Chapter 6
Marcus denied theft.
His voice remained smooth.
His hands did not.
They kept tightening against his knees.
“Those companies performed services.”
Claire opened the invoices.
Security consulting.
Transportation.
Event protection.
All real categories.
The problem was volume.
One company billed for seventy-two guards during a weekend when only nineteen worked.
Another charged for armored vehicles that never arrived.
A third invoiced emergency relocation expenses for families who never moved.
Lorenzo looked at Marcus.
“How long?”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“It's not what you're making it.”
Evelyn stared at him.
Her confidence was gone now.
“You used my accounts.”
Marcus turned.
“Your accounts?”
His laugh came bitterly.
“There it is.”
She froze.
“You spent ten years acting like those people belonged to you because they needed checks.”
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.
“At least I helped them.”
“And made them thank you.”
Her hand curled.
Marcus leaned forward.
“I took money from a system already built on favors.”
Lorenzo listened.
No interruption.
Let them reveal themselves.
Marcus continued.
He had accumulated debt after a private real-estate deal collapsed two years earlier.
He hid it because admitting failure inside the Moretti network would destroy his standing.
He began diverting small amounts from Evelyn’s discretionary vendors.
He expected to repay it.
He did not.
Interest grew.
Then one lender became two.
Then an outside criminal investor.
Lorenzo’s eyes sharpened.
“Name.”
Marcus looked away.
“Marcus.”
No answer.
Evelyn stared at him.
“You brought outsiders into this?”
He snapped:
“I was trying to fix it.”
Her face changed.
For the first time, fear.
Not for herself.
For what her husband had exposed the family to.
Then Claire placed another page down.
Marcus’s debt was not four million.
It was nine.
The stolen foundation money had only slowed the collapse.
Lorenzo’s restructuring threatened to cut off the source Marcus needed to survive.
Suddenly the council plot made financial sense.
If Lorenzo was suspended, Marcus expected temporary operational authority.
With authority came access.
With access came money.
Evelyn believed she was protecting her influence.
Marcus was protecting himself from ruin.
Then Lorenzo asked:
“Who is the lender?”
Marcus’s eyes moved toward Dominic.
Only for a second.
Dominic saw it.
So did Lorenzo.
The room changed.
Dominic’s voice came quietly.
“Don't.”
Marcus smiled.
Lorenzo slowly turned toward his consigliere.
May you like
Dominic’s face had gone pale.
He already knew the name.
