Chapter 9
The audit widened.
Evelyn examined not only staffing payments but the reason Metropolitan Hospitality Group needed Marcus’s financial support in the first place.
The company had nearly failed two years earlier.
Marcus guaranteed its credit.
Shortly afterward, Montoro events became its largest client.
That explained why Marcus benefited from keeping invoices high.
It did not explain his comment about Delia.
Then Evelyn found a second stream of payments.
Metropolitan regularly sent “consulting fees” to a small management company owned solely by Delia.
The amounts were modest enough to avoid attention.
Five thousand here.
Eight thousand there.
Over eighteen months, they totaled $146,000.
Raffaele stared at the figure.
“My sister doesn’t need that money.”
Claire answered:
“Needing money and wanting control aren’t the same thing.”
They met Sofia in Astoria that evening.
She was making pasta in her sister Emily’s small kitchen while Lily colored at the table.
The domestic normality made the conversation feel stranger.
Evelyn showed Sofia the transfers.
Sofia looked genuinely surprised.
“I didn’t know.”
Raffaele believed her.
Then she remembered something.
Delia had repeatedly complained that Sofia’s household spending was excessive.
Groceries.
Flowers.
Staff.
Children’s activities.
“She kept telling me I had no idea what it cost to run your life.”
Sofia looked at Raffaele.
“I started using my own card for things because I got tired of defending every receipt.”
That mattered.
Delia had created an image of Sofia as financially careless while quietly receiving money from the vendors she supervised.
But Marcus’s lawyers now attacked Sofia from another direction.
They produced messages showing Sofia had knowingly worked unpaid shifts.
I’ll cover the kitchen tonight.
Send Maria home. Her baby’s sick.
Don’t call another dishwasher. I can finish.
Out of context, the messages made Sofia look voluntary.
Some relatives seized on them immediately.
“She offered,” Anthony told Raffaele.
“She was helping employees.”
“You know that because she told you.”
“Yes.”
Anthony looked uncomfortable.
“That’s the problem.”
Raffaele understood.
Sofia’s explanation was believable.
But Delia had enough selective evidence to create doubt.
Truth would require something more objective than everyone choosing which woman they trusted.
Then Samuel called.
He had found three months of handwritten closing reports stored off-site with catering inventory.
Each showed who physically remained in the kitchen after events.
May you like
On almost every night Sofia “volunteered,” Delia had sent paid workers home before their scheduled end time.
And each full shift had still been billed.
