Anna could feel Luca’s anger looking for somewhere to land.
Six hours earlier, she might have stepped in front of it.
She had spent years translating his silences for other people and softening his decisions before they became disasters.
Tonight, she let him carry the full weight of his own reaction.
“Why?” he asked her.
“Because someone has been stealing from Moretti Imports for eleven months,” Anna said.
Vittorio scoffed.
“Absurd.”
Anna opened her handbag and removed a small silver flash drive.
“Forty-seven containers arrived at the port lighter than their manifests claimed.
The losses were hidden through duplicate inspection fees, false storage charges, and invoices issued by shell companies.
Every altered document was approved while Luca was traveling.”
Luca looked at Vittorio.
His uncle spread his hands.
“She handles the paperwork.
Perhaps you should ask why she noticed only after arranging a new job in Boston.”
“I noticed in February,” Anna said.
“I started keeping copies in March.”
“Then why hide them?”
“Because the first accountant I questioned disappeared from the company two days later.
You told us he had moved to Florida.
His wife told me he had never been to Florida in his life.”
Teresa closed her eyes briefly.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Where is he?”
“Alive,” Gabriel said.
“Under protection after agreeing to cooperate in a financial fraud case.”
Vittorio’s face changed for less than a second.
Anna saw it.
So did Luca.
The government sedan in the photograph belonged to a financial crimes investigator.
Daniel had not been flirting with Anna outside the warehouse.
He had brought records from his uncle’s shipping company after discovering that Vittorio was using their containers to move undeclared luxury goods and then blaming the losses on Martin Reeves.
The envelope in Daniel’s hand contained original manifests.
“Daniel was terrified tonight because he wandered into a staff meeting in the wine cellar,” Anna continued.
“He heard Vittorio telling two managers to destroy the remaining port records before Monday’s audit.
He made a joke because he did not know how else to warn me in a crowded room.”
Luca turned slowly toward Vittorio.
“Is that why you insisted Daniel attend?”
“I invited Martin’s nephew as a courtesy.”
“You invited him so your men could search his hotel room while he was here,” Anna said.
Vittorio’s eyes sharpened.
“Be careful.”
“That is what you told the accountant before he disappeared.
Gabriel has the recording.”
The older man’s hand moved toward the inside of his jacket.
Luca stepped between him and Anna.
Teresa opened the office door.
Two security men entered, but they did not look at Luca for instructions.
They looked at Anna.
She had changed the evening security rotation that afternoon.
Vittorio noticed.
“You planned this,” he said.
“I planned to place the evidence in front of Luca after dinner,” Anna replied.
“Then he saw me laugh, crushed a glass, and ordered an innocent man out of the restaurant.”
The shame of it settled over Luca’s face.
Vittorio tried to use it.
“Look at what she has done to you,” he said.
“You let a woman turn your own staff against your blood.”
“No,” Luca said.
“You used my blood to steal from me.”
Vittorio’s expression hardened.
“Everything I did was for this family.
You were too distracted to protect it.
Always
