Chapter 7 - THE FILE INSIDE THE SILVER PENDANT
They copied the chip in three secure locations.
Sadi insisted.
“No single person controls it.”
Roman nodded.
Damian did too.
Good.
The archive was enormous.
Shipping records.
Recorded conversations.
Bank transfers.
Photos.
Testimony.
Marcus had built a federal case privately after losing trust in local law enforcement.
Then Sadi found her father's name.
David Vale.
Audio transcript.
He had recorded Carlo discussing the murder of a union organizer.
Enough to prosecute.
That recording was why Carlo killed him.
Sadi closed her eyes.
Twenty-six years.
Proof existed.
Her father hadn't died randomly.
Then Roman found Isabella.
His mother appeared in multiple files.
Not as perpetrator.
As source.
She had been feeding Marcus information.
Roman looked up.
“She was helping him.”
Damian nodded slowly.
Which meant the photo at Warehouse 17 might show Isabella meeting Marcus to exchange evidence.
Not killing him.
Then the archive revealed Arthur's current partner.
Initials:
L.M.
Roman immediately thought Lorenzo.
His father.
Sadi didn't.
“Too obvious.”
She searched metadata.
L.M. stood for Lucia Moretti.
Roman frowned.
“My aunt?”
Carlo's widow.
Seventy-two.
Chairwoman of the Moretti charitable foundation.
Sweet Lucia who hosted Christmas.
Apparently she also controlled three shell charities.
Money from those charities paid Arthur's lawyers.
Surveillance.
And the contract drafting firm.
Why?
Damian answered:
“Carlo isn't the only one with something to lose.”
Lucia had helped launder old trafficking profits into legitimate real estate.
If the archive surfaced, decades of assets could be seized.
Then Sadi found a recent payment.
$250,000.
Recipient:
Starlight Diner Holdings LLC.
She froze.
The diner.
Her workplace.
Roman turned.
“Who owns it?”
Sadi had never cared.
She worked nights.
The manager complained.
That was the entire relationship.
Corporate records revealed owner:
Lucia Moretti Foundation.
Sadi stared.
“You own the diner?”
Roman shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
“Your family bought the place where I work.”
Why?
Then Marcus's final note answered.
I placed Sadi where I could watch her.
The diner wasn't random.
Marcus arranged her job through a friend after she left law school.
He had been protecting her.
But Lucia later purchased the building.
Which meant someone else had started watching too.
Then Roman's phone rang.
May you like
His security team.
The Starlight Diner was on fire.
