Chapter 7 - The Wrong Target
Rico replayed the recording three times.
Each time hurt differently.
Elena continued.
“I know what you’ll do if something happens. You’ll assume someone came for me because of your name.”
Rico stared at the phone.
“You’ll blame yourself.”
“That’s what Vittorio will want.”
Dante swore under his breath.
Elena explained Harbor Meridian.
Vittorio had kept old cash channels running through legitimate shipping contracts.
Rico had ordered those operations shut down after taking over.
Elena found the proof through charity import records.
“She was investigating him without telling me,” Rico whispered.
“She was trying to get proof first.”
Then Elena said:
“I have one problem.”
“Leo heard us argue.”
“Vittorio came to the house yesterday. He took the red ledger from my study before I could move it.”
“He scared Leo. Not on purpose, I think. But Leo remembers voices.”
Then Elena said:
“If anything happens to me, don’t question Leo like an adult. Let him tell you in pieces.”
That was exactly what nobody had done.
Police had asked direct questions.
Adults had said:
No, Uncle Vittorio wasn’t there.
No, that wasn’t the same car.
Every correction taught Leo to stop talking.
“I failed him.”
“No.”
“You were grieving. But you can fail him next if you make this about punishing yourself.”
Dante looked out the window.
“Okay.”
The recording ended with Elena naming a second location.
A safe deposit box at Harbor Federal.
The box had been emptied four days after her death.
Authorized user:
Dante checked the signature.
Security footage was long gone.
But the bank retained an ID scan.
The person who emptied the box used a Moretti family credential.
Issued to:
Matteo Moretti.
May you like
Rico’s cousin.
The man who had been sitting beside him at Elena’s funeral.
