Chapter 11 - THE MINUTE THAT MATTERED
The affair text.
The safe alert.
The fraudulent approval.
Three events.
One minute.
“It was coordinated,” I said.
Luca stood motionless beside the table.
Vanessa had taken more than paper from his safe.
Inside the file had been a backup security device used for certain company approvals.
She knew the code because Luca had trusted her with it during an overseas trip.
He stared at the record.
“She waited until I was in a meeting.”
“Ryan waited until I was presenting,” I said.
They knew exactly when neither of us could stop what was happening.
Mara opened the transaction history.
Martin had prepared the package.
Vanessa had approved the Moretti side using Luca’s credentials.
Ryan had sent the breakup messages.
If questions came, the emotional wreckage would explain the confusion.
A furious husband.
A devastated wife.
Two people too distracted to read the paperwork.
“Dinner,” I said suddenly.
Luca looked at me.
“Vanessa expected you to come looking for me.”
He said nothing.
“She told Ryan you’d protect me once we got together.”
“I didn’t speak to her about you.”
“I believe you.”
The words surprised both of us.
“But she knew you. She knew you’d want revenge, and she knew how to make it look dirty.”
A public relationship would let Martin claim Luca and I were coordinating our stories.
Every photograph could be used to muddy the facts.
Luca sat.
“I handed them that.”
“So did I.”
Elena shook her head.
“You had dinner. That doesn’t erase forged records.”
“But they’ll use it.”
“Yes. Which is why we stop letting them set the pace.”
She arranged a formal submission of the evidence to investigators.
Mara agreed to give a statement.
Natalie did too.
Luca signed a declaration admitting when he first learned of the irregularities and why he delayed escalating them.
It made him look bad.
He signed anyway.
At six that evening, Natalie called from home.
“There’s a courier downstairs.”
“What did he bring?”
“A box from Westbridge. My desk things.”
Her voice changed.
“Oh, God.”
“What?”
“My backup drive is gone.”
She had kept a separate copy of routine meeting records on an approved work drive.
One meeting showed Martin discussing the vendors before my alleged approval.
We had the minutes.
That drive held the original audio.
“Did they inventory the box?” Elena asked.
“Yes.”
“Send it.”
Natalie’s breath caught.
“There’s something else in here.”
May you like
A folded note.
Claire needs to stop before someone loses more than a job.
