Chapter 9 - The Charity Account.
.Damian Moretti had founded the Moretti Family Kitchen Fund after his mother died.
The charity paid for food programs, culinary scholarships, emergency rent, and medical support for restaurant workers across the city.
It was the one part of his business he refused to treat like a business.
Victor knew that.
By sunrise, Damian understood how expensive that trust had become.
His accountants found a vendor named North Crest Services receiving monthly payments from the charity.
The invoices looked ordinary.
Transportation.
Storage.
Administrative support.
The company did not exist.
Money left the charity, passed through North Crest, and returned in smaller amounts to accounts tied to Victor and Miriam.
Anna sat across from Damian in the empty restaurant office while Lily slept on the sofa.
“How much?”
The accountant on speakerphone hesitated.
“Preliminary total is around four hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
“There may be more.”
For years, he had personally signed large charity disbursements.
Miriam’s cruel little phrase returned to him.
He had not read people.
“What happens to the employees?”
“They get every dollar taken from them.”
“And the charity?”
“I replace what was stolen.”
“With your money?”
“It happened under my name.”
“That doesn’t mean you did it.”
“It means I allowed a system where nobody thought they could reach me.”
“That part is mine.”
“You’re not what people say.”
“What do people say?”
“That you’re terrifying.”
“That one might be accurate.”
She opened her eyes and saw Damian near the desk.
“Did you fix the floor?”
He laughed for the first time in hours.
“No.”
He immediately added, “Because the floor can wait.”
Anna brushed hair from Lily’s forehead.
Victor had asked to cooperate.
“What condition?”
“He says he will provide access to all offshore and charity accounts if you agree not to pursue charges related to employee intimidation.”
Damian’s eyes moved to Lily.
“No.”
“Damian, the financial recovery could be substantial.”
“No.”
“Think about the charity.”
“I am.”
“You might lose money.”
“I already lost money.”
“I’m not trading what happened to her for a better recovery number.”
Anna looked away before emotion reached her face.
“Is Mr. Kane in trouble?”
Damian chose his words carefully.
“He has to answer for choices he made.”
“Mrs. Vale too?”
“Yes.”
Lily thought for a moment.
“Are they going to be mad at me?”
Damian walked over and crouched.
“They may be mad.”
“That doesn’t make you responsible.”
“What if they say I caused everything?”
“Then they’re lying.”
The certainty in his voice seemed to settle something inside her.
A security officer entered with a sealed evidence bag.
“We found this in Victor’s car.”
Inside was a second black ledger.
This one was thicker.
Hundreds of transactions filled the pages.
At the back was a list of employee names followed by notes.
They had not chosen victims randomly.
They had profiled people least likely to fight back.
Damian turned the page.
Anna Harper’s name was there.
Beside it were three words.
Anna closed the book.
“Don’t let Lily see that.”
Then his security chief pointed to the line beneath Anna’s.
Another employee had been marked.
Damian knew the name.
Luis was the dishwasher Miriam had fired six months earlier for alleged theft.
The note beside his name read:
Damian reached for his phone.
“Find Luis.”
The chief hesitated.
“We already tried.”
“And?”
“He disappeared after he was fired.”
Anna looked at Damian.
For the first time, the financial crime felt like something larger.
Damian’s phone buzzed.
An unknown number had sent a single photograph.
It showed Luis Ortega standing beside a bus station clock.
The timestamp was from ten minutes earlier.
May you like
Below it was one message.
If you want the truth, come without police.
