Chapter 12 - THE THING HE COULDN’T BUY
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Outside the office, a printer started and stopped.
Someone laughed in another room.
Ordinary life kept moving around the sentence Luca had put between us.
“I believed keeping my hands clean made me different from my father,” he said.
“Were they clean?”
“No.”
I pushed the document back.
“Then stop asking whether you meant for this to happen.
Ask what you’re going to tell them.”
His attorney, Caroline Shaw, sat beside him.
She didn’t interrupt.
Luca looked at her.
“All of it.”
Caroline’s expression didn’t soften.
“Then all of it means accepting consequences you can’t control.”
“I understand.”
I wasn’t sure he did.
Men like Luca were used to consequences arriving for other people.
But that afternoon, he went with Caroline to speak to investigators.
He provided financial records, internal messages, and the names of the people who had moved money through his businesses.
Including men who had once sat at his father’s table.
Including himself.
Two days later, police arrested Enzo on charges connected to the threats and destruction of records.
The investigation into Daniel’s death continued.
Vanessa was charged over my assault and the financial scheme.
She walked out after her first court appearance wearing dark glasses and a cream-colored coat.
A reporter asked whether she had anything to say to the employees.
She looked straight into the camera.
“The truth will come out.”
Nora threw a couch cushion at the television.
“Good.
Let’s keep that quote.”
For the first time in days, I laughed.
Then Caroline called.
“There’s something you should hear from me before it reaches the press.”
My laughter stopped.
“What?”
“Enzo has provided messages between himself and Luca.”
I sat up.
“What kind of messages?”
“Some are years old.
They concern intimidation and collections.
Luca has acknowledged writing them.”
“Is Enzo trying to blame Daniel’s death on him?”
“Yes.”
“Can he?”
“Accusations aren’t proof.
But Luca’s conduct makes them credible enough to investigate.”
I stared at the hotel curtains.
There it was.
The price of every threat Luca had once considered harmless because someone else delivered it.
That night, a news alert appeared.
Luca Moretti was being charged in a separate racketeering case.
May you like
Below his photograph was a line that made my hands go cold.
Prosecutors were also reviewing his role in the death of Daniel Reed.
