Chapter 3 - The Friend Who Was Above Suspicion
Nicholas Vale arrived at the Moretti headquarters the next morning.
I had never met him before.
I understood immediately why Alessandro trusted him.
He had a calm face.
Gray eyes.
Perfect suit.
A quiet smile.
He didn't seem dangerous.
He seemed reassuring.
That was precisely what bothered me.
Nicholas walked into the conference room and embraced Alessandro.
“My brother.”
Alessandro smiled.
“Nicholas.”
The two men had the ease of people who had survived difficult years together.
Nicholas looked at me.
“And this must be Sophia.”
I frowned.
“You know my name?”
Alessandro interrupted.
“She runs Rosa's Diner.”
Nicholas laughed.
“I've heard about the girl who returned ten thousand dollars.”
His eyes moved toward Emma.
“And this is Emma.”
Emma smiled.
“Hi.”
Nicholas crouched.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Something about the way he looked at her made my instincts tighten.
But I couldn't explain why.
He gave her a small stuffed bear.
Emma accepted it politely.
“Thank you.”
I immediately said:
“Emma, give it back.”
Nicholas looked surprised.
“Why?”
“We don't accept gifts from people we don't know.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“Nicholas is family.”
I shook my head.
“Not to me.”
Nicholas smiled.
“I respect that.”
He took the bear back.
No offense.
No anger.
He simply stepped away.
Later, Alessandro asked:
“Why did you react like that?”
“Something felt wrong.”
“You can't accuse every person I trust.”
“I didn't accuse him.”
“You refused his gift.”
“That's not a crime.”
Alessandro sighed.
Then he smiled.
“You're difficult.”
“You knew that.”
“I did.”
For a moment, we looked at each other.
Something had changed between us.
We were no longer strangers.
We were two people trapped inside the same mystery.
That afternoon, Nicholas presented a financial report showing that the Moretti company had lost nearly $4 million over six months.
He claimed the losses came from shipping delays.
Alessandro wasn't convinced.
“Those numbers don't match.”
Nicholas frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“These containers never left the port.”
Nicholas looked at the report.
“Then someone altered the records.”
Alessandro stared at him.
“Exactly.”
I watched Nicholas carefully.
He didn't panic.
He didn't become defensive.
He simply said:
“We'll find them.”
Then he left.
As soon as the door closed, Alessandro said:
“He's hiding something.”
“You trust him.”
“I did.”
That sentence hung between us.
Three days later, the Moretti accounting department discovered another discrepancy.
A payment had been made to an offshore company.
The account belonged to a shell corporation.
But the authorization code came from Nicholas's office.
Alessandro confronted him.
Nicholas denied everything.
“I didn't approve that.”
“Your signature.”
“Forged.”
“Your security code.”
“Stolen.”
“Your assistant?”
“Loyal.”
“Your office?”
“Compromised.”
Nicholas spread his hands.
“Alex, someone wants us fighting.”
He used Alessandro's childhood nickname.
For a moment, Alessandro looked uncertain.
Then he said:
“Leave.”
Nicholas did.
I saw the pain in Alessandro's face afterward.
“You still love him.”
“He's my brother.”
“Family can hurt more than enemies.”
“I know.”
That night, someone broke into Rosa's Diner.
Nothing was stolen.
Except one thing.
The old photograph of Daniel.
I called Alessandro.
He arrived within minutes.
He stared at the broken display case.
“He isn't trying to steal money.”
“What then?”
“He's trying to erase evidence.”
We searched the diner.
Emma sat in the corner with Carlo.
She watched the adults moving around.
Then she said:
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“The bear man came here.”
I froze.
“What bear man?”
“The man who gave me the bear.”
“Nicholas?”
She nodded.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
My blood went cold.
“Nicholas was here?”
Emma nodded.
“He asked where you keep Dad's picture.”
I looked at Alessandro.
His face had gone completely cold.
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
Emma looked offended.
“He asked if I knew where the money came from.”
I crouched beside her.
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
“Good.”
Then she whispered:
“He said you shouldn't tell Daddy.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“What exactly did he call me?”
Emma thought.
“Daddy.”
Silence.
Nicholas knew.
He knew the relationship between us.
More importantly, he knew about Daniel's evidence.
Alessandro immediately called his security chief.
“Find out how Nicholas knew about Sophia.”
Then we heard a noise.
Something had been slipped beneath the diner door.
A flash drive.
No note.
Alessandro picked it up.
Inside were bank records.
Millions of dollars moved through Moretti accounts.
Every transaction ended at companies connected to Nicholas.
But one transaction stood out.
$10,000.
The date matched the night at the diner.
The transfer had occurred six months earlier.
And the recipient account belonged to a woman named Sophia Carter.
My stomach dropped.
“That isn't my account.”
Alessandro checked.
The account was real.
But it had been opened using my Social Security number.
Someone had stolen my identity.
Then he found the authorization.
Nicholas Vale.
“I never knew this existed.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“You didn't.”
The account had been used to launder money.
My name had been placed on everything.
If the scheme were exposed, I would be blamed.
And the $10,000 envelope was a piece of the setup.
It had been intended to connect me to the laundering operation.
Except Emma returned it.
The money had never entered my hands.
The seal stayed intact.
The evidence survived.
Nicholas had underestimated one thing.
A six-year-old girl who believed doing the right thing mattered more than money.
But why?
Why choose me?
Why use Emma?
Why wait six months?
The answer came from Daniel's old records.
I found a line buried in a shipping report.
Project Emma.
I froze.
Alessandro looked over my shoulder.
“What is that?”
“I don't know.”
He read the document.
His face changed.
“That's your daughter’s name.”
“No.”
The file had been created before Emma was born.
Which meant someone had planned around her existence.
Before she was even born.
And that brought us back to Daniel.
He hadn't simply discovered a financial conspiracy.
He had discovered a project involving my family.
A project that had been active before Emma's birth.
We searched the Moretti archives for the code.
Project Emma appeared in exactly three documents.
Two had been destroyed.
The third was signed by Nicholas.
Alessandro stared at the signature for a long time.
“He has been lying to me for years.”
I whispered:
“And he knew about my husband.”
“Not only knew.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“He helped Daniel disappear.”
I felt my knees weaken.
“What?”
Before he could explain, a gunshot shattered the window.
Carlo pulled Emma down.
Alessandro shielded me.
Another shot.
Then silence.
On the floor outside, we found a bullet.
Wrapped around it was a tiny piece of paper.
You were warned.
The traitor knew we were getting close.
But he had made one mistake.
May you like
He had left us the only thing he couldn't erase.
Proof.
