Chapter 6 - What They Needed Him to Sign
Sal reached for the letter.
Mara kept it flat on the table.
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“I know what signing my name means.”
His voice cracked on the last word.
Mara softened.
“I believe you.
I need to know what they may have.”
Vanessa looked toward the hallway.
Luca noticed.
“Vanessa.”
“My father said it was severance paperwork.”
“What did you do?”
She swallowed.
“I sent Sal’s old personnel file to his office.
There were signatures in it.”
Sal stared at her.
For the first time that night, he looked angry.
“I drove you home when you were too sick to stand.”
She nodded, tears falling.
“I know.”
“You called me from a restaurant bathroom.
You asked me not to tell Luca.”
“I know.”
“And you gave him my name to use?”
She couldn’t answer.
Mara photographed every page.
Then she asked Sal for his bank statements and told Luca to preserve household emails and camera footage.
No shouting.
No dramatic threats.
Just clear questions that made the damage harder to hide.
The forged letter claimed Sal had received cash to transport confidential foundation records.
It described him as an independent contractor acting without authorization.
Luca read that phrase twice.
“They’re making him the connection.”
Mara nodded.
“If those payments surface, they want a paper trail pointing to someone who can’t afford to fight.”
Someone old.
Someone quiet.
Someone leaving through a service door with his uniform in a box.
I looked at Vanessa.
“Did you know about the money?”
“Not at first.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
She pressed a napkin against her mouth.
“Yes.”
Luca pulled out the chair beside her.
He didn’t sit.
“Take off the ring.”
Her eyes lifted.
“Please.”
“Put it on the table.”
She slid it off slowly.
The diamond made a small, hard sound against the wood.
Upstairs, a door opened.
Noah called for his mother.
Vanessa half rose, then looked at Luca as though she needed permission.
He moved aside.
“Go to your son.”
After she left, Mara’s phone vibrated.
She listened, asked two short questions, and ended the call.
“Victor’s attorney has already contacted mine.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“What does he want?”
“An immediate return of property.”
“What property?”
May you like
Mara looked at Sal.
“Your route books.”
