Chapter 5 - Carlo’s Version of the TruthCarlo Moretti invited them to lunch.
That was his response.
No denial.
No threat.
Lunch.
The invitation arrived on engraved stationery.
Maya stared at it.
“Psychopaths love heavy paper.”
Olivia almost laughed.
Dante did not.
“He wants to control the setting.”
“And you’re going?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dante put on his coat.
“Because liars reveal more when they think they are performing.”
Carlo chose a private dining room at a Midtown club where phones were forbidden.
He was elegant, silver-haired and warm-eyed.
Olivia disliked him immediately.
“Miss Marshall.”
He took her hand.
“I knew your father.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“A tragic man.”
Dante sat opposite him.
“Save it.”
Carlo sighed.
“You always were impatient.”
“You framed Daniel.”
Carlo looked offended.
“Did I?”
“You gave me the transfer records.”
“Accurate records.”
“Without my father’s authorization attached.”
Carlo poured wine.
“Alessandro gave many orders near the end of his life.”
“You mean before his heart attack.”
Carlo’s hand paused.
Only for a fraction of a second.
Olivia saw it.
So did Dante.
Carlo smiled again.
“Careful.”
Dante leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because grief can make coincidence look like murder.”
Olivia said, “What was Harbor Point?”
Carlo’s eyes moved to her.
“Excuse me?”
“Harbor Point refinancing.”
That smile disappeared.
There.
A crack.
Carlo looked at Dante.
“You showed her Daniel’s recording.”
“She owns it.”
“Does she?”
Maya, seated beside Olivia, answered.
“Yes.”
Carlo’s gaze sharpened.
Maya smiled politely.
“I checked.”
Carlo leaned back.
“Then perhaps you should also explain the trust.”
Olivia looked at Maya.
“What trust?”
Carlo laughed softly.
“Oh.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Carlo reached into his jacket slowly.
Rocco shifted near the wall.
Carlo placed a document on the table.
Maya took it.
Her eyebrows rose.
“Daniel established a voting trust.”
Dante went still.
“How much?”
“Fourteen percent of Moretti Hospitality Group.”
Olivia stared.
“That means nothing to me.”
“It means,” Maya said carefully, “that your father controlled shares on behalf of Alessandro Moretti.”
“And now?”
Maya read further.
“Daniel named Olivia as contingent successor trustee.”
Carlo lifted his wine.
“You, Miss Marshall, control fourteen percent of a company worth approximately two point eight billion dollars.”
Olivia felt the room tilt.
“No.”
“Not ownership,” Maya corrected quickly. “Control of voting rights. The economic beneficiaries appear to be separate trusts.”
Dante understood the danger.
“My father gave Daniel a swing vote.”
Carlo nodded.
“And Daniel gave it to his daughter.”
“Why?”
Carlo smiled at Olivia.
“That is what I have spent seven years wondering.”
Olivia pushed the papers away.
“I don’t want it.”
Carlo’s smile broadened.
“Of course you don’t.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He leaned toward her.
“I will give you ten million dollars today to resign as trustee.”
Dante said, “No.”
Olivia turned.
“I can speak.”
Dante looked at her.
She faced Carlo.
“If it’s worth ten million dollars for me to walk away, it’s worth much more for me to stay.”
For the first time, Carlo looked genuinely angry.
Then he applauded softly.
“Daniel’s daughter.”
Olivia hated how proud it sounded.
Carlo stood.
“Be careful what you inherit, Miss Marshall.”
She looked up.
“Is that a threat?”
“No.”
He buttoned his jacket.
“It is advice your father ignored.”
After Carlo left, Olivia turned on Dante.
“You knew nothing about the trust?”
“No.”
“You run this company.”
“Carlo is chairman.”
“And you’re what?”
“Chief executive.”
Maya sighed.
“This family desperately needs normal hobbies.”
Dante looked at the documents.
“Fourteen percent is enough to block Carlo on several board matters.”
“Such as?”
“A restructuring vote next month.”
Olivia’s stomach tightened.
“The takeover.”
“Possibly.”
That evening, Dante took Olivia to Moretti Hospitality’s corporate archives.
They found the original share register.
Daniel’s trustee status was genuine.
So was Olivia’s succession.
At 11:37 p.m., Maya found something else.
“Here.”
A security log from seven years earlier.
The night the eighteen million had moved.
Daniel had entered Moretti headquarters at 1:41 a.m.
He left at 1:58.
The transfer happened at 2:14.
Olivia stared.
“That proves he wasn’t here.”
Dante looked closer.
At 2:07 a.m., another person had entered the executive floor.
Carlo Moretti.
At 2:36, he left.
Dante said nothing.
Olivia watched his face.
“You believed the wrong man.”
His voice was low.
“Yes.”
“And because of that, my father ran.”
“Yes.”
She wanted him to defend himself.
He did not.
Then Maya enlarged the security log.
A third badge had been used that night.
Dante frowned.
“Whose?”
Maya’s face changed.
“Your brother’s.”
Dante stared.
“Matteo was in Boston.”
“Not according to this.”
The badge record showed Matteo Moretti entering at 2:11 a.m.
Three minutes before the theft.
Dante looked at Carlo’s name.
Then Matteo’s.
May you like
Then back again.
“My brother knew.”
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