Chapter 6
The hidden passage sensor had been installed by a local security subcontractor.
The request came from Sterling House Events.
Reason:
Inventory control during high-value private functions.
Marianne approved the installation.
Celina signed the event-access form.
Evelyn looked at Luciano.
“Still explainable.”
“Everything is explainable one page at a time.”
“Yes.”
“That seems useful.”
She did not answer.
The forensic review showed that Sterling House did not simply overcharge.
It regularly awarded subcontracts to a stable group of family-connected businesses.
Some were good vendors.
Some were mediocre.
Two should never have passed normal procurement review.
One was nearly insolvent when the contracts began.
Yet it received enough Vescari-related work to survive.
Luciano recognized its owner.
Anthony Greco.
A senior capo who had strongly opposed Luciano’s plan to remove family members from management roles in legitimate Vescari companies.
Another benefited owner had done the same.
Evelyn placed voting records beside the vendor timeline.
“Correlation.”
“Not proof.”
She nodded approvingly.
“You’re learning.”
Luciano ignored her.
Marianne had spent three years criticizing his reforms.
She said independent procurement insulted people who had served the family for decades.
She believed loyalty should matter.
Luciano believed loyalty did not make bad contractors good.
Their arguments had been constant.
Could the inflated event spending be a way to keep family-connected businesses alive?
If so, why hide it?
Because Luciano had explicitly prohibited companies from using inflated contracts as disguised support.
He had offered transparent transition assistance instead.
Several capos rejected it.
They did not want assistance.
They wanted contracts.
There was a difference between being helped and appearing successful.
That evening, Luciano met Anthony Greco.
“You received almost four hundred thousand dollars in Sterling House subcontract work.”
Anthony nodded.
“We did the jobs.”
“I know.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The jobs were overpriced.”
Anthony’s face hardened.
“You calling me a thief?”
“No.”
Luciano leaned forward.
“I’m asking who set the prices.”
“Sterling.”
“Did Marianne tell you the contracts were coming?”
Silence.
That was enough to continue.
“Did Celina?”
“No.”
“Marianne?”
Anthony looked away.
“She said the family wouldn’t forget us.”
Luciano felt the shape of it.
Not theft in the ordinary sense.
Patronage.
Money routed through legitimate-looking event contracts to businesses aligned with Marianne.
Anthony said, “She helped people who built your father’s empire.”
“Using prices I would never approve.”
“She thought your rules were killing us.”
“My rules required competitive bids.”
“Exactly.”
Anthony meant it sincerely.
That was the problem.
To him, fairness itself felt like betrayal.
Luciano returned home.
Ellie was on the floor with her rabbit.
She had been given clean pajamas but refused to let anyone wash the toy.
Luciano sat beside her.
“Rabbit dirty,” she said.
“I see that.”
“Celina said dirty things go away.”
His chest tightened.
“Rabbit stays.”
Ellie looked at him.
“And me?”
Luciano went completely still.
“You stay.”
“After wedding?”
He swallowed.
“There is no wedding.”
Ellie stared at him for several seconds.
Then climbed into his lap.
May you like
That was the moment Luciano understood that whatever financial scheme existed, Celina’s cruelty had created a separate wound.
He would not allow one scandal to swallow the other.
