Chapter 9 - The Father I Had Worshiped
My father had been dead six years.
Until that moment, I had spent every one of those years defending his name.
Benjamin Moretti built our empire from three restaurants, a trucking company, and enough fear to make politicians return his calls.
To me, he had been impossible to disappoint because he never admitted disappointment.
He simply stopped speaking to you.
Nicholas had always hated that.
Maybe that was why he saw our father more clearly than I did.
The ledger from box 317 contained transfers tied to B.D. Holdings.
Graham moved the money.
My father authorized it.
Nicholas discovered both.
“What was the money for?” Tessa asked.
Brendan turned several pages.
Payments.
Cash withdrawals.
Construction contracts.
Then one recurring destination.
Harbor Youth Development Fund.
It sounded charitable.
It was not.
The fund purchased abandoned properties through proxies, inflated renovation costs and moved millions through shell vendors.
My father had built a laundering network disguised as neighborhood development.
Nicholas wanted out.
Worse, he intended to expose it.
That was why he became dangerous.
I sat in the bank room staring at my father’s signature.
All my life, I believed enemies killed my brother.
The truth was uglier.
Family had done it.
Then Tessa pointed to the last ledger page.
A payment dated four years earlier.
Exactly three days before she received the photograph ordering her to apply for a job in my house.
Recipient:
CALLAWAY PLACEMENT SERVICES.
Someone had paid the employment agency to place Tessa with me.
Graham?
Maybe.
But another notation appeared beside the transfer.
V.M. MONITORING PHASE.
My initials.
Vincent Moretti.
I looked at Brendan.
“They weren’t watching Tessa.”
“No.”
“They put her in my house to watch what happened to me.”
Tessa suddenly understood too.
“I was supposed to find something.”
Brendan nodded.
“Or witness something.”
Then his phone vibrated.
May you like
One of our men at the safe property had triggered a silent alarm.
Someone had found Eli.
