Chapter 4
Paolo did not send anyone to confront the automotive shop.
That was what the younger version of himself would have done.
Instead, Daniel persuaded him to preserve the records and involve an independent investigator familiar with corporate fraud.
The decision cost him immediately.
Suspending Talia’s access froze vendor approvals for two construction projects in Queens and a distribution center on Long Island.
By lunchtime, executives were asking whether Paolo and his sister were fighting.
By dinner, family members were calling Carmela.
Paolo refused to explain.
He had protected family scandals all his life.
This one involved his daughter.
The automotive shop produced an invoice showing that the work had been requested by Talia.
The shop owner described it as routine electronic and security work.
But the mechanic who actually handled Paolo’s SUV no longer worked there.
He had quit eleven days earlier.
“Name?” Paolo asked.
“Gavin Price.”
Steven searched payroll and vendor records.
Gavin had received no money directly from Ventresca Holdings.
But his wife’s small consulting company had.
Thirty thousand dollars.
Paid from a personal account belonging to Carmela Ventresca.
Paolo stared at the transfer.
His mother had not simply defended Talia after the fact.
She had financed something connected to Paolo’s vehicle.
Daniel cautioned him.
“It’s suspicious. It’s not proof of sabotage.”
Paolo knew.
That evening Elise asked him the question nobody else had.
“What exactly happened to the SUV yesterday?”
Paolo explained.
He and his driver had been traveling south toward New York when the dashboard warnings appeared. The braking response felt wrong. His driver pulled off before entering heavier traffic.
They had the vehicle towed.
Paolo never thought much about it.
Elise stared at him.
“If your driver hadn’t stopped?”
Paolo did not answer.
She held Ava closer.
May you like
For the first time since his return, he saw fear in his wife that had nothing to do with Carmela standing over a fire.
Someone may have expected Paolo never to come home.
