The Account in Claire’s Name
Chapter 03 - The Account in Claire’s Name
The account did not exist.
Not yet.
That was the good news.
The bad news was everything else.
Gabriel’s draft included Claire’s Social Security number.
Her old address.
A copy of her driver’s license.
Her mother’s maiden name.
Enough information to create a financial identity that could survive a first look.
Claire stared at the printout.
“Where did he get this?”
“Employment file,” Nico said.
They sat in Luca’s study at three in the morning.
“Gabriel has access?”
“As CFO, he can request payroll records.”
“That is not payroll.”
Nico’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
Luca stood near the fireplace.
“Someone pulled her full background package.”
“When?” Claire asked.
Nico checked.
“Three weeks ago.”
Before the engagement dinner.
Before she found the memory card.
Before her injured hand.
This had been waiting.
“Under whose authorization?”
Nico’s silence answered.
Claire looked at Luca.
“Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
“What would happen if nine million dollars appeared in my name?”
Luca answered.
“Federal investigators would assume James Dawson hid part of the old money through family.”
“And I inherited or recovered it.”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
“For everyone who wants the old crime to remain with a dead accountant.”
Claire looked at her father’s affidavit.
“My father becomes the thief.”
“Yes.”
“And Bellini, Moretti, Santoro become victims.”
“Yes.”
Her throat tightened.
“Was that the story when he died?”
Luca did not answer.
She looked up.
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
There.
The truth got uglier.
Newspapers from fifteen years ago showed James Dawson under investigation for financial misconduct after his death.
No indictment.
No trial.
Just implication.
Claire had been thirteen.
Her mother told her not to read the papers.
She had obeyed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Luca’s face hardened against himself.
“Because I thought if the affidavit was false, I would reopen something that had already hurt you.”
“And if it was true?”
“I would have to admit my father was involved.”
Claire stared.
There it was.
Not protection.
Self-protection.
“Thank you.”
He looked confused.
“For what?”
“For finally giving me the selfish reason.”
Nico’s phone buzzed.
Gabriel’s access badge had entered the Moretti headquarters garage.
Luca moved toward the door.
Claire said:
“No.”
He stopped.
“Excuse me?”
“Do not go alone.”
“Nico is coming.”
“That is two men who already believe Gabriel betrayed you.”
Luca stared.
“What are you suggesting?”
“Ask him.”
“You want to come.”
“No.”
Good.
That surprised him.
“I want this recorded.”
Nico nodded.
“Smart.”
Luca looked at Claire.
She held his gaze.
“I’m a maid, not a hostage negotiator.”
“You are not just—”
She raised a hand.
“Do not finish that sentence.”
He stopped.
Good.
At headquarters, Luca confronted Gabriel in the board archive room.
Nico recorded from the hall with Luca’s consent.
Gabriel looked exhausted.
Forty.
Dark hair.
Navy suit.
The man in the photograph.
The best friend.
The best man.
He saw Luca and closed his eyes.
“So she found the card.”
“Yes.”
“Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Is she safe?”
Luca’s face changed.
“Interesting first question.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Then Vanessa ran.”
“She left the ring.”
“Of course.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca put the fake transfer on the table.
“Explain.”
Gabriel stared.
Then looked genuinely confused.
“This isn’t mine.”
“Your laptop.”
“Not my draft.”
“Your access credentials.”
“Cloned.”
Luca almost laughed.
Gabriel looked at him.
“I expected better.”
“From me?”
“From your suspicion.”
“Then help.”
Gabriel sat.
“The Dawson affidavit is real.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Eleven years.”
Luca went still.
“Four years before I found it.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“My father told me before he died.”
“Your father named in it.”
“Yes.”
“Did he confess?”
“Partly.”
There was the hated word.
“What does partly mean?”
“He approved false invoices. He said Carlo designed the theft. Angelo let it happen because Moretti Construction needed cash.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“And James Dawson?”
“Found it.”
“Then?”
“Was offered money to stay quiet.”
“By who?”
“My father.”
Claire listened to the recording later.
That sentence would matter.
In the archive room, Luca’s voice lowered.
“Did Dawson take it?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“One hundred thousand.”
Luca stared.
Gabriel continued quickly.
“Then he returned it.”
“When?”
“Three days later.”
“Why?”
“He changed his mind.”
“Or was scared.”
“Both, according to my father.”
“Then why was he framed?”
Gabriel looked away.
“Carlo.”
“Only Carlo?”
Silence.
Luca stepped closer.
“Gabriel.”
“My father helped.”
There it was.
“And yours.”
Luca’s face emptied.
Gabriel continued.
“The three men agreed James would carry the missing-money story if anything went public.”
“After he died.”
“Yes.”
“Cowards.”
“Yes.”
“Why steal the affidavit now?”
“I didn’t.”
“The photographs.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Vanessa asked me to read it.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she told me Carlo planned to destroy it before the wedding.”
“Do it before he says I do.”
“That note was hers.”
“What did it mean?”
“Copy the file to outside counsel before the ceremony.”
Luca stopped.
“So the note was not about harming me.”
“No.”
“What about the fake nine-million-dollar transfer?”
Gabriel looked sick.
“I found that draft two days ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it was created on your terminal.”
Silence.
Luca’s eyes hardened.
“Mine.”
“Yes.”
“At the mansion?”
“Yes.”
“Who had access?”
Gabriel looked away.
Luca knew.
Vanessa.
Household staff.
Nico.
Himself.
And one more person.
Mrs. Carter.
The woman who had managed the house for nineteen years.
Gabriel said:
“I wanted proof before accusing someone you consider family.”
Luca stared.
“Where is Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
“Carlo?”
“I met him because Vanessa asked me to.”
“Why?”
“She said she was afraid of him.”
“That is convenient.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe her?”
Gabriel looked tired.
“I believe she was afraid.”
Not innocent.
Afraid.
Different.
Then Nico stepped into the archive room.
“Boss.”
“What?”
His face was pale.
“Mrs. Carter is missing.”
Luca stopped.
“From the mansion?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Forty minutes ago.”
“Car?”
“Still there.”
Then Nico held out a security still.
A service exit.
Mrs. Carter walking beside a man.
No struggle.
No visible weapon.
Claire knew the man when Luca showed her later.
She had seen him twice at the mansion.
Carlo Bellini’s driver.
May you like
And suddenly the woman who had hired Claire nine months ago was no longer merely the housekeeper who knew every linen schedule.
She was tied directly to the family that wanted Claire’s father remembered as a thief.
