Chapter 7 - THE FOUR ROSES
"Daniel Russo?"
Lorenzo asked the name before Gabriella could finish speaking.
She nodded.
"Yes."
Lorenzo felt a sharp disappointment.
He had wanted Daniel's explanation to be enough.
The transfer was authorized.
The trust was protected.
The money remained intact.
But Gabriella was telling him there was more.
"What evidence?"
"Records showing how Daniel used company security resources to conceal the original transfer."
"That isn't necessarily criminal."
"No."
She looked at him.
"But what happened afterward may have been."
Lorenzo sat opposite her.
"Explain."
Gabriella folded her hands.
"After Thomas died, Daniel discovered that Victor had been receiving information from inside the company."
"From whom?"
"I don't know."
"Did he tell my father?"
"Yes."
"What did Antonio do?"
"He ordered Daniel to investigate."
"And?"
"Daniel found evidence that the person leaking information was connected to your father's household."
Lorenzo stared.
"Gabriella."
She nodded.
"He suspected me."
"Was he right?"
Her eyes filled.
"Partly."
Lorenzo waited.
Gabriella took a slow breath.
"I gave Victor access to old property records."
"Why?"
"Because he convinced me Antonio was hiding assets that belonged to his original partners."
"Was he?"
"Yes."
Lorenzo felt his stomach tighten.
"But not for the reason Victor claimed," she continued. "Antonio was trying to protect the assets until the ownership dispute could be resolved."
"And you believed Victor."
"I believed what I wanted to believe."
She looked down.
"Your father and I were having problems. He kept me out of company decisions. Victor treated me as though my opinion mattered."
Lorenzo said nothing.
"It wasn't love," Gabriella added. "It was vanity. And anger."
"Then what happened?"
"Victor began asking for more. Bank records. Employee addresses. Thomas's financial files."
"Did you give them to him?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I finally understood he was using me."
Gabriella looked toward the window.
"When I refused, he threatened to expose what I'd already done."
Lorenzo understood.
"So you traded pendants."
"Yes. He wanted access to the founding agreement. I wanted time to tell Antonio."
"Did you?"
"Yes."
"And he forgave you?"
Gabriella smiled sadly.
"He never trusted me again."
Later that day, Lorenzo met Clara in the greenhouse.
Mia was sitting beside a pot of chrysanthemums, drawing flowers with a box of crayons.
The air smelled of damp earth and rosemary.
Clara looked worried.
"Is something wrong?"
"There's progress."
"About Thomas?"
"Yes."
Lorenzo explained the founding partnership, the trust, and the agreement.
Clara listened without interrupting.
When he told her Mia might be entitled to millions, she stared at him.
"No."
"Clara—"
"No. That can't be right."
"The records support it."
She looked toward her daughter.
Mia was coloring a flower blue.
"Thomas was always so worried about money."
"I know."
"He sold his motorcycle when Mia was born."
Lorenzo nodded.
"He wanted to buy a better car."
Clara laughed through sudden tears.
"He said a baby deserved something with working air-conditioning."
Lorenzo smiled faintly.
"Sounds like him."
Clara wiped her cheeks.
Then her expression changed.
"Why didn't anyone tell us?"
Lorenzo had no comfortable answer.
"Because several people made choices they thought were protective."
"And those choices left us with nothing."
"Yes."
She looked at him.
"You're not going to tell me money makes up for that."
"No."
"Good."
Mia approached holding her drawing.
"Look!"
Clara bent down.
"That's beautiful, sweetheart."
Mia handed the paper to Lorenzo.
It showed a blue flower, a yellow sun, and four crooked circles.
"What are these?"
"Flowers."
"Four flowers?"
Mia nodded.
"One for Mommy. One for me. One for Daddy."
Lorenzo's throat tightened.
"And the fourth?"
Mia smiled.
"You."
He looked at Clara.
She was crying quietly.
For a moment, the enormous machinery of business and betrayal seemed very far away.
The next morning, Lorenzo brought Clara and Isabella to the White Plains archive.
Gabriella met them there.
Daniel arrived separately.
The atmosphere was tense.
Clara held Mia's hand.
Lorenzo had insisted the child need not attend, but the archive's original rules required a Bennett representative, and Clara had asked to bring her daughter rather than leave her elsewhere.
Margaret Ellis greeted them.
"Good morning."
She led them to Compartment Seventeen.
The leather portfolio remained inside.
Four brass clasps waited beneath the rose emblem.
Lorenzo placed Clara's pendant into the first slot.
A small mechanism clicked.
Isabella inserted hers into the second.
Another click.
Gabriella placed Victor's pendant into the third.
Then she handed Lorenzo her original pendant.
"Your father kept this for me."
Lorenzo examined the number.
09\.
He inserted it.
The final clasp opened.
Margaret lifted the portfolio carefully onto a table.
Inside lay a thick document bound in dark blue leather.
Across the cover were four names.
ANTONIO MORETTI.
THOMAS BENNETT.
MICHAEL ROMANO.
VICTOR SALERNO.
Clara touched her husband's name.
Her eyes filled.
Lorenzo opened the first page.
The agreement confirmed equal founding ownership.
Twenty-five percent each.
But the following pages contained amendments.
Transfers.
Protective restrictions.
And an extraordinary clause granting the Bennett family the right to demand an independent review of all company transactions made after Thomas's death.
Lorenzo looked at Clara.
"Your husband knew something might happen."
She covered her mouth.
Then Isabella turned another page.
"Wait."
There was a list of signatures.
Antonio's.
Thomas's.
Michael's.
Victor's.
And beneath them, a fifth signature.
Not a founder.
A witness.
Gabriella stepped closer.
Her face changed.
"That shouldn't be there."
Lorenzo examined the name.
DANIEL RUSSO.
He looked up.
Daniel was staring at the page.
But his expression wasn't guilt.
It was recognition.
"That's not my signature," he said.
Lorenzo studied the handwriting.
"Your name is there."
"I know."
"Then explain."
Daniel reached for his wallet.
He removed an old identification card and signed his name on a blank sheet.
The signatures were different.
Not subtly.
Completely.
Someone had copied his name badly.
Clara looked from one document to the other.
"Who would do that?"
Daniel stared at the forged signature.
Then at the date beside it.
November 14, 2015.
His face drained of color.
"I was in the hospital that day."
Lorenzo looked up.
"Why?"
Daniel swallowed.
"Because someone attacked me outside the company offices."
Silence settled over the archive.
Then Margaret turned to the final page.
A photograph had been tucked inside the back cover.
It showed Antonio Moretti, Thomas Bennett, Michael Romano, and Victor Salerno standing outside the original headquarters.
Behind them stood a fifth person.
A young woman holding a folder.
Clara recognized her immediately.
She had seen that face every day for five years.
It was Mrs. Alvarez.
May you like
The estate's beloved housekeeper.
The woman currently caring for Mia.
