Chapter 6 - VICTOR'S OFFER
Victor Romano requested a formal interview through his attorney on Wednesday. Russo, Evelyn, and a federal investigator attended. Dante was not in the room. He had learned that confronting the man would offer little beyond a chance for both of them to say things they could not take back.
Victor entered with the same silver watch Dante's father had given him. He placed it on the table before answering a question.
“I ordered the ties,” he admitted. “I did not install a device.”
“Did you authorize payments to Silas Trent?”
“My company uses several security contractors.”
“Did you ask Silas to attend Falcone's on Friday?”
Victor looked toward his attorney.
The investigator showed him a message recovered from Silas's account: confirm Moretti at north chair. A second message instructed Silas to remove all evidence if the meeting was canceled. Both originated from a device registered to Victor's company.
Victor denied sending them.
“Who could use that device?” Russo asked.
“My assistant. My driver. My nephew.”
“Your nephew?”
“Matteo Romano. He manages technical suppliers.”
The investigators had not heard Matteo's name before. They checked the corporate filings and discovered he controlled a consulting company that supplied equipment to the Mott Street restaurant. He also held a minority interest in Northstar Logistics, one of the contractors paid through Alessandro's old authorization code.
“Did Matteo work at Pier 7?”
Victor's expression hardened. “No.”
“His company did.”
Victor requested a break.
At the mansion, Dante received Evelyn's update and opened his father's leather notebook. Victor had been named beside him in almost every important decision for a decade. Dante had treated the arrangement as loyalty to his father's memory. Now he saw how much power he had given a man simply because the man had always been present.
Elena knocked. She carried a small envelope from the employment agency that had placed her in the Moretti household. The agency had notified her that the account covering her position would be closed at the end of the month.
“Who requested this?” she asked.
Dante read the letter. It came from an administrator who worked through Victor's office.
“Not me.”
“Then why am I losing my job?”
“You aren't. The agency doesn't control your employment. But I owe you an apology for building a system where someone else could threaten it without telling me.”
Elena sat slowly. “I cannot keep moving Lily every time somebody in your family gets angry.”
“You shouldn't have to.”
“Then give me the choice to leave safely, with references and the wages I'm owed.”
He had expected her to ask for a raise or a larger room. Instead she asked for freedom.
“I'll have Evelyn prepare the documents. Your severance and medical coverage won't depend on helping the investigation.”
Elena nodded. “Thank you.”
Dante felt the cost of his old habits more sharply than ever. He could command a room full of men, yet he had spent eleven months allowing a housekeeper to work without ever hearing the truth about her husband's death.
That afternoon, the investigators located Matteo Romano. He was twenty-eight, with a polished manner and a degree in engineering. He claimed to have purchased the transmitter as a demonstration device for an unrelated security client.
“The restaurant assembly?” Russo asked.
“Another project.”
“The payment records link them.”
“Coincidence.”
When shown the copied crane override order, Matteo appeared genuinely surprised. He admitted his company had supplied a control-board replacement at Pier 7 but insisted he had never seen Jorge's complaint.
Then Russo played him an audio message recovered from Silas's phone. A man's voice said: The Moretti kid must not reach the north chair. Make it final.
Matteo went pale.
“That isn't me.”
“Whose voice is it?”
He swallowed. “My uncle's.”
It was the first time anyone had identified Victor directly as the person ordering the attack. Investigators still required authentication, but the admission changed the direction of the case.
Matteo asked for protection. He said Victor had promised him a share of Moretti security contracts after Dante's removal and had threatened to expose him for the unsafe Pier 7 work if he refused.
“Why would Victor want Dante dead?” Russo asked.
“Because Dante was going to shut down the old money. He was negotiating with the families so he could sell the docks legally and leave the criminal partnerships. Victor would lose everything.”
The claim matched Dante's private plans, although only three people had known them. Victor was one of the three.
At the end of the interview, Matteo produced a photograph of an unsigned agreement. It promised Victor control of a waterfront holding company if Dante died or became incapacitated before Thursday.
The signature waiting at the bottom was Alessandro Moretti's.
The following afternoon, Dante learned that the housekeeping agency had been charging Elena a placement fee every month, even though her contract described the service as employer-funded. Evelyn reviewed the invoices and confirmed that several workers had been affected. Dante instructed the company to repay the improper deductions through an independently verified process. Elena appreciated the correction but reminded him that she had been afraid to question the fee because she needed the work. That fear, not merely a dishonest invoice, was the condition his organization had created. He asked Evelyn to ensure the agency agreement could never be used that way again.
Dante had believed his uncle wanted money.
Now it looked as though someone wanted an inheritance secured by a murder.
Matteo's attorney arranged a second interview after the initial disclosures. He said his client wanted to describe a meeting that took place the previous month at Victor's private office. Alessandro had attended by video. Silas stood near the door, carrying a small equipment case.
According to Matteo, Victor explained that Dante intended to dismantle a set of lucrative arrangements involving the docks. He called the plan a betrayal of his father's legacy. Alessandro asked whether the family trust could remove Dante from control without a public dispute. Victor said a change of circumstances might make the decision unavoidable.
“Did anyone mention killing him?” Russo asked.
“Not in that meeting. Victor said Dante wouldn't be able to attend the next board session. I thought he meant an arrest or a scandal.”
“Then why did you buy the device?”
“Because Silas told me it was for monitoring. I shouldn't have accepted that explanation.”
Matteo lowered his head. “When I found out about the ceiling assembly, I knew something worse was planned. I tried to ask Victor, and he told me I'd become a liability if I kept questioning him.”
Investigators corroborated parts of his account through calendar entries and transport records. Other parts remained unproved. Evelyn reminded Dante that a witness cooperating to reduce his exposure might exaggerate the innocence of his own intentions.
Dante understood. He had heard too many men claim they never expected a plan to end in death.
At the house, Elena received a letter from a former Pier 7 employee named Rosa. The woman thanked her for refusing the false settlement. She wrote that she too had been pressured to sign an inaccurate statement after a workplace injury. Rosa had begun gathering her own records after hearing about Jorge's case.
Elena read the letter twice, then called her lawyer to ask how Rosa could obtain independent advice. She did not want to become a public symbol, but she could share the contact information that had helped her.
Her lawyer suggested a worker-support meeting at a neighborhood community center. Elena agreed to attend, provided the organizers did not involve Lily or use photographs without consent.
At the meeting, four workers described similar paperwork and pressure from company representatives. One man said he had believed the documents because they carried the Moretti name. Another said he had been told that his family would lose benefits if he asked questions.
Elena listened and recognized herself in their stories. Fear of losing a job could make silence appear to be the only responsible choice.
“We can ask questions together,” she said. “We don't have to sign anything today.”
The room grew quieter, then people began sharing contact details. For the first time, Elena felt she was doing something with her grief rather than simply carrying it.
When she returned home, Lily was at the kitchen table drawing a row of small houses. Each had a different-colored door.
“Why all the doors?” Elena asked.
“So people can choose which house is theirs.”
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The next morning, Evelyn reviewed Matteo's statement against the calendar and payment records. Some dates matched precisely; others did not. She told Dante the inconsistencies needed to be resolved rather than quietly corrected. Dante agreed. In his old world, a useful witness was someone whose story served the desired result. Evelyn reminded him that a reliable witness was someone whose story survived difficult questions. He asked for every discrepancy to be recorded. It was a small procedural decision, but he understood that the truth could be damaged by people who loved it only when it was convenient.
Elena kissed her hair. She thought of the Moretti mansion, with its guarded entrance and endless rules. Her daughter had imagined a street where every door was a choice.
