Chapter 3 - THE DEAD MAN'S ACCOUNT
Emily arrived forty-one minutes later.
No coat expensive enough for the weather.
Hair pulled back badly.
Face pale from panic and anger.
She walked directly past security and dropped to her knees in front of Lily.
Then hugged her so tightly the child squeaked.
“Never do that again.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You could’ve been hurt.”
“I know.”
“You’re six.”
“I know.”
“You don’t go fixing adult problems.”
Lily considered this.
“Can I fix small ones?”
Emily almost laughed.
Almost.
Then she stood and looked at Dominic.
He understood why Margaret’s surname had remained in his memory.
Emily had the same eyes as the woman in an old photograph his father once kept in a locked drawer.
Gray-green.
Watchful.
She said:
“Thank you for keeping her safe.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll take her now.”
“We need to talk.”
Her expression closed instantly.
“No.”
Dominic almost respected the speed of it.
“You were terminated using my father’s executive account.”
That stopped her.
“Your father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
He frowned.
“How?”
Emily looked away.
“My grandmother told me.”
Not everything, apparently.
Dominic placed the termination letter beside Margaret’s shoebox.
Emily’s face changed when she saw it.
“You opened them.”
“They were addressed to me.”
“She said never to give them to you unless something happened.”
“Something happened.”
Emily looked at her daughter.
Lily smiled apologetically.
“Grandma told me where the box was.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“My mother was terrifying even from the grave.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Then Marco entered.
“We found the login.”
“What login?”
“The Antonio legacy account was accessed remotely Sunday at 11:14 p.m.”
“From where?”
“A Moretti-owned property.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Which?”
“Hudson House.”
The old family townhouse.
Nobody lived there permanently.
But one person still used the private office.
Vincent Moretti.
Dominic’s uncle.
Emily visibly stiffened.
He noticed.
“You know that name.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
She folded her arms.
“My grandmother hated him.”
“Why?”
“She never explained.”
Dominic opened Margaret’s fifth letter.
Emily stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
He paused.
“Why?”
“Because if she wanted me to know, she would’ve told me.”
Dominic looked at her.
“That logic is exactly why these letters stayed buried for fourteen years.”
She flinched.
He regretted the sharpness.
Slightly.
Then he softened.
“Emily, someone forged my signature and used a dead executive account to remove you.”
Silence.
“That person may believe you know something.”
“I don’t.”
“Then we need to find out what they think you know.”
Emily looked tired.
“I found irregular transactions.”
There.
Dominic leaned forward.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“What kind?”
“Employee pension allocations.”
His expression changed.
Moretti Holdings managed pension funds across several hospitality companies.
Emily continued.
“At first I thought it was coding.”
“What did you find?”
“Money moving through dormant subsidiaries.”
“Names.”
She hesitated.
Then gave one.
Bellini Coastal Services.
Marco went pale.
“That company shut down twelve years ago.”
Exactly.
The year Antonio died.
Emily continued.
“Another was Carter Asset Management.”
Dominic stared.
“Carter?”
“Yes.”
“Your family?”
“I thought coincidence.”
Maybe not.
Then Emily said:
“When I asked my supervisor, he told me to drop it.”
“Who?”
“Stephen Lombardi.”
Dominic’s head snapped toward Marco.
Lombardi.
Vice president overseeing compliance terminations.
The man Marco had been trying to locate since Lily arrived.
“He’s not answering,” Marco said.
Dominic’s phone vibrated.
A security alert.
Hudson House.
Someone had entered Antonio’s old archive room.
Then another alert.
Smoke detector.
Fire.
Dominic stood.
“Marco.”
“Already moving.”
Emily grabbed Lily’s hand.
“What’s burning?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Possibly the reason someone fired you.”
Then his phone rang again.
This time security reported one more detail.
May you like
The person seen leaving Hudson House moments before the fire was Stephen Lombardi.
And he was carrying a red ledger.
