Chapter 9 - THE NURSE WHO HAD TWO LOYALTIES
Celia Romano returned to New York voluntarily.
She did not run.
That mattered.
Adrian met her with counsel present.
Claire sat nearby.
Luca too.
Celia looked at Luca first.
“I’m sorry.”
He nodded.
Not forgiveness.
Acknowledgment.
Then Adrian asked:
“Did you help Hartman?”
“No.”
“Your son did.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“Not at first.”
David Hartman was born David Romano.
Changed his surname after college.
Built a finance career.
Celia rarely discussed him because they had been estranged for years.
Why?
He hated the DeLucas.
His father had died working in a DeLuca-affiliated dock operation decades earlier.
Workplace accident.
Compensation paid.
But David blamed Antonio.
Celia did not.
The death was investigated.
No conspiracy.
Just tragedy.
David turned grief into obsession.
Then ambition.
He studied the family.
Met Vincent.
Saw opportunity.
Hartman Capital became the clean money behind Vincent’s dirty access.
Vincent gave information.
David turned it into acquisitions.
Pressure.
Debt plays.
Long-term goal:
Buy enough DeLuca assets during internal instability to control the legitimate companies.
“Did he know Luca lived?”
Celia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two years after the fire.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Vincent did.”
David then used that secret against Celia.
If she exposed Hartman ties, he would expose Luca’s survival.
Possibly endanger him.
So she stayed silent.
Again.
Another person “protecting” someone by withholding truth.
Adrian was tired of the pattern.
“Where is David now?”
Celia shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Samuel did.
Police found him that morning.
Alive.
At his sister’s house.
He agreed to cooperate after counsel arrived.
Samuel admitted selling internal information to Hartman.
Not all voluntarily.
He had gambling debt.
Hartman bought it.
Then threatened exposure.
Weakness became leverage.
He denied involvement in the warehouse fire.
Evidence supported that.
His betrayal came later.
Still betrayal.
Then Samuel provided something crucial.
David Hartman planned to force a board crisis.
How?
By releasing proof Luca lived.
That alone would reopen inheritance and control questions.
Then expose Adrian as having benefited from Luca’s presumed death.
Even though Adrian knew nothing.
Publicly, nuance would not matter.
Markets react before facts.
Debt covenants trigger.
Banks panic.
Hartman buys weakened assets.
Simple.
Brutal.
Legal enough in parts.
Criminal in others.
Then Samuel said:
“He has one document that could make it worse.”
“What?”
“A signed power of attorney.”
“From Luca?”
Luca frowned.
“I signed no such thing.”
Samuel looked at him.
“St. Agnes.”
Sedated.
Years earlier.
Someone had obtained Luca’s signature on papers while impaired.
Power over certain shares.
Designated agent:
DAVID HARTMAN.
Claire went pale.
“I remember forms.”
Luca stared at her.
“What forms?”
“Transfer-consent forms.”
“You signed as witness?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Claire looked at Celia.
Celia closed her eyes.
“I did.”
May you like
The conspiracy suddenly had a document that could appear legitimate.
And Celia had witnessed it.
