Chapter 6 - The Bank Seal Revealed an Account Matteo Had Created Twelve Years Earlier, and Alessandro Realized His Betrayal Began Long Before He Became Head of the FamilyThe bank investigators found the breakthrough.
The security seal wasn't just a transaction marker.
It was linked to an old account.
Created twelve years earlier.
In Matteo's name.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Twelve years?”
“Yes.”
“Before you became boss.”
He nodded.
The account had been dormant.
Then suddenly activated.
Money moved through it.
Millions.
The final transaction came from the same account used to fund the judge's murder.
Matteo had been preparing for years.
He hadn't suddenly become a traitor.
He had been waiting.
Patiently.
Carefully.
And the $10,000 was part of a much older network.
The bank seal proved the transaction had been authorized by Matteo.
But the account holder was another name.
Luca Moretti.
Alessandro's father.
I stared.
“Your father?”
He looked stunned.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
“Then why is the account active?”
“I don't know.”
The account had been used to move money after his father's death.
Someone had been operating under his identity.
We investigated.
The answer was terrifying.
Matteo had forged the account after Luca Moretti's death.
He had been using the dead man's name to move money.
He had created an invisible financial network.
One that even Alessandro didn't know existed.
But there was one problem.
The bank seal.
Emma's innocent act had preserved proof.
Without it, Matteo could have denied everything.
Now he couldn't.
Alessandro finally had enough evidence to destroy him.
But he didn't want Matteo arrested yet.
He wanted the entire network.
They traced payments.
Banks.
Lawyers.
Judges.
Private investigators.
Three political offices.
One police precinct.
The conspiracy was enormous.
I asked:
“How many people?”
“Thirty-two.”
I felt sick.
“And they all work for Matteo?”
“Not all.”
“Then who?”
“Some work for themselves.”
That was the frightening truth.
Matteo had built a network of people who all believed they benefited from betraying Alessandro.
The empire wasn't being attacked from outside.
It was being eaten from within.
Then Emma walked into the room.
She had a drawing.
Again.
She handed it to Alessandro.
“That's you.”
He smiled.
“Thank you.”
“This is Uncle Matteo.”
His smile disappeared.
Emma pointed.
“He's standing beside the lady.”
“What lady?”
“The lady from the bank.”
I stared.
“Which bank?”
“The one near the big fountain.”
Alessandro looked at me.
There was only one bank that matched.
The private Moretti bank.
They had been meeting there.
And Emma had remembered.
Six years old.
One memory.
A child's drawing.
Enough to connect the final pieces.
Alessandro stood.
“We go tonight.”
I looked at him.
“Where?”
“The bank.”
“And if Matteo is there?”
He looked at Emma.
“We don't make him disappear.”
“What?”
“We make him answer.”
That was another change.
The old Alessandro would have killed first.
May you like
The man standing before me wanted justice.
Maybe he wanted a different life.
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