Chapter 5 - THE WEST DOCKS
I ran toward his voice. Marcus caught my shoulder before I reached the stairwell.
“Stay behind me.”
Noah stumbled through the door at the bottom of the stairs. His glasses were gone, and he held one arm tight against his ribs. A man followed him. Marcus stepped between them.
The man stopped when he saw Luca. “I was told to keep him here.”
“By who?” Luca asked.
The man glanced behind him.
“By me,” Daniel said, coming through the door.
I pushed past Marcus and pulled Noah toward me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He winced. “Mostly.”
Daniel straightened his jacket. “I needed his help with a server. He got nervous.”
“You took his phone,” I said.
“I needed him to focus.”
Luca stared at his oldest friend. “Tell me about the docks.”
Daniel’s expression changed. “You read his notes?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know somebody is moving money through your shipping company.”
“Somebody?”
“I found it two weeks ago. I hired Noah to trace it.”
“You could have told me.”
“I was trying to find out who was behind it before I dragged you in.”
Noah shook his head. “That isn’t what he told me.”
Daniel turned to him. “You don’t understand what you found.”
“I understand fake invoices.” Noah held Luca’s gaze. “And I understand that payments went to a company registered under Vanessa’s mother’s name.”
Daniel lunged for the folded page in my hand. Luca moved between us.
“Enough,” he said.
For years I had heard stories about Luca Moretti. Some were probably true. But in that garage, he didn’t raise his voice or touch Daniel. He took the page from me and read it.
The transfers totaled just over eight million dollars.
“Why put my wedding date on the document?” Luca asked.
Daniel’s mouth tightened. “I didn’t write that.”
“Who did?”
Before Daniel could answer, every phone in the garage sounded at once. An alert from Luca’s security system flashed across Marcus’s screen.
WEST DOCK FACILITY: FIRE ALARM.
Noah looked up sharply. “That’s where the original server is.”
“And the records?” Luca asked.
“All on that server.”
Daniel reached for his phone. His screen lit up with an incoming call.
May you like
Vanessa.
He let it ring.
