Chapter 6 - THE MONEY SOPHIA NEVER MENTIONED
Vincent stared at the ledger until the numbers blurred.
Forty-eight million dollars.
Seven transfers.
Sophia Carter's name beside every one.
Daniel stood across the desk, looking miserable.
“You knew?” Vincent asked.
“I knew money had been transferred to her company.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“Dad said it was a private settlement.”
“For what?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I never got a straight answer.”
Vincent pushed the ledger toward him.
“You signed two of these transfers.”
“I handled the accounting. I didn't know where the money originated until after the insurance payout.”
“Then you knew enough to ask questions.”
Daniel looked away.
Vincent stood.
“Did you help my father cover up the crash?”
“No.”
“Look at me.”
Daniel raised his eyes.
“I made mistakes, Vincent. Serious ones. But I didn't want Anna hurt.”
“Then tell me everything.”
Daniel took a breath.
“Dad was negotiating the sale of Moretti Aviation. The company had enormous liabilities from older maintenance contracts. If those problems became public, the sale would collapse.”
Vincent frowned.
“I canceled that sale.”
“Exactly.”
“Because the buyer wanted to cut staff.”
“Dad thought Anna influenced you.”
Anna had urged Vincent to protect the employees, but the decision had been his.
“Go on.”
“Dad believed that if the sale failed, creditors could threaten the entire Moretti group.”
“So he moved money?”
“He secured outside financing through a holding company Sophia controlled.”
Vincent stared.
“Sophia financed my father's business?”
“Not exactly. Her company acted as an intermediary.”
“For whom?”
Daniel shook his head.
“That's what I never understood.”
Vincent looked at the ledger again.
The transfers weren't proof Sophia had caused the crash.
They were proof she had been hiding a financial relationship with his father.
A relationship that had continued while Vincent mourned his wife.
He left immediately.
Sophia was staying at a luxury apartment Vincent had once helped her purchase.
When he arrived, she opened the door wearing a cream sweater.
“Vincent?”
He walked inside and placed the ledger on her dining table.
“Explain this.”
Sophia looked at the first page.
Her face lost its color.
“Where did you get it?”
“Daniel.”
She closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“Forty-eight million dollars, Sophia.”
“It wasn't mine.”
“Then whose was it?”
She sat down.
“Anthony's.”
Vincent waited.
“Your father was moving assets out of the aviation company,” she said. “He believed creditors were going to force a restructuring.”
“Through your business?”
“He asked me to hold the funds until the situation stabilized.”
“And you agreed?”
“He promised it was legal.”
Vincent gave a sharp laugh.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Sophia's eyes filled.
“I was in love with you, Vincent.”
“Don't.”
“I thought if I helped your family, maybe someday you'd see me differently.”
He looked at her with disbelief.
“You helped conceal financial transactions while I buried my wife.”
“I didn't know Anna was alive!”
“That's not what I asked.”
Sophia began crying.
For years, Vincent would have moved to comfort her.
This time, he remained where he stood.
“Did you know the jet had a maintenance problem?”
Sophia hesitated.
“Yes.”
His chest tightened.
“Before we boarded?”
“Yes.”
Vincent stared.
“And you said nothing?”
“Anthony told me the issue had been resolved.”
“Then why change seats?”
Sophia pressed her hands together.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“The rear emergency hatch.”
Vincent frowned.
Sophia looked up.
“Anthony told me that if anything went wrong, the safest evacuation route would be at the front. He insisted I sit near you.”
Vincent felt his blood turn cold.
“Why would he discuss evacuation routes before a routine flight?”
Sophia shook her head.
“I asked him the same thing.”
“And?”
“He said the aircraft had passed inspection, but he wanted me to be cautious.”
Vincent stepped back.
He remembered Sophia grabbing his arm.
He remembered her insistence that they move immediately.
“Did you know something was going to happen?”
“No!”
“Then why didn't you tell Anna?”
Sophia sobbed.
“Because I was selfish. Because I wanted you beside me. Because I was tired of always being second.”
Vincent looked at her for a long moment.
She was not giving him the easy answer he wanted.
She was admitting to something smaller, uglier, and painfully believable.
She had wanted his attention.
And he had given it.
He turned toward the door.
“Vincent, please.”
He stopped.
“Did my father arrange the crash?”
Sophia whispered, “I don't know.”
He left.
Across the city, Anna was putting Ethan to bed.
He held his repaired airplane against his chest.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Did Daddy like airplanes?”
Anna hesitated.
“He used to.”
“Does he like me?”
Her heart tightened.
“He hasn't had a chance to know you yet.”
Ethan looked thoughtful.
“Can he come see my picture?”
Anna glanced at the drawing taped beside his bed.
Three figures beneath a yellow sun.
“I'll think about it.”
Ethan nodded and closed his eyes.
Later, Anna sat alone with Rebecca's necklace in her hands.
The tiny silver cross opened along a hidden seam.
Rebecca's daughter had told Anna her mother wore it every day.
Anna had never tried to open it before.
Now she pressed the small clasp.
Inside was a narrow strip of paper, folded many times.
It contained a series of handwritten numbers.
Not a bank account.
Not a phone number.
Maintenance inventory codes.
And one short message.
The emergency transmitter was removed before departure.
Anna stared.
Every private aircraft carried equipment designed to help rescuers locate survivors after an emergency.
If someone had deliberately removed or altered that equipment, finding Anna would have been far more difficult.
She compared the codes with Rebecca's records.
One item appeared twice.
Portable emergency locator unit.
One unit listed as installed.
One unit marked for replacement.
Neither had been properly signed back into service.
Anna stood abruptly.
She remembered waking in the hospital after the crash.
The doctor had told her rescuers found her because a truck driver noticed smoke near the roadway.
Not because of an emergency signal.
She had always assumed the aircraft's destruction explained that failure.
But Rebecca had suspected otherwise.
The next morning, Anna brought the paper to Martin.
He examined it carefully.
“This isn't enough to establish sabotage,” he said.
“I know.”
“But it does establish an equipment discrepancy.”
“Can you identify who removed it?”
Martin studied the inventory number.
Then his expression shifted.
“Possibly.”
He opened an old personnel directory.
One signature appeared beside the replacement request.
It belonged to a maintenance technician named Leonard Price.
Martin looked up.
“Leonard died eight months after the crash.”
Anna's breath caught.
“How?”
“Heart failure, according to his death certificate.”
Martin searched the attached records.
Then he found something else.
“Anna, Leonard left a written statement with an aviation safety association before he died.”
“Can we get it?”
Martin nodded slowly.
“There's a copy in the archived materials.”
He opened the document.
May you like
The first sentence made them both go silent.
I was ordered to disable the emergency locator, but I refused to install the device that was supposed to replace it.
