Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO CONTROLLED THE SETTLEMENT
Anna arrived at Moretti headquarters at eight the following morning.
Vincent was standing near the lobby elevators when he saw her.
For a second, he looked almost relieved.
Then he noticed the photograph in her hand.
“What's wrong?”
“Margaret Wells.”
Vincent's expression sharpened.
“What about her?”
“She was at the hangar.”
He took the photograph.
“Daniel told me she canceled an inspection.”
Anna nodded.
“Rebecca photographed her carrying an emergency equipment case.”
Vincent studied the image.
“Margaret wasn't part of flight operations.”
“Then why was she handling equipment?”
He didn't answer.
They rode the elevator in silence.
Inside his office, Anna noticed something immediately.
The framed wedding photograph had been returned to Vincent's desk.
It had been absent the last time she had visited, years earlier.
She looked away.
Vincent followed her gaze.
“I never threw it out.”
“That doesn't change what happened.”
“I know.”
He picked up his phone and asked Martin to locate Margaret.
Martin's answer came through the speaker.
“She resigned eighteen months ago. Lives in Wisconsin now.”
“Bring me her forwarding address.”
“Vincent,” Anna said, “we need to be careful.”
He ended the call.
“I'm done being careful.”
“That's exactly what worries me.”
He looked at her.
“You think I'll make things worse?”
“I think you still believe you can solve every problem by giving orders.”
Vincent opened his mouth, then closed it.
Anna continued.
“Rebecca tried to report a safety problem. Someone buried it. If people connected to your company were involved, I don't know whom to trust.”
“Not even me?”
She held his gaze.
“Especially not you.”
He absorbed the answer without arguing.
For the first time, Anna saw him choose silence over control.
Later that morning, Margaret agreed to meet them at a public restaurant near Lake Geneva.
She arrived wearing a navy coat and carrying an old leather purse.
Her hair had gone almost completely gray.
She looked tired.
“Vincent,” she said. “I wondered when this would happen.”
He didn't offer a greeting.
“Why were you at the hangar?”
Margaret glanced at Anna.
“Because the aircraft insurance policy had been modified.”
Vincent frowned.
“Modified how?”
“The coverage was increased significantly three weeks before the crash.”
“By whom?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Your office.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“That authorization was forged.”
Margaret looked genuinely surprised.
“Then somebody had access to more than your signature.”
Anna leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
“The policy included a special loss provision for the aircraft and its passengers. After the crash, your corporate holding company received a substantial payment.”
Vincent stared.
“How substantial?”
“Forty-eight million dollars.”
Anna went cold.
Vincent shook his head.
“I never received that money.”
Margaret looked at him with growing concern.
“The payment went to a Moretti-controlled account.”
“Which account?”
“A subsidiary called Northstar Holdings.”
Vincent's expression changed.
Anna noticed.
“You recognize it.”
“Daniel used Northstar for aviation leasing.”
Margaret nodded.
“That's what I was told.”
Vincent leaned back.
For the first time, the possibility of financial motive became impossible to ignore.
“Did Daniel arrange the policy?” he asked.
Margaret looked down.
“He requested the paperwork.”
Anna felt her stomach tighten.
Vincent had defended his brother without hesitation.
Now his brother's company appeared to have benefited from the crash.
Margaret continued.
“The morning I visited the hangar, Rebecca Hayes told me the emergency equipment inventory didn't match the maintenance records.”
“Why did she tell you?” Anna asked.
“Because she believed someone was manipulating the aircraft's safety documentation to support an insurance claim.”
Vincent stared at her.
“Before the crash?”
Margaret nodded.
“That frightened me too.”
Anna's voice dropped.
“Why didn't you report it?”
“I tried.”
Margaret opened her purse and removed a folded letter.
“I wrote to your board's audit committee. Two days later, I was warned that my career would be destroyed if I continued.”
“By whom?” Vincent demanded.
Margaret looked him directly in the eyes.
“Your father.”
The words stopped Vincent.
His father, Anthony Moretti, had died the previous year.
For decades, Anthony had controlled the family's businesses with absolute authority.
He had never approved of Anna.
He believed she had made Vincent weak.
But Vincent couldn't imagine his father risking the lives of his own family.
“He wouldn't,” Vincent said.
Margaret's expression softened.
“You loved him. That doesn't mean you knew everything he did.”
Anna stared at the letter.
It bore Anthony's handwriting.
A single line had been underlined.
The family's future cannot be allowed to depend on an emotional decision.
Vincent remembered his father saying something similar after Anna announced her pregnancy.
He had called the child a distraction from business responsibilities.
Vincent had dismissed the remark.
Now it sounded different.
“What did he mean?” Anna asked.
Margaret shook her head.
“I don't know.”
On the drive back to Chicago, neither spoke for almost an hour.
Finally, Vincent said, “My father wanted me to marry Sophia.”
Anna looked out the window.
“I know.”
“He thought your family wasn't suitable.”
“I know that too.”
“I never agreed with him.”
Anna turned.
“You didn't have to agree. You only had to keep letting him interfere.”
Vincent stared at the road.
“I should have protected our marriage.”
“Yes.”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“But whatever he did, I didn't know.”
Anna watched him.
For the first time, she believed that much.
That evening, Vincent confronted Daniel again.
“Northstar Holdings.”
Daniel went pale.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Forty-eight million dollars.”
Daniel stood abruptly.
“Vincent, you need to understand—”
“Did you profit from Anna's death?”
“No!”
“Then where is the money?”
Daniel's voice shook.
“It wasn't profit. It was repayment.”
“To whom?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he opened his briefcase and removed an old ledger.
On the first page was a transfer authorization bearing Anthony Moretti's initials.
Beneath it were seven payments totaling forty-eight million dollars.
All had gone to the same recipient.
Vincent read the name.
May you like
His stomach dropped.
Sophia Carter.
