Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Knew Every Password
Elaine Foster arrived at the estate at eight the next morning.
She was forty-five, impeccably dressed, and carrying the same black leather portfolio she'd brought to work every day for eleven years.
She greeted Mrs. Carter.
Complimented the flowers in the entrance hall.
Asked whether Luca wanted his usual coffee.
Then Daniel told her she needed to answer some questions.
Her smile disappeared.
"About what?"
"The payment authorization uploaded to the family-office portal."
Elaine looked at him.
"I don't handle trust transactions."
"That's why we're asking."
Luca stood near the window.
He hadn't spoken since she entered.
Elaine glanced at him.
"Mr. Moretti?"
He turned.
"Did you upload a document authorizing payments related to Ethan's residential assessment?"
"No."
"Did you allow Vanessa to use my electronic signature?"
Elaine hesitated.
"I gave her access to certain wedding-related files."
"That's not what I asked."
She looked down.
"I didn't know she'd use them for anything else."
Daniel opened his portfolio.
"Elaine, the audit log shows the payment authorization was uploaded from your account at six-forty-two on January seventeenth."
She blinked.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"I was at a medical appointment that afternoon."
"Can you document that?"
"Yes."
Daniel nodded.
"Please do."
Luca stepped closer.
"Did Vanessa know your password?"
Elaine looked uncomfortable.
"She asked me to share access with her wedding planner."
"Did you?"
"I created a temporary login."
"Using your own credentials?"
Elaine said nothing.
Luca stared at her.
"Elaine."
"Yes."
"You knew company policy prohibited that."
"I know."
"Then why?"
Her eyes filled.
"Because she said you'd fire me if I delayed her."
The room went silent.
Elaine took a shaky breath.
"She said you were tired of people questioning your decisions. She told me the wedding was supposed to make your life easier."
Luca closed his eyes.
There it was again.
The same message.
Different people.
Same lie.
Don't bother Luca.
Don't ask questions.
Do what Vanessa says.
Luca looked at Daniel.
"Can we establish whether Elaine's account was used remotely?"
"We're reviewing the authentication records."
Elaine sat down.
"Am I going to lose my job?"
Luca looked at her for a long moment.
"You violated a security policy."
"I know."
"And it may have allowed someone to misuse my signature."
She nodded.
"I'm sorry."
"I need you to cooperate fully with the investigation."
"I will."
He paused.
"For now, your access is suspended."
Elaine covered her face.
"I understand."
Daniel asked her to remain available for further questions.
Then she stood.
Before leaving, she turned toward Luca.
"There's something I should have told you."
He waited.
"Vanessa asked me to remove three appointments from your calendar."
"What appointments?"
"Two school conferences and a meeting with Ethan's allergist."
I felt a chill.
"Why?"
"She said she'd handle them."
Luca looked stunned.
"Those appointments were canceled?"
Elaine shook her head.
"No. She attended them."
Daniel's head came up.
"All three?"
"Yes."
Julia, who had just entered the study, stopped cold.
"What?"
Elaine looked terrified.
"Mrs. Moretti, I didn't realize—"
"You attended my son's medical appointment without either parent?"
Elaine shook her head.
"I didn't attend. Vanessa did."
Julia's face turned white.
"Who authorized that?"
Elaine swallowed.
"She said Luca had."
Julia looked toward her former husband.
Luca shook his head.
"I didn't."
Rachel Monroe stepped forward.
"We need to obtain the providers' records and find out what information was disclosed, whether consent was verified, and whether any false statements were entered."
Daniel nodded.
Elaine looked down.
"I'm sorry."
Julia's voice was tight.
"Being sorry doesn't change what my son was told."
After Elaine left, Luca remained standing near the desk.
He looked at the calendar on his computer.
Appointments he'd never attended.
Meetings he thought had been rescheduled.
Conversations someone else had controlled.
"Eleven years," he said quietly.
Daniel looked up.
"What?"
"Elaine worked for me eleven years. I trusted her."
"You may still find that she was manipulated rather than part of the larger plan."
Luca shook his head.
"That doesn't make the failure disappear."
"No."
Julia folded her arms.
"That's the problem, Luca. Everyone kept accepting Vanessa's instructions because they thought you wouldn't question them."
He looked at her.
"You're right."
She sighed.
"I don't need you to say I'm right. I need you to change how you run this house."
"I am."
"Good."
She walked out.
Luca watched her go.
Then he turned to me.
"Nora, when you tried to tell me about Ethan, why didn't you come directly into my office?"
I hesitated.
"Because Vanessa told us not to."
"And you believed her."
"Most of us did."
He nodded.
"That's on me."
I didn't know what to say.
He sat down.
"I built businesses where nobody makes a decision without checking with the person above them."
Daniel gave a small, tired smile.
"That's fairly accurate."
Luca ignored him.
"But somehow I built a house where everybody was afraid to tell me the truth."
I looked at him.
"Then change that."
He raised his eyes.
I thought I'd spoken too boldly.
But he simply nodded.
"That's what I'm going to do."
Later that afternoon, Daniel received the records from Ethan's school.
Vanessa had attended two meetings.
At the first, she'd claimed Ethan experienced severe anxiety about staying with his father.
At the second, she'd described him as increasingly oppositional.
The school counselor had recommended a joint meeting with both parents.
Vanessa apparently never passed on the invitation.
But the counselor had included one sentence in her notes that changed everything.
Student reports that future stepmother has repeatedly suggested father's affection is conditional upon improved behavior.
Luca read the sentence aloud.
Then he stopped.
Julia took the paper from his hand.
Her eyes filled.
"Conditional affection," she whispered.
I thought of Ethan asking whether he still belonged at the wedding.
Whether his father would choose him.
Whether a child could be sent away for being sick.
Suddenly the last several months made terrible sense.
Vanessa hadn't merely been pushing Ethan away.
She'd been teaching him to believe that his father's love could be withdrawn.
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked sharply toward Luca.
"What do you mean she's leaving?"
Luca stood.
"Who?"
Daniel held up a hand.
He listened for another moment.
Then ended the call.
"Richard Bellini's company has requested emergency authorization to transfer several assets overseas."
Luca frowned.
"Which assets?"
"Accounts associated with the Lakefront Meridian development."
"Can they do that?"
"Some transfers may be restricted by existing lender agreements. The banks and relevant authorities will have to determine that."
Luca looked toward the folders.
"Why now?"
Daniel's expression was grim.
"Because someone has realized the documents are being examined."
Then another call came in.
This time from the independent forensic accountant.
Daniel put it on speaker.
"We've located the beneficiary of the first eighty-five-thousand-dollar payment," the accountant said.
"Evergreen Family Services?" Daniel asked.
"Yes. But that company transferred most of the money almost immediately."
"To whom?"
"A consulting company controlled through another entity."
Luca leaned forward.
"Who owns it?"
The accountant hesitated.
"We're still verifying the records."
"Give me the name."
"Bellini Strategic Holdings."
Luca looked furious.
But the accountant wasn't finished.
"And there was a second scheduled payment."
"How much?"
"Two hundred and ten thousand dollars."
"Was it processed?"
"No. It was queued for release after the wedding."
Daniel looked at Luca.
"That explains the deadline."
Luca stared at the phone.
Then the accountant spoke again.
"There's one more detail. The supporting invoice didn't describe the payment as education or medical care."
Daniel frowned.
"What did it say?"
May you like
The answer made my blood run cold.
CHILD TRANSITION COMPLETION FEE.
