Chapter 5
Raffaele did not speak for several seconds.
Sofia looked tired rather than angry.
That was worse.
“Who did you think I’d protect?”
She gave him a look that made the question unnecessary.
Delia had practically raised him.
Their father spent most of Raffaele’s childhood away working.
Their mother died when he was thirteen.
Delia was nineteen.
She learned to cook because no one else did.
Signed school slips their father forgot.
Waited outside the principal’s office when Raffaele got suspended.
When he built his businesses as an adult, Delia became the unquestioned family organizer.
Raffaele had spent thirty years repaying a debt she never directly asked him to pay.
Sofia knew it.
So did Delia.
“I wasn’t trying to trap your sister,” Sofia said.
“Then why collect this?”
“Because Samuel told me the agency was billing people who weren’t here.”
Raffaele looked toward the doorway.
Samuel had helped.
Sofia nodded.
“He started giving me copies.”
“Why you?”
“Because he was afraid to come to you.”
That sentence kept appearing.
Different people.
Same reason.
Raffaele’s reputation made outsiders careful.
Inside his own home, it had made people silent.
Samuel joined them later.
He admitted helping Sofia track shifts.
“Why didn’t you bring this to me?”
“Because if we were wrong, Delia would fire half my kitchen.”
“She can’t fire your kitchen.”
Samuel looked at him.
“She did.”
Two employees had already disappeared from the schedule after asking about missing agency workers.
Delia told everyone they quit.
Samuel later learned both had been told their services were no longer needed.
One had a newborn.
The other depended on the company health plan.
Raffaele rubbed his forehead.
Claire asked the important question.
“Who owns Metropolitan Hospitality Group?”
Evelyn had already checked.
On paper, a man named Victor Lang.
Raffaele did not know him.
Marcus did.
They had attended college together.
Still not enough.
Then Evelyn showed a loan filing.
Marcus had personally guaranteed a line of credit for Metropolitan two years earlier.
Sofia looked at Raffaele.
Marcus was not merely approving payments to a friend’s company.
He had a financial interest in whether that company survived.
Raffaele stood.
Claire immediately said:
“You’re not going anywhere.”
He looked at her.
“You hired me because you knew you needed somebody to say that.”
He hated that she was right.
May you like
So instead of confronting Marcus, Raffaele did something harder.
He sat back down.
