Chapter 6 - THE SAFE-DEPOSIT BOX
The bank opened early under a court order.
Mara hated every second of the security line.
Matteo stayed close enough to catch her if she fell and far enough not to make her feel trapped.
He was learning.
So was she.
The safe-deposit box belonged to Eleanor Whitfield under an alias created twenty-eight years earlier.
Inside was the missing ledger.
Julian had it digitized in a secure room.
Money disappeared into consulting companies and returned as political donations, private real estate, and cash transfers.
RICHARD THORNE.
CARLO BELLANDI.
Matteo stared at his father's signature.
"He was involved."
Mara watched his face.
"You wanted him innocent?"
"I wanted the truth to be easier."
"It rarely is."
Then Julian found later entries.
Carlo's payments stopped abruptly.
Beside the last one, Eleanor had written:
C.B. REFUSED. THORNE ORDERED PRESSURE.
Two weeks later, Carlo Bellandi was shot outside a restaurant.
The murder had been blamed on a rival family.
Matteo had inherited everything at twenty-nine.
He had spent seven years believing revenge had already been taken against the men responsible.
Now he looked sick.
"I killed the wrong war."
Mara said nothing.
There was no safe sentence for that.
Chen found a second file on the microfilm.
A payment made three days after Carlo's murder.
Two hundred thousand dollars to a company called Northwatch Protective.
Owner: Victor Saye.
Matteo's current head of internal security.
"Victor was with my father the night he died."
Julian said, "And he's been controlling your protection schedule ever since."
Matteo called his estate.
No answer from Victor.
He called the secondary command line.
"Boss, we have a breach."
"Where?"
"Your residence."
Matteo went cold.
May you like
Mara's overnight bag and medical records were being kept there.
"They took the prenatal DNA kit."
