Chapter 5 - A Traitor at the Family Table
Natalie called Clemente before she reached her car.
He answered immediately.
“Natalie.”
“Serena is at the riverfront warehouse.”
A pause.
“Why?”
“She found the original payment records.”
“Where is she now?”
“Locked inside an office.”
Clemente's voice changed.
“I'm sending security.”
“She said Marco's name.”
Silence.
“Do not go there.”
Natalie started her engine.
“I'm already moving.”
“Natalie.”
“You have five minutes to catch up.”
She ended the call.
The warehouse complex was twenty minutes away.
Clemente arrived in twelve.
Natalie pulled in behind him.
He was out of his car before she stopped.
“I told you not to come.”
“And I ignored you.”
“I noticed.”
Two security vehicles arrived.
Luca Lombardo stepped out.
Clemente immediately faced him.
“Who knew Serena was here?”
Luca frowned.
“No idea.”
“Check access.”
They entered.
The administrative offices appeared empty.
No broken doors.
No overturned furniture.
Nothing dramatic.
That made Natalie more nervous.
“Serena?” she called.
No response.
They reached the second-floor office.
Locked.
Luca opened it.
Empty.
Natalie's stomach dropped.
On the desk sat Serena's phone.
Clemente picked it up.
The screen was cracked.
Natalie noticed something else.
A folder beneath the chair.
She opened it.
Bank records.
Original transfers.
Signatures.
Vittorio.
Rinaldi.
Victor Bellaforte.
And—
Natalie stopped.
Clemente saw her expression.
“What?”
She handed him the page.
A fourth signature appeared beneath an authorization.
Marco Lombardo.
Clemente stared.
“So she was right.”
Natalie shook her head.
“Maybe.”
“His signature is there.”
“So was his badge.”
Clemente looked at her.
“You still think he's being framed.”
“I think someone desperately wants us to think Marco is guilty.”
A noise came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
Marco stood there.
Hands visible.
Face pale.
Clemente moved toward him.
“Where is Serena?”
“I don't know.”
“She said your name.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I called her.”
Natalie frowned.
“Why?”
Marco looked at her.
“To warn her.”
“About what?”
“My father.”
Clemente's jaw tightened.
Marco stepped into the office.
“I found out he was meeting Bellaforte tonight.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Marco pulled something from his pocket.
Luca reached toward his jacket.
Marco froze.
“Relax.”
He held out a key.
Small.
Brass.
Natalie recognized the symbol stamped into it.
Caruso Management.
“Where did you get that?”
“My father's desk.”
“What does it open?”
Marco looked toward the warehouse floor.
“A private records room downstairs.”
They found the door behind an old accounting office.
The brass key worked.
Inside were boxes.
Dozens.
Records dating back years.
Natalie opened the nearest.
Invoices.
Shipping manifests.
Property transfers.
Clemente opened another.
Cash ledgers.
Marco whispered, “Jesus.”
This wasn't merely corporate espionage.
Vittorio had been building a parallel operation inside Lombardo Holdings.
For years.
Natalie found photographs.
Victor Bellaforte.
Rinaldi.
Vittorio.
Meetings.
Contracts.
Payments.
Then Luca called from the back.
“Clemente.”
They joined him.
A laptop sat on a desk.
Still running.
A video call window was minimized.
Clemente opened it.
Recorded surveillance footage appeared.
The dining room.
The night Natalie had arrived in red.
Natalie felt cold.
Someone had recorded everything.
The jokes.
The announcement.
The fake engagement.
Why?
Clemente scrolled.
More footage.
His office.
Boardrooms.
Adelina's study.
Natalie whispered, “They've been watching your family.”
Marco stared at the screen.
“For how long?”
“Years,” Clemente said.
Natalie found an audio folder.
One recording had yesterday's date.
She played it.
Vittorio's voice.
Once Clemente loses credibility, Adelina will reconsider the transfer.
Victor Bellaforte answered.
And the secretary?
A pause.
Then Vittorio laughed.
She is his weakness now.
Clemente stopped the recording.
Natalie looked at him.
Neither spoke.
Marco broke the silence.
“There's another file.”
He clicked.
A schedule appeared.
Tomorrow.
11:00 a.m.
Emergency board meeting.
Purpose: vote of no confidence in Clemente Lombardo.
Attached evidence included the fake engagement.
Claims Clemente had manipulated the succession trust by falsely announcing a marriage.
Ethics violations.
Misrepresentation.
Conflict of interest.
Natalie understood.
The dinner had been bait.
Vittorio had provoked Clemente.
He had expected some reaction.
Clemente had given him something far better.
A fraudulent engagement that appeared designed to defeat a trust provision.
“Oh my God,” Natalie whispered.
Clemente stared at the screen.
“They wanted me to say it.”
Natalie remembered the place card.
FIANCÉE.
It had been waiting before Clemente announced anything.
Someone had predicted exactly how he would react.
Or manipulated him into it.
Vittorio knew his nephew.
He knew Clemente would defend Natalie badly.
Possessively.
Publicly.
And Clemente had done precisely that.
Marco looked sick.
“My father set the entire dinner up.”
“Yes,” Natalie said.
Clemente looked at her.
“I walked into it.”
“We both did.”
“No. I brought you.”
Natalie didn't argue.
There would be time for that later.
If they survived tomorrow.
“Can they remove you?” she asked.
“If enough directors believe I deliberately falsified an engagement to manipulate the trust, yes.”
“What about the espionage evidence?”
“Vittorio will say it's fabricated.”
“Rinaldi?”
“Lawyer-client privilege will muddy everything.”
“Bellaforte?”
“Will deny it.”
Natalie looked at the screen.
Then she saw the answer.
Not in the files.
In the video.
“Clemente.”
He turned.
“The surveillance recording.”
“What about it?”
“It started before you called me your fiancée.”
“Yes.”
“Which means it recorded Vittorio's comments before the announcement.”
Clemente understood.
Natalie continued.
“And it recorded Marco saying you weren't exaggerating about the surprise.”
Marco nodded slowly.
“Dad told me Clemente had agreed to bring Natalie because of our stupid bet.”
“Will you testify?”
Marco looked toward the evidence surrounding him.
“Against my father?”
“Yes.”
He was silent for a long moment.
Then he said, “Yes.”
The board meeting began at eleven sharp.
Vittorio arrived confident.
Rinaldi sat beside him.
Victor Bellaforte appeared by video.
Adelina attended without speaking.
Natalie sat behind Clemente.
Not beside him.
Not as fiancée.
As chief executive secretary.
Her actual title.
Her actual authority.
Vittorio presented the allegation.
Clemente had fabricated an engagement to manipulate succession rules.
Several directors looked disturbed.
Then Clemente stood.
“The engagement was false.”
Gasps.
Natalie watched Vittorio smile.
Clemente continued.
“I said something impulsive and inappropriate. Natalie Strauss had not agreed to marry me. She did not participate in creating the statement, and she received no financial benefit from it.”
Vittorio leaned forward.
“So you admit fraud.”
“No.”
Clemente looked around the table.
“I admit stupidity.”
Even Adelina's eyebrow rose.
“The distinction,” Clemente continued, “is intent.”
He played the surveillance footage.
Vittorio's remarks.
The family jokes.
Natalie's discomfort.
Then Clemente's announcement.
The room became silent.
Next came the place card.
FIANCÉE.
Placed before the announcement.
Then Marco testified.
Vittorio's confidence disappeared.
Finally Natalie presented the payment records.
The shell companies.
The document breaches.
Rinaldi's expenses.
Bellaforte's payments.
By noon, the vote of no confidence had collapsed.
By twelve-fifteen, the board authorized an independent investigation into Vittorio and Rinaldi.
Victor Bellaforte disconnected without saying goodbye.
Vittorio stood.
He looked at Clemente.
Then Natalie.
“This isn't over.”
Adelina finally spoke.
“Yes, Vittorio.”
Her voice was quiet.
“It is.”
But Natalie saw Vittorio's expression.
He wasn't defeated.
Not yet.
That evening, Clemente drove Natalie home.
They sat outside her apartment.
Neither moved.
Finally he said, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“You don't owe me gratitude for doing my job.”
“It wasn't your job.”
“No.”
Clemente looked at her.
“I won't ask you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I won't ask you to stay.”
Natalie turned toward him.
That surprised her.
He continued.
“Monday morning, I'm promoting you.”
Her expression hardened.
“No.”
“Not as a reward.”
“Then why?”
“Because you've been doing the work of a chief operating strategist for three years while carrying a secretary's title.”
Natalie stared.
“And you only noticed now?”
“No.”
“Then why now?”
“Because I finally understand that recognizing your value privately isn't enough if I benefit from everyone else underestimating it.”
Natalie said nothing.
Clemente handed her an envelope.
Inside was a formal offer.
Vice President of Executive Operations.
Salary nearly double.
Board access.
Independent reporting authority.
No restrictive covenant.
At the bottom was a handwritten sentence.
You choose.
Natalie's eyes burned.
She closed the folder.
“I'll think about it.”
Clemente nodded.
She opened the car door.
Her phone rang.
Marco.
Natalie answered.
“Marco?”
His voice came fast.
“Where's Clemente?”
“Beside me.”
“Put me on speaker.”
She did.
Marco said, “My father disappeared.”
Clemente sat upright.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Do you know where?”
“No. But he emptied a safe.”
“What was inside?”
Marco breathed once.
“Documents.”
“What documents?”
“The original Lombardo trust.”
Clemente went still.
Marco continued.
“And Natalie… there was something else in the safe.”
“What?”
“A photograph of your father.”
Natalie's heart stopped.
“Why would Vittorio have a photograph of my father?”
Marco didn't answer immediately.
May you like
When he did, his voice had changed.
“Because your father was standing beside Clemente's father.”
