Chapter 4 - Two Names Mia Wouldn’t Say
By three that afternoon, Luca knew someone had entered the wine cellar between breakfast and lunch.
The estate security system showed no alarm.
That meant whoever entered had legitimate access.
Luca asked his security chief, Marco Bell, for the electronic logs.
Marco frowned.
“There’s a gap.”
“How long?”
“Eleven minutes.”
“That happen often?”
“Never.”
“Camera failure?”
“No.”
“Then someone erased it.”
Marco looked uncomfortable.
“Only four people have administrator privileges.”
“Names.”
“You. Me. Victor.”
Luca waited.
“And Celeste.”
Exactly what he expected.
Exactly what he did not want to hear.
“Say nothing.”
Marco looked at him.
“You think one of them—”
“I think nothing yet.”
That was a lie.
Luca thought many things.
He simply did not intend to share them.
Daniel Mercer arrived after dark.
He entered through a service gate and was taken to a guest cottage away from the main house.
Daniel was fifty-eight, bald, sarcastic and unimpressed by wealth.
He looked at the mansion through the window.
“You added another fountain.”
“My mother liked fountains.”
“Your mother had restraint.”
“So do I.”
Daniel laughed.
“No one who owns three marble staircases gets to use that word.”
Luca placed copies of the Harbor Nine contracts on the table.
Daniel stopped joking.
He read for nearly an hour.
Finally, he tapped one page.
“This company.”
“Raven Shore Holdings.”
“Who owns it?”
“According to the filing, a Delaware trust.”
“Beneficiary?”
“Not public.”
“And Moretti Freight has paid them?”
“Twelve million in eighteen months.”
Daniel whistled.
“For consulting?”
“That’s what the ledger says.”
“Consultants don’t need six-ton shipments.”
Luca leaned forward.
“So someone is moving assets through Harbor Nine.”
“Or hiding expenses there.”
“Can you trace it?”
“With time.”
“You have tonight.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Do you ever ask for normal things?”
“No.”
Meanwhile, upstairs, Elena tried to persuade Mia to sleep.
Mia had other plans.
“Uncle Luca is mad.”
“He’s working.”
“He was mad.”
Elena tucked the blanket around her.
“Mr. Moretti always looks serious.”
“He looked extra serious.”
“Mia.”
“Shiny man is mean.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
“You don’t need to think about him.”
“He said secrets.”
“What secrets?”
Mia looked confused.
“The two names.”
Elena froze.
“What two names?”
Mia covered her mouth.
“Elena?”
The voice came from the doorway.
Luca.
He had entered quietly.
Mia peeked over the blanket.
“You heard.”
“I did.”
Elena stood.
“You promised not to question her.”
“I’m not going to pressure her.”
He sat several feet from the bed.
“Mia.”
She watched him.
“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
“Okay.”
“But if someone told you to keep something secret because they wanted to scare you, that secret isn’t your fault.”
Mia thought.
Elena remained silent.
Finally Mia said, “Yellow lady said names.”
“Celeste?”
Mia nodded.
“What names?”
She shook her head.
“Why not?”
“She said bad things happen if people say them.”
Luca kept his expression calm.
“What kind of bad things?”
“She said houses go away.”
Elena sat beside Mia.
“When did she tell you that?”
“In the bottle room.”
Luca and Elena exchanged a look.
Mia continued.
“Yellow lady said, ‘Raven’ and ‘Thomas.’ Then shiny man got mad because Mommy was there.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Luca’s eyes moved toward her.
“Thomas?”
Mia nodded.
“Daddy Thomas.”
Elena stood so quickly the chair scraped the floor.
“No.”
Luca rose.
“Elena.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“What?”
“You said this was about shipments.”
“It is.”
“You didn’t tell me Thomas’s name was involved.”
“I didn’t know.”
She backed away.
“My husband has been dead for three years.”
“I know.”
“Then why would Celeste say his name?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena looked physically ill.
Mia began to cry.
Instantly, Elena returned to her bedside.
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
Luca stepped back.
He had learned enough.
He left the room and called Daniel.
“I have another name.”
“What?”
“Thomas Bennett.”
Silence.
“You know him?”
“Former employee.”
Daniel typed.
“Give me a minute.”
Luca waited in the dark hallway.
Finally Daniel spoke.
“That’s strange.”
“What?”
“Thomas Bennett filed an internal compliance report four months before his death.”
Luca’s pulse slowed.
“About what?”
“It’s sealed in the archived system.”
“Who sealed it?”
More typing.
Daniel became quiet.
“Daniel.”
“I’m looking.”
“Who?”
“The authorization came from legal.”
Luca already knew.
“Celeste.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two days after Thomas died.”
The hallway suddenly felt colder.
“What was the report about?”
“I can’t open the archive remotely without triggering a notification.”
“Who receives it?”
“General counsel.”
Celeste.
Luca looked toward the room where Elena was comforting her daughter.
Three years.
For three years, Elena had believed her husband’s connection to the Moretti companies ended when his life did.
Maybe it had not.
Maybe Thomas Bennett had discovered Harbor Nine before anyone else.
And maybe his widow had unknowingly walked straight back into the same secret.
“Don’t open it,” Luca said.
“Then what?”
“Find out everything about Raven Shore.”
“I already started.”
“And Daniel?”
“Yeah?”
“No electronic requests involving Thomas.”
“Understood.”
Luca ended the call.
Behind him, Elena opened the bedroom door.
She had heard enough.
“Thomas filed a report?”
Luca did not lie.
“Yes.”
“About Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
“About Celeste?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was his accident really an accident?”
There it was.
The question Luca had hoped she would not ask.
“I have no evidence saying otherwise.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“It’s the only answer I can give you.”
Her eyes filled.
“For three years I told Mia her father died because sometimes terrible things happen for no reason.”
Luca said nothing.
“What if I was wrong?”
“We won’t assume that.”
“You get to say that because you didn’t bury him.”
Her words struck hard.
Elena immediately looked guilty.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“I shouldn’t have—”
“You’re right.”
She stared at him.
Luca continued quietly.
“You buried him. You get to be angry.”
Elena wiped her eyes.
“What happens now?”
“Now I find Thomas’s report.”
“How?”
“Without asking Celeste.”
“And Victor?”
“He’ll tell me whatever he thinks I already know.”
“You’ve trusted him for decades.”
“Yes.”
“Can you really pretend nothing has changed?”
Luca glanced toward the stairs.
“I was raised by people who could smile during negotiations while planning six moves ahead.”
Elena studied him.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“No.”
He looked back at her.
“I don’t know if I can.”
At the far end of the hallway, neither of them noticed the barely visible shadow disappear around the corner.
Someone had been listening.
And less than ten minutes later, Victor Rinaldi received a message containing only five words.
May you like
He knows about Thomas Bennett.
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