Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN IN THE FAMILY OFFICE
Sofia Moretti arrived at the Vitali residence at nine the next morning. She did not come alone. Two attorneys accompanied her, along with a gray-haired man I recognized from photographs in the business pages.
Matteo Vitali.
He was taller than I expected, with silver hair, a straight posture, and eyes that seemed to measure every person in the room. He wore a dark suit without a tie. Nothing about him looked hurried.
“Alessandro,” he said.
“Father.”
Matteo's gaze moved to me.
“Elizabeth Vale.”
I held my chin up. “Matteo Vitali.”
“I knew your father.”
“You knew him well enough to take his letter.”
His expression barely changed. “I don't know what you mean.”
Alessandro stepped forward. “We found Daniel's letter in your private archive.”
Matteo looked at his son. “You shouldn't have been searching there.”
“Why did you keep it?”
“Because Daniel was making accusations he couldn't prove.”
“He was killed three days later,” I said.
Matteo turned toward me. “His death was tragic.”
“Don't call it tragic if you helped cause it.”
One of the attorneys shifted uncomfortably. Matteo did not.
“I understand you're frightened,” he said. “You're pregnant, and you've been given a story about my family. But you should be careful about accepting every claim made by people who want money.”
“I don't want your money.”
“Everyone says that before they understand what is being offered.”
Alessandro's voice sharpened. “Enough.”
Matteo ignored him. “The child is a Vitali. There are legal obligations, medical considerations, and security concerns. I am prepared to provide whatever is necessary.”
“I don't need your permission to have my baby,” I said.
“No. But you may need my protection.”
“I need the truth.”
Matteo's gaze hardened. “The truth is often less useful than people imagine.”
Naomi entered with the independent bank officer and a prosecutor's investigator. She announced that the archive appointment was confirmed for eleven. Matteo's attorneys immediately objected, claiming the account was a family asset and that opening it without board approval would violate the trust agreement.
Alessandro produced the original authorization.
“The account is in my name,” he said. “The key was entrusted to Daniel Vale. I am authorizing access.”
Matteo's expression changed for the first time.
“Don't do this.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't understand what you're opening.”
“Then explain it.”
Matteo looked at Sofia.
She did not meet his eyes.
The silence told me Victor had been right.
“Ask Sofia,” I said.
Alessandro turned toward her. “What did you do?”
Sofia's face remained composed. “I did what I was hired to do.”
“By whom?”
She looked at Matteo.
He said, “This is a family matter.”
“No,” Alessandro replied. “It stopped being a family matter when Daniel Vale died.”
Sofia took a slow breath. “I was the one who collected Daniel's original report. I was told to put it in the archive account and make sure it could not be accessed without Alessandro's authorization.”
“Who told you?”
“Your father.”
Matteo's expression darkened. “Sofia.”
She continued anyway. “I didn't know what the report contained at first. When I read it, I realized the transfers were real. I also realized Daniel was in danger. I warned him to leave the company.”
“Did you know about the crash?” I asked.
Sofia looked at me. “I knew his car had been followed. I did not know anyone planned to kill him.”
“Who followed him?”
“A security contractor named Grant Mercer. He reported directly to Matteo.”
Matteo stood. “This is enough.”
The prosecutor's investigator asked him to remain seated.
Matteo looked at his son. “You are choosing strangers over your own family.”
Alessandro didn't flinch. “I'm choosing the truth.”
We went to the bank under escort. The private archive was housed in a reinforced room beneath the main branch. The silver key opened the outer lock. Alessandro's authorization opened the second.
Inside was a metal case, a sealed envelope, and a small digital storage device.
The envelope had my name on it.
I opened it with shaking hands.
Elizabeth, if you are reading this, I have failed to keep you safe. I am sorry. The records in this box show that Matteo Vitali approved the payments to Northline's security contractors. Those contractors pressured property owners, intimidated witnesses, and followed our family. I have copied the original instructions and the bank transfers.
My father's writing blurred.
I did not want you to grow up afraid of a name. I wanted you to know that a powerful man is still only a man, and a family name does not make wrongdoing less wrong.
I pressed the letter to my lips.
There was more.
I have also discovered that someone inside the family office has been sending Matteo information about my investigation. I do not know who. If you can, trust Alessandro only after he has seen the evidence and chosen what to do with it.
I looked at Alessandro.
He had read the final sentence over my shoulder. His face was pale.
The digital device contained copies of emails, invoices, and recordings. One recording showed Matteo ordering Grant Mercer to “make the problem disappear” after Daniel refused to withdraw his report.
Matteo had not admitted anything.
He didn't need to.
The evidence was there.
Then the bank officer found another document tucked beneath the case.
A birth certificate.
Not mine.
It belonged to a child born twenty-eight years earlier, registered under the name Sofia Moretti.
The mother's name was blank.
The father's name was Matteo Vitali.
Sofia looked at the paper and closed her eyes.
Alessandro stared at her.
“Why is your birth certificate in my father's archive?”
Sofia said nothing.
Matteo's face turned white.
May you like
And I understood that the secret inside the archive was not only about my parents.
It was about the Vitali family itself.
