Chapter 9 - THE HOUSE WAS COMPROMISED
Matteo evacuated Mia and Elena to his mother’s private suite.
Four guards were replaced.
Then Dominic made an announcement no security chief ever wants to make.
“I don’t trust my own team.”
Matteo stared at him.
“How many?”
“At least two compromised access logs. Maybe more.”
“Can you trust yourself?”
Dominic looked almost offended.
“Yes.”
“Then prove it.”
Dominic handed over his phone, keys, and weapon.
“Take them.”
Matteo did.
Trust had become something that required evidence.
Meanwhile, Elena inspected Mia’s room.
The white rose bothered her.
“Bianca knew you were bringing these home.”
Matteo looked at the petals.
“How?”
“The florist.”
They called.
The florist confirmed someone from the Bellandi wedding office had changed Matteo’s delivery from red roses to white that morning.
Matteo had never requested white.
He thought his assistant had.
White roses had been chosen for him.
A signal.
Rachel checked wedding communications.
The change came from an email account assigned to Bianca.
Bianca denied sending it.
Then Elena noticed the card.
A tiny embossed symbol on the back.
Three interlocking circles.
Marco’s records contained the same symbol beside Arclight transactions.
Rachel photographed it.
“Not a florist mark.”
“Then what?”
Elena remembered.
“Marco called it the Trinity account.”
Three companies moving money between each other.
Arclight.
Bellandi Maritime Services.
And a third entity Marco never identified.
Rachel searched corporate databases.
The third company had been renamed twice.
Current name:
LANTERN HOUSE FOUNDATION.
Matteo’s blood ran cold.
Lantern House was the children’s charity Bianca ran.
He had donated twelve million dollars to it over two years.
Bianca sank into a chair when she heard.
“I didn’t know.”
Matteo stared.
“You are its president.”
“Vittorio handled the accounts.”
“Why?”
“Because he introduced me to the donors.”
Rachel looked at her.
“He didn’t use your charity to hide his money.”
Bianca swallowed.
Rachel continued.
May you like
“He used your charity to wash Bellandi money back into Arclight.”
And then Elena whispered, “That’s why Marco’s last paycheck came from Lantern House.”
