Chapter 5 - THE BUILDING THEY WANTED HIM TO BUY
“Cancel the closing.”
Luca spoke into his phone before his financial director could finish saying good morning.
“Which closing, sir?”
“The Whitmore medical building. Nothing gets signed until I review every condition.”
A pause followed.
“Mr. Moretti, the seller requested an accelerated closing. The deposit is already in escrow.”
“Then the deposit can stay there.”
“There's something you should know.”
Luca stopped beside his desk.
“What?”
“Celia Whitmore requested a special confidentiality provision. She wants all historical property records transferred to a private archival service after the sale.”
Luca looked at Elena's unfinished letter.
“What kind of property records?”
“Tenant records. Storage inventories. Anything connected to the building's former use.”
“Send me the agreement.”
He ended the call and drove to Sophie's apartment.
When she opened the door, she was wearing jeans and a plain gray sweater.
Her hair was still damp from the shower.
She looked nothing like the nervous housekeeper who'd stood bleeding beside Vanessa's birthday cake.
But her eyes were exhausted.
“I didn't sleep,” she admitted.
“Neither did I.”
Luca showed her the building information.
“This used to be a Haven House administrative office. My company was about to buy it.”
Sophie stared at the photograph.
“Why?”
“The property was offered at a discount through a broker we regularly use.”
“You think Celia arranged it?”
“I think she wanted the building to change hands before anyone examined what was inside.”
Sophie folded her arms.
“So what do we do?”
“We inspect the property. With someone authorized to preserve evidence.”
“I'm coming.”
Luca hesitated.
“Sophie—”
“My mother's belongings are there.”
He nodded.
“Then you should be there.”
The building stood beside a quiet street lined with trees.
Its exterior had been renovated with pale stone and enormous glass windows.
Inside, however, a section of the fourth floor remained unfinished.
An elderly property manager named Walter Pierce met them near the elevator.
He had worked in the building for thirty-one years.
When Luca introduced Sophie, Walter looked at her for a long moment.
“You're Elena's daughter?”
Sophie stopped.
“You knew my mother?”
Walter nodded.
“She came here more times than I can count.”
Sophie gripped her purse.
“What was she like?”
He smiled sadly.
“Stubborn. Polite. Always brought her own coffee.”
His expression softened.
“And she played the piano in the lobby when nobody was around.”
Sophie looked toward an empty corner where the instrument had once stood.
“I play a little,” she whispered.
Walter looked surprised.
“Then some things run in families.”
He led them upstairs.
The original Haven House records room had been converted into storage.
Metal shelves held boxes of outdated maintenance reports and furniture inventories.
A court-authorized investigator accompanied them to document anything relevant.
Walter opened an old cabinet.
“Elena left a packet of personal belongings with our previous office manager. I remember because she came back asking for it.”
“When?” Luca asked.
“About eighteen years ago.”
“Did she get it?”
Walter shook his head.
“Celia collected it first.”
Sophie's face fell.
“Of course she did.”
“But there's something strange,” Walter continued.
“Elena didn't leave without a fight. She asked the manager to witness an inventory. I helped him make a copy.”
He opened a desk drawer.
Inside was a faded carbon-copy receipt.
It listed a yellow coat, a silver necklace, and a sealed letter.
There was also a fourth item.
Beneficiary account statement.
Luca frowned.
“Beneficiary of what?”
Walter shrugged.
“Elena never told me.”
The investigator photographed the receipt.
Luca examined the document.
A bank reference number appeared beside the fourth item.
He recognized the institution.
It was a private bank where the Moretti family maintained several older trusts.
Sophie looked at him.
“Does that mean my mother left me money?”
“Possibly.”
“Then why was I raised in foster care?”
The question was simple.
And devastating.
Luca had no answer.
He contacted the bank's legal department and requested that any relevant beneficiary records be preserved.
The account information would have to be released through the proper process.
Meanwhile, Sophie and Walter continued looking through the old storage inventory.
Behind a shelf, Sophie noticed a small brass hook attached to the wall.
Something was hanging from it.
A strip of dark blue ribbon.
She reached for it.
Walter frowned.
“Elena tied that there.”
“Why?”
“She said it would remind her where to look if she ever came back.”
Sophie examined the ribbon.
There were three tiny knots.
Her mother had left it deliberately.
The brass hook sat beside an old metal cabinet.
An inventory number had been stamped into the frame.
Three.
Sophie looked at Luca.
“Three knots. Cabinet three.”
Walter shook his head.
“That cabinet was taken away years ago.”
“Where?”
“A surplus storage facility. I still have the disposal manifest.”
They followed him into a cramped office.
Walter opened an old ledger.
The cabinet had been transferred to a warehouse belonging to the Whitmore Foundation.
Sophie let out a bitter laugh.
“Everything leads back to her.”
Luca copied the entry.
“We'll have investigators request access.”
As they prepared to leave, Walter stopped Sophie.
“Your mother used to say something when she got discouraged.”
“What?”
“She said, 'A locked door doesn't mean the truth isn't waiting on the other side.'”
Sophie smiled through tears.
“That sounds like something I'd say to Ella.”
Walter placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“She loved you, young lady. I knew that much.”
Outside, Sophie stood beside Luca's car.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “I spent my whole life thinking I wasn't wanted.”
Luca looked at her.
“You were wanted.”
“I know that now.”
She wiped her eyes.
“But knowing doesn't give me back all those years.”
“No,” he replied. “It doesn't.”
That evening, Luca received a preservation notice from the bank.
The account referenced in Elena's inventory was genuine.
It had been established twenty-seven years earlier.
Elena was listed as the original contributor.
A child identified as E.M. Beneficiary Minor was named as the intended recipient.
The account's original value had been $420,000.
Over the years, investments had increased its value substantially.
But the bank also reported an irregularity.
The beneficiary designation had been amended seventeen years earlier.
Luca read the amendment summary twice.
The account had been converted into a charitable administration fund under the Whitmore Foundation.
Its current estimated value was $8.4 million.
And for the last seventeen years, the foundation had reported distributions for a child named Sophie Bennett.
Luca called Sophie immediately.
“Did you ever receive payments from a trust?”
“What trust?”
“Any money from an attorney, a foundation, or a family account?”
“Never.”
He felt a cold anger settle over him.
He'd known Celia was hiding something.
But he hadn't understood the scale.
Then he reached the final page of the bank's preliminary report.
The amendment had been approved by two authorized parties.
Celia Whitmore.
And a member of the Moretti family.
Luca recognized the second name.
It belonged to his own financial director.
May you like
The man who had urged him to complete the building purchase.
SOMEONE INSIDE LUCA'S OWN COMPANY HAD HELPED TAKE SOPHIE'S INHERITANCE.
