Chapter 10 - The Witness at the Bus Station.
.Damian did not go alone.
He brought security, but they stayed far enough away that Luis Ortega would not feel surrounded.
Anna insisted on coming.
Lily stayed at the restaurant with a trusted officer and a pediatric nurse Damian had called to check her boot and cheek.
The nurse confirmed the injuries did not require emergency treatment, but recommended follow-up and rest.
At the bus station, Luis sat beneath the departure board wearing a gray hoodie and holding a paper cup.
He looked thinner than Damian remembered.
When Damian approached, Luis stood.
“I said no police.”
“They’re not police.”
Luis saw Anna and froze.
“You still work there?”
“For now.”
“You should leave.”
“I tried.”
“She threatened you too.”
Damian sat across from him.
“Tell me what you saw.”
Luis looked around the station.
“Victor moved charity payments through fake vendors.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know all of it.”
“Some vendors were real.”
He pulled a flash drive from his pocket.
“They overbilled your charity, then kicked money back to Victor.”
“How did you get this?”
“I cleaned the finance office at night.”
“People talk freely when they think the dishwasher doesn’t understand English.”
Damian looked down at the flash drive.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I did.”
“Miriam called me into her office the next day.”
“She put three hundred dollars in my locker and accused me of stealing it from a customer.”
“She framed you.”
“She gave me a choice.”
“Quit quietly, or she called police.”
Anna whispered, “That’s why you disappeared.”
“I moved my family.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be.”
The words landed cleanly.
“You never came downstairs unless someone important was visiting.”
“You built a place where everyone was scared of your name, then acted surprised when bad people used your name to scare us.”
Anna glanced at Damian.
Damian held out his hand.
“The drive.”
Luis did not give it to him.
“I want something first.”
“What?”
“My name cleared.”
“It will be.”
“In writing.”
“You’ll have it.”
“And every worker who lost money gets paid.”
“Yes.”
“No quiet settlement.”
“No quiet settlement.”
Luis placed the flash drive in his hand.
Then he leaned back.
“There’s one more person.”
“Victor didn’t create North Crest.”
“Who did?”
Luis looked at Anna.
“Someone from your family.”
Damian’s face went still.
“What family?”
“Your uncle, Salvatore Moretti.”
Damian stared at him.
Salvatore had retired five years earlier.
He had helped Damian rebuild the first restaurant after his father died.
He was also chairman of the charity board.
“Victor learned the vendor trick from him.”
Anna watched Damian carefully.
“You trust your uncle?”
Damian did not answer immediately.
He had trusted Victor.
He had trusted Miriam to run the floor.
Trust had become a dangerous word.
Luis nodded toward the flash drive.
“There are emails.”
Damian opened his laptop and plugged it in.
The folder held invoices, screenshots, and archived messages.
One email was from Salvatore.
Keep Damian away from details.
He is useful when he feels generous.
Damian read it twice.
His face revealed nothing.
The next message was worse.
If workers complain, Miriam knows how to handle them.
Damian closed the laptop.
“You still think this is only Victor?”
“No.”
He called his attorney.
“Freeze every charity account.”
“What are you going to do about your uncle?”
Damian stared through the station windows at the gray morning.
“Exactly what I should have done years ago.”
His phone rang before he could say more.
The caller was Lily.
He answered immediately.
Her voice was small.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“Your uncle is here.”
Damian’s blood went cold.
May you like
Lily continued.
“He says he came to take me and Mom somewhere safe.”
