Chapter 5 - My Mother’s Ledger
I wanted Owen to be lying.
Instead, he gave us a location.
Storage locker 314.
My mother’s name was still attached to the rental records.
Someone had paid it anonymously for eight years after her death.
Inside were seven boxes.
Financial ledgers.
Photographs.
Contracts.
Cassette tapes.
And a sealed envelope addressed to me.
My hands shook opening it.
Cara,
If you are reading this, I failed to tell you the truth while I still had time.
Do not trust anyone simply because they share your blood.
I stopped.
Dante noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing yet.”
I continued.
My mother had not been a waitress.
Not originally.
She was a forensic accountant.
At twenty-four, she worked for Alessandro Moretti.
Dante’s father.
She discovered irregularities inside the company.
Shell corporations.
Secret transfers.
Hidden ownership.
But the strangest record involved my grandfather.
Samuel Fields.
A name I barely knew.
According to Elaine, Samuel had co-founded the company that later became Moretti Global.
He developed the shipping logistics system.
Alessandro supplied capital.
They were partners.
Then Samuel disappeared.
His shares were transferred.
Alessandro became sole owner.
Dante stared at the documents.
“You think my father stole the company.”
“My mother did.”
“Why didn’t she expose him?”
Grant answered from another box.
“Because somebody threatened Cara.”
I looked at him.
He held a photograph.
Eight-year-old me walking home from school.
Taken from across the street.
On the back:
Stop digging.
My stomach turned.
Dante looked sick.
“This was my father?”
“We don’t know.”
I read the final paragraph.
If Alessandro is still alive, make him explain Daniel Vale.
If he is dead, find Daniel yourself.
Again.
Daniel.
Grant began searching.
Daniel Vale had existed.
Corporate attorney.
Former Moretti Global general counsel.
Disappeared nineteen years ago.
No death certificate.
No current address.
Then we found a tape.
My mother’s handwriting:
Conversation with A.M.
Dante inserted it into an old recorder.
Static.
Then Alessandro’s voice.
“You don’t understand what Samuel did.”
My mother:
“Then explain why you forged his transfer.”
“Because he asked me to.”
“Why would Samuel surrender forty-nine percent of a company worth billions?”
Silence.
Then Alessandro said:
“Because Samuel Fields wasn’t his real name.”
The tape clicked.
My mother asked:
“What was it?”
Before Alessandro could answer, the recording ended.
Tape damaged.
Dante looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then Grant’s laptop chimed.
He had found Daniel Vale.
Not through public records.
Through facial recognition from an old Moretti photograph.
Daniel was alive.
And currently serving as chief financial adviser to one person.
Vanessa Moretti.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph arrived.
Vanessa sitting beside Daniel Vale.
And between them was my mother.
May you like
The picture had been taken only five years ago.
Three years after Elaine Fields supposedly died.
