Chapter 5 - The Advisor Who Knew Too Much
Victor Hale had spent fifteen years standing beside the Viscari family.
He knew their secrets.
He knew their enemies.
He knew their weaknesses.
And now Matteo Viscari knew something else.
Victor had been there the night Leo died.
The video played again.
The reflection appeared.
The silver watch.
The shadow near the door.
Clara watched Matteo carefully.
She expected anger.
A man like Matteo should have exploded.
He should have thrown something.
Called security.
Ordered Victor arrested.
But he did none of those things.
That was what scared her.
Matteo became completely calm.
Too calm.
“What are you thinking?” Clara asked.
He closed the video.
“Nothing.”
She stared at him.
“That’s a lie.”
Matteo looked at her.
“You’re becoming very comfortable calling me a liar.”
“You’re becoming very comfortable hiding things.”
For a moment, they simply looked at each other.
Then Matteo looked away.
“You need to leave.”
Clara frowned.
“What?”
“This is no longer about fake orders.”
She understood immediately.
“No.”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“Clara.”
“No.”
Her voice became firmer.
“You don’t get to suddenly decide I’m too close to the truth after you asked me to help find it.”
“This is dangerous.”
“So is letting the person who betrayed you keep walking around your company.”
Matteo said nothing.
Because that was exactly what was happening.
Victor Hale was not just an employee.
He was someone with access.
Someone with influence.
Someone who had spent years building trust.
A stranger could be watched.
A friend could not.
Clara picked up the memory card.
“We need proof.”
Matteo looked at her.
“We already have enough.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“We have suspicion.”
She pointed at the screen.
“That reflection could be Victor.”
“Could be.”
“And if we accuse him without evidence?”
Matteo finished the sentence.
“He destroys us before we can stop him.”
Clara nodded.
“Exactly.”
For the first time, they were thinking the same way.
Not as a boss and secretary.
As two people trying to survive.
The next morning, Matteo walked into Viscari Holdings like nothing had happened.
That was his greatest skill.
Making people believe everything was under control.
Executives greeted him.
Employees stepped aside.
Security followed.
Nobody knew that the man they feared was searching for the person closest to him.
Victor entered his office at nine.
Perfect timing.
Perfect suit.
Perfect expression.
“Matteo.”
He placed a folder on the desk.
“Quarterly reports.”
Matteo looked at him.
“You seem calm.”
Victor smiled.
“Should I not be?”
“Someone is trying to destroy my company.”
Victor remained still.
“That is unfortunate.”
Matteo watched him.
“Is that all?”
Victor tilted his head.
“What else should I say?”
Matteo leaned back.
“Maybe you should be angry.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is attacking something you claim to protect.”
Victor’s smile disappeared slightly.
“I am angry.”
“Are you?”
A pause.
Then Victor placed both hands on the desk.
“You have been through a lot.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“You talking about my grief.”
Victor sighed.
“Because it matters.”
“No.”
Matteo looked directly at him.
“You use it.”
The room became silent.
For the first time in years, Victor looked uncomfortable.
Only for a second.
But Matteo noticed.
“I have always protected this family.”
Victor’s voice became colder.
“Even when others abandoned you.”
Matteo studied him.
“Others?”
Victor looked away.
A mistake.
Small.
But enough.
Matteo remembered.
Leo’s words.
Don’t trust the people who stood beside me after I died.
Victor left shortly afterward.
Clara entered a few minutes later.
“What happened?”
“He knows.”
Her expression changed.
“Know what?”
“That I suspect him.”
Clara stopped.
“How?”
“He wanted me to know.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does.”
Matteo walked toward the window.
“Victor has always believed he was smarter than everyone else.”
Clara thought about that.
“He wanted you to question him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Matteo looked at the city.
“Because he thinks I won’t believe the answer.”
Clara understood.
Victor was not running.
He was waiting.
That was much more dangerous.
They spent the next several hours digging through old company records.
Not financial documents.
Personal ones.
Leo’s projects.
Private meetings.
Old communications.
Anything Victor had touched.
At first, nothing appeared.
Victor had been careful.
Too careful.
Then Clara found something.
“Wait.”
Matteo looked over.
“What?”
She opened an old employee database.
A name appeared.
“Elias Ward.”
Matteo stared.
His face changed.
“Who is that?”
Clara noticed immediately.
“You know him.”
“He was a security consultant.”
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
Matteo looked at the date.
Nine years ago.
Three weeks before Leo died.
Clara opened his file.
“His records were deleted.”
“By who?”
She checked.
Then froze.
“Victor.”
Matteo walked closer.
“What did Elias do?”
Clara searched deeper.
A hidden document appeared.
One sentence.
Subject discovered internal information leak.
Matteo read it.
His expression darkened.
“Leo found Elias.”
Clara looked at him.
“And Victor found Leo.”
Neither spoke.
Because the timeline was becoming clearer.
Someone had been removing people who got close to the truth.
And Leo had been next.
Then Clara noticed another file.
A confidential report.
Created after Leo’s death.
She opened it.
Her eyes widened.
“Matteo.”
He looked at her.
“This report was created three days after the attack.”
“About what?”
She turned the screen.
A list of names appeared.
People suspected of involvement.
At the top was a name.
Not Victor.
Someone else.
Matteo stared.
“No.”
Clara looked at him.
“You know this person too?”
He didn’t answer.
Because the name belonged to someone he had trusted even more than Victor.
Someone who had been part of the family.
Someone who had attended Leo’s funeral.
Someone Matteo had defended for nine years.
Then the office lights suddenly went out.
The entire floor went dark.
Clara stood immediately.
“What happened?”
Matteo reached for his phone.
“No power failure.”
“How do you know?”
“Because this building has three backup systems.”
The darkness continued.
Then the elevator at the end of the hallway opened.
Slowly.
Nobody stepped out.
But something was inside.
A small package.
Clara and Matteo approached carefully.
On top of the package was the same symbol.
Three lines.
Matteo stopped.
He picked it up.
Inside was a single envelope.
No name.
No address.
Only one sentence written on the front.
You were looking in the wrong direction.
Matteo opened it.
Inside was an old photograph.
Clara saw his face change.
“What is it?”
He handed it to her.
The photograph showed Leo.
Alive.
Standing beside someone.
Someone Clara recognized.
Someone Matteo trusted.
Someone whose name had just appeared in the hidden report.
And below the photograph was a handwritten message.
Four words.
Your brother knew everything.
Matteo stared at the picture.
Because the truth he had been chasing for nine years…
May you like
was not that Leo was betrayed.
It was that Leo had discovered the betrayal before he died.
