous. I chose to protect you by disappearing."

Luca said nothing.

"I also chose to let another family carry my death," Alessandro continued. "There is no version of this story where that was right."

He signed his statement.

As the prosecutor's assistant accepted it, Luca's phone vibrated.

The original financial audit had arrived.

It showed precisely where the diverted Black Crown funds had gone.

Not only into Vescari-controlled holding companies.

A portion had paid for the staged evidence used to pressure witnesses after the crash.

And the final authorized transfer bore Alessandro's own old credentials.

Luca turned toward his father.

"Did you know they were still using your accounts?"

Alessandro looked at the screen.

His expression went blank.

"Those credentials were revoked before the explosion."

Emma saw the problem immediately.

Either the records had been falsified again.

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Or the conspiracy reached into the institution that had certified Alessandro's death.

The last signature had not yet been identified.