Chapter 3 - THE MORETTI NAME IN MARCUS VALE'S EMAIL
Roman read the email once.
Then again.
His expression became unreadable.
Sadi stepped backward.
“Which Moretti?”
“It doesn't say.”
“That is convenient.”
Roman looked at her.
“If Marcus meant me, Arthur wouldn't have needed a contract to frame me.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“You're a crime boss.”
Roman's mouth tightened.
“I prefer businessman.”
“I prefer rent control. We don't always get what we want.”
Elijah coughed to hide a laugh.
Roman did not.
But he didn't threaten her either.
That mattered.
Marcus's scheduled email included an encrypted attachment.
Sadi recognized the password hint immediately.
FIRST CASE.
Her first law-school clinic assignment had involved a landlord dispute.
Case number 4417.
Password worked.
The attachment contained property maps.
Companies.
Shipping manifests.
Payments.
Three Moretti names appeared.
Roman Moretti.
His uncle Carlo.
His father Lorenzo.
Roman's payments looked legitimate.
Carlo's did not.
Hundreds of thousands routed through Arthur's warehouses.
Lorenzo's name appeared on a deed transfer.
Sadi looked at Roman.
“Your family was involved.”
“Yes.”
“At least one member.”
“Yes.”
No denial.
Again, irritatingly useful.
Roman called his father.
No answer.
Then Carlo.
Disconnected.
Roman's jaw hardened.
“Carlo left Boston yesterday.”
“For where?”
“No one knows.”
Perfect.
Then Sadi saw another name.
SADIRA AL-HASSAN.
Her mother.
She stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
Roman leaned closer.
The ledger showed a payment.
$84,000.
From a Moretti-affiliated foundation to Massachusetts Memorial Hospital.
Date:
Two days after Sadi's mother suffered the medical crisis that forced Sadi out of law school.
Sadi felt cold.
“I thought charity covered part of her treatment.”
Roman stared at the record.
“My family's foundation did.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Good answer.
Then another document appeared.
Marcus's note:
Sadi's mother witnessed the original transfer.
If anything happens to me, protect them both.
Sadi looked up.
“What transfer?”
Elijah turned the next page.
Warehouse 17 had not always belonged to Arthur.
It was transferred twelve years earlier from Moretti Shipping.
Signed by Lorenzo Moretti.
Roman's father.
And witnessed by:
Sadira Al-Hassan.
Sadi's mother had been connected to Roman's family long before Sadi ever saw him.
Then Roman's phone finally rang.
His father.
Roman answered.
Lorenzo spoke without greeting.
“Where are you?”
“At the diner.”
“With the waitress?”
Roman went completely still.
Sadi heard it too.
Lorenzo knew.
Roman asked:
“How do you know about Sadi?”
A long pause.
May you like
Then his father said:
“Because I've known who she is since before she was born.”
