Chapter 2 - The Files Victor Couldn’t Bury
Luca let the phone ring three times.
Victor watched him.
Elena watched Victor.
The name glowing across Luca’s screen seemed impossible.
Matteo Moretti.
Luca’s uncle.
His late father’s younger brother.
The man who had helped raise Luca after his mother died.
The man who had sat beside him during his father’s funeral and sworn that nobody would ever divide the family.
Victor’s smile grew faintly.
“Answer it.”
Luca looked at him.
Victor leaned back in the chair.
“You’re going to want to hear what he has to say.”
Luca declined the call.
The smile disappeared.
“Elena,” he said, “copy everything.”
Victor rose.
Luca looked at him once.
He sat again.
Elena connected an encrypted drive.
A progress bar appeared.
Twenty-two percent.
Victor studied it.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“No,” Luca said. “I’m discovering one.”
Victor laughed softly.
“You think this is about money.”
“Forty-eight million euros usually qualifies.”
“This is bigger than money.”
Luca moved closer.
“Then explain it.”
Victor looked toward Elena.
“She should leave.”
“She stays.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
Elena’s brows pulled together.
“What does that mean?”
Victor remained silent.
The transfer reached thirty-nine percent.
Luca’s phone rang again.
Matteo.
Ignored.
Then a message appeared.
Do not trust Elena.
Luca read it without changing expression.
A second message followed.
She is not who you think she is.
Victor saw the screen.
“There.”
His voice carried something close to satisfaction.
“Ask her.”
Elena went pale.
Luca turned toward her.
“Ask her what?”
Victor leaned forward.
“Ask Elena why someone with the surname Rossi was able to trace accounts that a dozen forensic accountants missed.”
Elena’s eyes hardened.
“Because they weren’t looking.”
“No,” Victor said. “Because you already knew where to look.”
The transfer reached fifty-two percent.
Luca remained between them.
“Elena?”
She slowly closed the laptop beside her.
“My father worked for Moretti Holdings.”
Luca frowned.
He had read her personnel file years ago.
It listed her father as an accountant for a manufacturing group in Milan.
“Your file says—”
“I changed it.”
Victor laughed.
“There it is.”
Luca ignored him.
“Why?”
Elena looked toward the Eiffel Tower.
For a moment she seemed far younger than twenty-eight.
“My father’s name was Antonio Rossi.”
Luca searched his memory.
The name stirred something.
Victor supplied the answer.
“Senior accountant. Marseille division. Died twelve years ago.”
Luca remembered.
A car accident.
Elena nodded.
“He didn’t die in an accident.”
The transfer reached sixty-four percent.
Victor’s posture changed.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
His voice carried warning.
“You have already said enough.”
Luca stepped closer to Victor.
“No. She hasn’t.”
Elena’s eyes remained on Victor.
“My father discovered money disappearing through construction contracts.”
Victor’s face stayed controlled.
“He believed someone inside the company was laundering payments and redirecting assets.”
Luca’s throat tightened.
“How old were you?”
“Sixteen.”
“What happened?”
“He told my mother he was going to Paris with evidence.”
Her voice weakened.
“He never arrived.”
Luca said nothing.
“The police said his car went through a barrier during heavy rain.”
Victor shook his head.
“This is conspiracy.”
“My father didn’t drink.”
“Nobody said he did.”
“The police report did.”
Victor stopped.
Elena’s eyes sharpened.
“That detail was never published.”
The room became perfectly still.
Victor realized too late what he had revealed.
Luca turned toward him.
“You read the report?”
Victor recovered quickly.
“I was with the company. Of course I saw it.”
“You joined Moretti Holdings ten years ago.”
Victor said nothing.
Antonio Rossi died twelve years earlier.
The transfer reached seventy-eight percent.
Luca leaned over the table.
“Who were you working for then?”
Victor looked toward the door.
Bad decision.
Luca saw it.
“You’re not leaving.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“You have no idea what you're dealing with.”
“Then educate me.”
“I was trying to protect the company.”
“By falsifying accounts?”
“By keeping old problems buried.”
Elena looked at him.
“My father was an old problem?”
Victor’s face changed.
For one second, guilt appeared.
Then disappeared.
The file transfer reached ninety-four percent.
Luca’s phone vibrated again.
This time it was not Matteo.
It was his head of security.
We have a problem in the underground garage.
Luca called immediately.
“What?”
“Mr. Moretti, someone attempted to access Ms. Rossi’s vehicle.”
Elena froze.
“When?”
“Two minutes ago.”
Luca looked toward Victor.
Victor’s face gave nothing away.
“Detain him.”
“We tried.”
“Tried?”
“He ran.”
“Who?”
A pause.
“Adrian Keller.”
Elena stepped backward.
Luca's voice became ice.
“Seal the building.”
“Already doing it.”
The transfer completed.
Elena disconnected the drive.
Luca pointed toward Victor.
“Take him downstairs.”
The security guards entered.
Victor did not resist.
Yet as they approached, he looked directly at Elena.
“You should have left it alone.”
Her face tightened.
Victor continued.
“Your father thought he was protecting you too.”
Luca grabbed Victor by his jacket.
The guards stopped.
“Say her father’s name again.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“You still think I’m the danger.”
Luca’s fist tightened.
Elena touched his forearm.
The contact surprised both men.
“Don’t.”
Luca looked at her.
She shook her head.
“He wants you angry.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Elena had understood him.
Luca released his jacket.
“Take him.”
The guards escorted Victor away.
The doors closed.
For the first time all morning, Luca and Elena were alone.
She looked down at her bruised wrist.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“My file.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because twelve years ago, someone inside your company killed my father.”
The accusation should have offended him.
Instead, Luca believed her.
“How long have you suspected?”
“Since I was sixteen.”
“And you came to work for me anyway.”
“Yes.”
“To investigate?”
“At first.”
The words landed harder than he expected.
“At first?”
Elena looked at him.
“I thought your family had ordered his death.”
“Do you still?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve spent six years watching you.”
Luca said nothing.
She continued.
“You’re capable of frightening things.”
A humorless smile touched his mouth.
“Reassuring.”
“But you don’t hurt people quietly and then hide accounting paperwork around it.”
That almost made him laugh.
Almost.
Instead he looked toward her wrist.
“Let me see.”
She hesitated.
Then held out her arm.
Luca did not touch her immediately.
He waited.
Elena nodded.
Only then did he lift the cuff carefully.
The bruising was worse beneath the fabric.
His jaw tightened.
“Did Keller do this?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“He was behind me.”
“Did he say anything?”
Elena went quiet.
Luca watched her face.
“What?”
“He said, ‘Your father should have stopped too.’”
Luca’s eyes changed.
That was no random threat.
Someone knew exactly who Elena was.
His phone rang again.
Matteo.
This time Luca answered.
“Uncle.”
“Thank God. Where are you?”
“At the office.”
“Are you alone?”
Luca looked at Elena.
“Yes.”
She understood the lie and remained silent.
Matteo exhaled.
“You need to leave the building.”
“Why?”
“I received information about Victor.”
“What information?”
“He has been stealing from the company.”
Luca looked toward the screen displaying the encrypted succession folder.
“How long have you known?”
A pause.
“Known what?”
“That Victor is stealing.”
“I heard suspicions this morning.”
“From whom?”
Another pause.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
Matteo’s voice hardened.
“Luca, this is not the time to interrogate me.”
Interesting.
Luca had heard that tone when he was seventeen.
When Matteo still believed he could order him.
“There’s a woman in your office.”
Luca’s eyes moved toward Elena.
Matteo continued.
“Elena Rossi.”
Luca said nothing.
“You need to stay away from her.”
“Why?”
“She’s dangerous.”
Elena heard the words through the phone.
Her expression tightened.
“She’s my secretary.”
“She’s Antonio Rossi’s daughter.”
Silence.
Matteo clearly expected surprise.
Luca gave him none.
“You knew?”
Matteo asked.
“I do now.”
“You don’t understand what her father did.”
“What did he do?”
“He betrayed your father.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
Matteo continued.
“Antonio Rossi stole records, contacted investigators, and threatened to destroy everything your father built.”
Luca leaned against the table.
“Then why wasn’t he fired?”
“He disappeared before it could be handled.”
The phrase chilled Luca.
“Handled how?”
Matteo went quiet.
Luca’s eyes met Elena’s.
She had heard it too.
“Uncle.”
“Yes?”
“Did my father order Antonio Rossi’s death?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
Luca knew Matteo.
He had heard him lie to police.
Competitors.
Family.
This was different.
There was fear beneath it.
“Did you?”
The line went silent.
Then disconnected.
Elena stared at Luca.
He lowered the phone.
Neither spoke.
A moment later, alarms began sounding throughout Moretti Tower.
Not fire alarms.
Security alarms.
Luca’s phone exploded with incoming notifications.
He opened the first.
Garage lockdown compromised.
Then another.
Keller believed to be inside building.
Then:
Power interruption floors 65–72.
The lights went out.
The office plunged into shadow.
Emergency lighting flickered red along the floor.
Elena inhaled sharply.
Luca moved beside her.
“Stay close.”
A noise came from the hallway.
Metal striking glass.
Then a gunshot.
Elena froze.
Luca pulled her behind the marble desk.
Another shot shattered one of the outer glass doors.
Elena crouched beside him, breathing hard.
“Is it Keller?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca removed a handgun from the locked drawer beneath his desk.
Elena stared at it.
“Do exactly what I tell you.”
The office door slowly opened.
A figure entered.
Luca raised the gun.
“Stop.”
The man did.
Emergency light revealed his face.
It was Luca’s head of security, Tomas.
Blood covered one side of his shirt.
“Boss.”
Luca lowered the gun slightly.
“What happened?”
“Keller had help.”
“Who?”
Tomas stumbled.
Luca caught him.
“There are men coming up the east stairwell.”
“How many?”
“Six. Maybe eight.”
Elena’s face tightened.
“Victor?”
Tomas shook his head.
“Victor’s gone.”
Luca stared at him.
“What?”
“Someone intercepted the security team on floor sixty-eight.”
A cold sensation moved through Luca.
Victor had not been arrested.
He had been extracted.
Which meant the conspiracy was larger than one executive.
Tomas gripped Luca’s sleeve.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Before communications went down, facial recognition identified the man leading them.”
Luca waited.
Tomas looked terrified to say it.
“It’s your uncle.”
Elena stared at Luca.
Then a voice came through the office speakers.
Matteo Moretti.
Calm.
Familiar.
Almost paternal.
“Luca, put the gun down.”
Luca slowly looked toward the ceiling speaker.
Matteo continued.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
A pause.
May you like
“But Elena Rossi cannot leave that building alive.”
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