Chapter 6 - One Signature Changed Everything
Dominic placed the drive on the table.
Samuel kept the gun pointed toward Lily.
Elena moved slightly in front of her daughter.
Samuel noticed.
“Don’t.”
Elena stopped.
Dominic’s voice was calm.
“You won’t shoot a child.”
Samuel laughed softly.
“You don’t know me at all.”
“I know you’ve had twenty years to become a murderer and still needed other people to do it.”
Samuel’s face tightened.
Dominic continued.
“You didn’t kill Daniel yourself.”
“No.”
“You didn’t kill me.”
“Not yet.”
“You didn’t kill Claire.”
Samuel glanced toward the hallway.
Dominic saw the reaction.
Samuel had not known Claire survived.
Good.
One uncertainty.
One opening.
Dominic said, “What do you actually want?”
“The drive.”
“Then take it.”
Samuel’s eyes narrowed.
“Move away.”
Dominic stepped backward.
Samuel approached.
Three steps.
Two.
One.
He reached.
Elena shoved Lily down.
Dominic lunged.
Samuel fired.
The bullet shattered a glass cabinet.
Dominic hit him hard.
The gun skidded.
Elena grabbed Lily.
Carlo appeared in the doorway and kicked the weapon away.
Samuel laughed from the floor.
“Perfect.”
Dominic held him down.
“What?”
Samuel looked at Carlo.
“You still don’t understand.”
Carlo’s face changed.
Samuel smiled.
“The drive is useless without authorization.”
Dominic stared.
“What authorization?”
“Antonio designed the archive so no single person could open it.”
Carlo whispered, “Two signatures.”
Samuel nodded.
“One digital key belonged to Daniel.”
“And the other?”
Samuel looked at Dominic.
“Belongs to you.”
Dominic froze.
“My father gave me no key.”
“Not a key.”
Samuel laughed.
“Your signature.”
Dominic thought of the forged termination letter.
The fake authorization codes.
All the signatures used in his name.
One signature changed everything.
Elena understood.
“That’s why they forged Dominic’s documents.”
Samuel looked at her.
“You’re smarter than Richard.”
Dominic’s anger returned.
“They were testing the authentication system.”
“Yes.”
“Trying to reproduce my signature.”
“Yes.”
“Did it work?”
Samuel smiled.
“No.”
Carlo started laughing.
Samuel glared at him.
“Shut up.”
Carlo shook his head.
“All those millions. All those bribes. All those fake papers.”
He looked at Dominic.
“And the idiot still needed your hand.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Samuel suddenly twisted.
A knife appeared from his sleeve.
Carlo shouted.
Dominic blocked the strike.
They fought hard and ugly between the shelves.
Samuel was older but desperate.
He drove Dominic into a table.
Books fell.
Elena pulled Lily farther away.
Carlo grabbed the knife arm.
Samuel elbowed him.
Marco burst through the library doors with two guards.
“Down!”
Samuel stopped.
Five guns pointed at him.
He let the knife fall.
Marco cuffed him.
Dominic stood slowly.
His lip bled.
Elena came toward him.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
She looked at the blood.
“That doesn’t look okay.”
“I’ve looked worse.”
Lily ran over.
“Mr. Dominic!”
He crouched.
She hugged him.
The movement surprised him so completely that for a second he did not react.
Then he wrapped one arm around her.
“You promised to bring Mr. Buttons back.”
Dominic pulled the rabbit from inside his coat.
Lily gasped.
“You kept him safe.”
“I gave my word.”
Elena watched them.
Something in her expression softened.
Only slightly.
But Dominic saw it.
They moved the drive to an offline laptop Marco had brought.
Dominic signed a blank authorization sheet.
His signature was scanned.
The archive opened.
Files appeared.
Thousands.
Bank transfers.
Audio recordings.
Internal memos.
Names.
Dates.
And one folder labeled:
D. CARTER — FINAL.
Elena sat.
Dominic looked at her.
“Do you want me to open it?”
She nodded.
Inside was a video.
Daniel Carter appeared on screen.
Alive.
Four years younger.
Elena covered her mouth.
Lily stared.
“Daddy.”
Daniel looked tired.
Scared.
But determined.
“If you’re watching this, something probably happened to me.”
Elena began crying.
Daniel continued.
“The financial network inside Moretti Holdings goes back decades. Dominic Moretti may not know it exists. From everything I’ve reviewed, I believe he has actually been dismantling parts of it without realizing what they were.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
Daniel had believed him innocent.
Even then.
“If I can’t finish this,” Daniel said, “I need someone to get the evidence to Dominic directly. Not his assistant. Not legal. Not finance. Him.”
Elena whispered, “I tried.”
Daniel continued.
“And Elena… if somehow you ever see this…”
She broke.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you. I wanted to keep you and Lily away from it.”
Lily began crying too.
Elena held her.
Daniel smiled at the camera.
“Tell Lily the treasure story was real.”
Lily laughed through tears.
“I knew it.”
Daniel’s expression became serious.
“There is one person whose name appears at the center of the newer network. I couldn’t identify him at first because he used proxies.”
Dominic leaned closer.
Daniel looked into the camera.
“If I’m right, the person controlling the money isn’t Carlo Moretti.”
Carlo frowned.
Daniel continued.
“It’s someone much closer to Dominic.”
The video ended.
A file appeared beneath it.
CONTROLLING PRINCIPAL.
Dominic opened it.
One name.
Richard Vale.
Everyone turned.
Richard was not in the room.
Marco touched his earpiece.
“Where’s Vale?”
No response.
He called again.
Then his radio crackled.
A guard shouted from downstairs.
“Mr. Moretti, we have a problem.”
Dominic grabbed the radio.
“What?”
“The CFO took a vehicle.”
“When?”
“Three minutes ago.”
Dominic looked at the screen.
Richard Vale.
The man who claimed Carlo had threatened him.
The man who had presented himself as a victim.
The man who had been inside Dominic’s office when Elena’s evidence surfaced.
Marco said, “He’s running.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at the files.
Richard had access to twenty-three million dollars.
Fake signatures.
The old network.
And possibly years of hidden money.
“He’s not running.”
Dominic’s phone vibrated.
A bank alert filled the screen.
$186,400,000 TRANSFER INITIATED.
Dominic stared at the destination account.
Then another message arrived.
May you like
From Richard.
THANK YOU FOR OPENING THE ARCHIVE.
