The Document From Luca’s Bottom Drawer
Chapter 02 - The Document From Luca’s Bottom Drawer
Luca did not confront Gabriel that night.
Claire expected shouting.
Threats.
Men dragged through side doors.
Instead, Luca sent Nico home at midnight and told the kitchen staff breakfast would be late.
He was frightening in a different way when angry.
Efficient.
Claire sat across from him in the study with her injured hand resting on a folded towel.
Dr. Harris had found no fracture.
Severe sprain.
Ligament bruising.
Two fingers splinted.
Luca looked at the bandage.
“Vanessa did that?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Gabriel?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I was trying to leave the linen room.”
She looked at her wrist.
“Vanessa grabbed me. I pulled away. My fingers got caught under the door when it slammed.”
“Accident.”
“Mostly.”
He did not like that word.
Claire did not either.
“Did she apologize?”
“No.”
“Did Gabriel touch you?”
“No.”
“What did he do?”
“Watched.”
That seemed to bother Luca more.
Claire continued.
“He kept asking Vanessa whether I had seen the document.”
“The one from my desk.”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“Only the cover.”
“What did it say?”
She thought.
“Dawson.”
Luca stopped.
Claire felt something shift.
“My last name.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward the locked bottom drawer.
The document had already been returned before dinner.
Vanessa and Gabriel had photographed it, not stolen it.
Luca opened the drawer.
Removed a thick cream folder.
Across the front:
JAMES DAWSON — CONFIDENTIAL AFFIDAVIT.
Claire forgot her hand.
“My father.”
“You said he was dead.”
“He is.”
“When?”
“Fifteen years ago.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Luca looked at the file.
Then at Claire.
“You have never seen this?”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Why do you have it?”
He did not answer immediately.
That mattered.
“Luca.”
The first time she used his name.
Both noticed.
He set the folder on the desk.
“My father kept it.”
“Why?”
“I found it after he died.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“And you never contacted me.”
“No.”
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“Because I did not know whether it was true.”
“That is not a reason not to tell someone a file exists about her dead father.”
“No.”
Good.
He did not defend.
Claire looked at the seal.
“Open it.”
Luca’s hand stayed on the folder.
“It contains accusations against my family.”
“My father’s name is on it.”
“Yes.”
“Open it.”
He did.
James Dawson had been a forensic accountant contracted by a redevelopment partnership involving Moretti Construction and Bellini Development.
The project had restored three warehouses along the river.
According to the affidavit, contractor invoices were inflated.
Safety inspections bought.
Pension contributions diverted.
Claire read slowly.
Her father’s signature sat at the bottom of every page.
“I thought he worked for an insurance company.”
“He did later.”
“When did he write this?”
“Sixteen years ago.”
One year before his death.
Claire turned the page.
Names.
Carlo Bellini.
Angelo Moretti.
Gabriel Santoro’s father, Vincent Santoro.
And an attorney named Michael Rizzi.
Claire looked up.
“Your father.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa’s father.”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel’s father.”
“Yes.”
“So our parents all knew each other.”
“Apparently.”
“Do not say apparently. You’ve had seven years.”
Luca absorbed the blow.
“You’re right.”
“What did you find out?”
“That some invoices were real.”
“Some.”
“And some were not.”
“How much was stolen?”
“About nine million.”
Claire laughed once.
The sound had no humor.
“My father died with twelve hundred dollars in checking.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I had Nico review him when I found the file.”
She stared.
“You investigated my dead father.”
“Yes.”
“But not his daughter.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I told myself I had no right to bring you into it.”
Claire looked at the file.
“And then you hired me.”
“I did not know who you were when Mrs. Carter hired you.”
“When did you know?”
“Tonight.”
That surprised her.
He continued.
“Dawson is common.”
Claire sat back.
“So Gabriel knew before you did.”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
That hurt him.
Good.
“What is the affidavit for?”
Luca turned to the final page.
It was unsigned by a notary.
Draft testimony.
James had intended to give it to federal investigators.
He never did.
“Why not?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Was he threatened?”
“Possibly.”
She raised an eyebrow.
Luca corrected.
“Nico found no surviving record.”
Better.
Claire looked at the envelope.
“Why did Gabriel say the papers would be useless after the wedding?”
Luca went still.
Then reached into another drawer.
Prenuptial agreement.
He opened to a corporate-control clause.
Upon marriage, Vanessa would receive no direct ownership.
But a Bellini-Moretti merger would activate thirty days later.
Two boards combined.
Voting blocks reorganized.
Gabriel, as CFO, would become interim finance chairman.
Claire understood slowly.
“If the affidavit became public before the merger, the Bellinis could be removed.”
“Yes.”
“After?”
“The boards would be consolidated. Undoing it would be harder.”
“So Gabriel wants the wedding to happen.”
“Maybe.”
Claire looked at him.
He sighed.
“He benefits if it does.”
“Better.”
She read the note again.
DO IT BEFORE HE SAYS I DO.
“What if ‘do it’ means release the affidavit before the wedding?”
Luca looked at her.
The possibility had not occurred to him.
“Then Gabriel isn’t betraying you.”
“No.”
“He’s betraying Vanessa.”
“Or pretending to.”
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“You people make simple nouns impossible.”
Luca almost smiled.
Then the house phone rang.
Nico.
He had found Gabriel.
At a private club downtown.
With Carlo Bellini.
Luca’s face hardened.
“That sounds less noble.”
Claire looked at the affidavit.
“Maybe.”
He gave her a look.
She smiled faintly.
“Now you hate the word.”
At 1:40 a.m., another call came.
Not Nico.
Mrs. Carter from upstairs.
Vanessa was gone.
Her wardrobe doors stood open.
Jewelry case missing.
Passport gone.
On the bed lay her engagement ring.
And beneath it, one note in Vanessa’s handwriting.
LUCA—DO NOT TRUST GABRIEL WITH THE DAWSON FILE.
Claire looked at Luca.
“Either she’s warning you.”
He picked up the ring.
“Or directing me.”
Then Nico called again.
His voice was strained.
“Boss, Gabriel left the club twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“We lost him.”
“Carlo?”
“Still inside.”
A pause.
“Also, we found something on Gabriel’s company laptop.”
“What?”
“A draft transfer authorizing nine million dollars.”
Luca’s eyes hardened.
“To where?”
Nico hesitated.
“An account in Claire Dawson’s name.”
Claire stopped breathing.
May you like
Somebody had spent years keeping her father’s secret alive.
Now they were preparing to make his daughter look like the thief.
