Chapter 8 - THE MONEY BEHIND HER ENGAGEMENT
“You used my father's roof money to pay for your warehouse?”
Luca spoke slowly.
Matteo didn't look up.
“It was a temporary transfer.”
“A transfer you made without telling me.”
“I intended to replace it.”
“When?”
“When the warehouse transaction closed.”
Frank stared at the receipt.
“So that's why my roof never got fixed.”
Matteo finally looked at him.
“Frank, I wasn't trying to leave you in danger.”
“But you did.”
The old man's voice was steady.
“You knew there was water coming through. You knew I'd fallen. And you still sent people to move me instead of repairing it.”
Matteo swallowed.
“I thought the apartment was the safest solution.”
Frank shook his head.
“You thought it was the cheapest solution.”
Nobody answered.
Evelyn studied the architectural drawing again.
“Matteo, did the project company approve this payment?”
“No.”
“Did Luca?”
“No.”
“Then you diverted money allocated to another person's property.”
Matteo looked toward Luca.
“I've covered shortages for you before.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Don't confuse helping a friend with taking something that belongs to my father.”
Matteo laughed bitterly.
“That's easy for you to say.”
Luca stared at him.
“What is?”
“You've never had to wonder whether people invested in your projects because they trusted you or because your last name was Moretti.”
The words surprised me.
Matteo's anger seemed older than this evening.
Luca looked at him.
“Is that what this is about?”
Matteo shook his head.
“No.”
“You've been my business partner for years.”
“And every introduction begins with your name.”
Luca said nothing.
Matteo continued.
“I wanted to close one major deal without being treated like your assistant.”
Frank looked at him sadly.
“Matteo, nobody ever made you feel like an assistant in my garage.”
The younger man lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
“You were family there.”
Matteo's voice tightened.
“I remember.”
Frank touched the brass memorial plate.
“Then why wasn't that enough?”
Matteo didn't answer.
Vanessa suddenly stood.
“Because people don't live on memories, Frank.”
Luca turned toward her.
She looked exhausted, but something in her expression had changed.
“I know everyone thinks I'm cruel because I arranged an apartment. But you have no idea what it's like preparing to marry someone whose past takes up every room.”
Luca stared at her.
“My past?”
“Your father. Your garage. Your mother's memory. Matteo's mistakes. Everyone needs you to fix something.”
Frank lowered his eyes.
Vanessa continued.
“I wanted us to have something that belonged to our future.”
Luca took a breath.
“And you thought the price should be my father's home?”
“I thought he would be happier somewhere safer.”
“He told you he wanted the roof repaired.”
Vanessa looked away.
Luca's voice softened slightly.
“Vanessa, you don't have to compete with the people who loved me before you did.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know that now.”
“Do you?”
She didn't answer.
Evelyn leaned toward the financial summary lying beside Matteo's portfolio.
“There's a line here I haven't seen before.”
Matteo immediately reached for the page.
“That's internal accounting.”
Evelyn kept it beneath her hand.
“It's part of the project information you're asking my firm to rely on.”
She read silently.
Then she looked up.
“Who is Bellini Advisory?”
Vanessa froze.
Luca turned.
“Vanessa?”
She swallowed.
“It's a small company I registered last year.”
“For what?”
“Events. Community partnerships. Consulting.”
Evelyn studied the page.
“Did it provide services to the West Canal project?”
Vanessa glanced at Matteo.
“Some preliminary work.”
“What work?” Luca asked.
“Relocation planning. Public presentations. The memorial concept.”
Frank looked confused.
“You were getting paid to move me?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“Frank, it wasn't like that.”
“Then what was it?”
She remained silent.
Evelyn turned the page toward Luca.
Three amounts appeared under projected project costs.
One concerned temporary housing.
Another concerned site preparation.
The largest was listed as a consulting fee.
Luca stared at it.
Then he looked toward Vanessa.
“Three hundred thousand dollars?”
She shook her head quickly.
“That money hasn't been paid.”
“Why would your company receive three hundred thousand dollars?”
Matteo stepped forward.
“Because she helped organize a complicated relocation.”
Frank sat very still.
I watched him look toward the battered suitcase.
It contained everything he'd been told he could take from forty-two years of work.
Two shirts.
An apron.
His wife's cardigan.
And a tin lunchbox.
Three hundred thousand dollars had apparently been promised to arrange that departure.
Luca looked at Matteo.
“What triggers the payment?”
Matteo didn't answer.
Evelyn read the condition beneath the amount.
“Successful delivery of the garage parcel, cleared of its current occupant.”
Claire, I told myself, don't say anything.
But I couldn't stay silent.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Luca turned.
“Yes?”
I pointed toward Frank.
“He isn't an occupant being cleared. He's the owner.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Exactly.”
Vanessa sat down heavily.
Luca looked at her.
“Did you know this fee depended on my father leaving?”
Her eyes filled.
“I knew the consulting agreement involved the relocation.”
“That wasn't my question.”
She turned toward Matteo.
He looked away.
And I realized she'd been waiting for him to answer.
Luca's expression became terribly still.
“Vanessa, look at me.”
She reluctantly raised her eyes.
“Did you agree to receive three hundred thousand dollars if my father left his garage?”
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “I was told the money would fund the memorial project.”
Evelyn examined the bottom of the page.
Her face changed.
She turned it around.
Beneath the payment condition were two authorizing signatures.
One belonged to Matteo Rinaldi.
The other belonged to Vanessa Bellini.
And beside Vanessa's signature was a handwritten instruction.
“Payment to Bellini Advisory upon confirmed vacant possession. No further owner approval required.”
Luca stared at those words.
May you like
Then he raised his eyes to the woman he was supposed to marry.
“Vanessa, why did you sign something that said my father didn't need to agree?”
