Chapter 5 - THE DEAD ACCOUNTANT WHO NEVER DIED
Eleven years earlier, I had ordered Marcus Drake executed.
That sentence had followed me longer than most.
He'd stolen money.
Sold shipping information.
And caused the deaths of two men in my organization.
Or so I believed.
Now federal records showed Marcus had been operating through shell companies ever since.
Someone had staged his death.
Someone had convinced me the problem was solved.
And I had never checked carefully enough.
“What does this have to do with Anna?” I asked.
Agent Reeves opened a file.
“Marcus became Morelli’s financial architect.”
My jaw tightened.
“He built the maternity clinic network.”
Anna looked confused.
“What network?”
Reeves hesitated.
Then answered.
“Several private clinics offered housing and medical care to women with no insurance or family support.”
“That sounds legitimate,” Anna whispered.
“It was supposed to.”
His expression hardened.
“Patients were pressured into signing debt agreements. Some were threatened. Others had identities used for fraudulent billing.”
My stomach turned.
Anna’s face went pale.
“I was treated at Saint Helena Clinic.”
Reeves nodded.
“We know.”
She covered her mouth.
“That’s where Matteo found out I was pregnant.”
Luca had been seeing Anna secretly.
Matteo apparently believed the twins were his until someone obtained medical records.
Then the abuse began.
Anna looked toward me.
“He told me I embarrassed him.”
My hands curled into fists.
“He said if anyone learned the babies weren’t his, he’d lose respect.”
She laughed bitterly.
“As if respect lives in a newborn’s DNA.”
I had no answer.
Reeves continued.
“Marcus helped Matteo hide the clinic records.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“Always disappointing when the reason is boring.”
Reeves almost smiled.
Then the front doors opened.
Security rushed in.
Marco appeared between them.
Blood on his shoulder.
I stood.
“Where were you?”
“Following the kidnappers.”
“Without telling me?”
“You already thought I was a traitor.”
Fair.
“Where’s Lucia?”
His expression tightened.
“They transferred her.”
“To whom?”
“Vincent.”
My stomach dropped.
My attorney.
Marco tossed a phone onto the table.
On screen was a video.
Vincent Caruso taking Lucia from the masked kidnapper in a parking garage.
I stared.
“Why?”
Marco sank into a chair.
“Because Vincent has been working for Marcus Drake since before your father died.”
The room went silent.
I looked toward him.
“My father?”
Marco nodded.
“Your father discovered the same financial scheme.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“My father died of a heart attack.”
“No.”
Marco’s voice became quiet.
“He was poisoned.”
I stared.
“Who told you?”
“Luca.”
My brother knew?
Marco continued.
“He found evidence while investigating Anna’s clinic.”
My hands shook.
Everything I thought I understood about my family began collapsing.
Then Marco looked toward me.
“Elias, there’s more.”
I almost laughed.
There was always more.
He swallowed.
“Your father knew Marcus Drake had betrayed him.”
“Then why didn’t he kill him?”
“Because Marcus had leverage.”
“What leverage?”
Marco looked toward Anna.
Then toward the twins’ empty bassinet.
“Your father had another child.”
My chest tightened.
“No.”
“He did.”
I stared.
“Who?”
May you like
Marco whispered:
“Anna.”
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