Chapter 12 - THE WOMAN WHO CHOSE THE LAW AGAIN
Sadi accepted.
Not immediately.
She went home.
Sat beside her mother.
Thought about David.
Marcus.
Three lost years.
Then she said yes.
Roman did not ask her to protect his family.
That mattered.
“If my father obstructed, testify.”
“If my mother caused Marcus's death, testify.”
“If I did something criminal, testify.”
Sadi looked at him.
“You realize how strange it is hearing that from you?”
“Yes.”
He almost smiled.
Then Roman did something no one expected.
He voluntarily opened Moretti corporate records.
All of them.
Not selectively.
Independent forensic audit.
Federal access.
His advisers nearly revolted.
Some executives resigned.
Others begged him to reconsider.
Roman refused.
“If the company survives only because nobody looks closely, it shouldn't survive.”
Sadi remembered the man at the diner skimming a contract.
He was changing.
Not for her.
Because the clause had forced him to look.
That mattered more.
Months passed.
Charges expanded.
Arthur indicted for Marcus Vale's murder and conspiracy.
Carlo, medically fragile, faced historical charges.
Isabella accepted responsibility for solicitation and obstruction.
Lorenzo admitted covering up David Vale's murder investigation.
Lucia cooperated on laundering.
Elijah lost his license.
Moretti assets were reviewed.
Some seized.
Some cleared.
Roman lost nearly forty percent of his holdings.
He kept the legitimate businesses.
Restaurants.
Real estate purchased with clean capital.
Logistics divisions created later.
For the first time, the Moretti empire had audited books.
Sadi returned to law school.
Same halls.
Different woman.
Students whispered about her.
The waitress who exposed a mafia contract.
She hated the attention.
Roman sent no flowers.
Smart man.
He did send one message:
Coffee after your evidence exam?
She replied:
Only if you pay diner prices.
Deal.
Their relationship changed slowly.
No savior.
No debt.
No employer arrangement.
Coffee.
Arguments.
Late-night study sessions where Roman learned he understood contracts better after almost being destroyed by one.
Then federal investigators found a new document in Arthur's seized files.
Marcus Vale had prepared a will.
Sadi was beneficiary.
Not money.
His legal research archive.
Thousands of pages.
Cases.
Investigations.
A note:
Finish what your father and I couldn't.
Sadi cried.
Then found another name in Marcus's research.
Roman Moretti.
Beside it:
Not like the others yet. Could become worse or could end it.
May you like
Marcus had been watching Roman for years.
And apparently believed Roman might be the one capable of breaking the family cycle.
