Chapter 4 - THE MISSING PAYROLL
The review began the following morning.
Luca appointed an outside accountant and instructed Rafael to preserve the household records, staff schedules, and office messages. No one was to delete or alter anything.
At first, the discrepancies seemed small. A missing overtime entry. A duplicated cleaning invoice. A payment listed under a staff member who had already left.
Then the accountant found a pattern.
For six months, money had been transferred from the household operations account to a company called Bellini Domestic Services. The invoices described temporary staffing, emergency repairs, and private household consulting.
No one on the staff recognized the company.
Its registered director was Vanessa's cousin.
The total was not enough to threaten the Moretti family's entire business, but it was substantial enough to matter. More importantly, the payments had been approved using Luca's digital authorization.
Luca stared at the report.
“I didn't approve these.”
The accountant replied carefully.
“The authorization came from a device registered to your private office.”
“Who had access?”
Rafael checked the access list.
“Yourself, me, and Ms. Bellini. She had temporary access for household administration.”
“Temporary?”
“The permission was extended twice.”
“By whom?”
“The system records your credentials.”
The room fell silent. Luca understood what that meant. Someone had either used his device or had access to his login.
“Freeze the payments,” he ordered. “Preserve the access logs. Do not confront anyone until we know how the approvals were made.”
That afternoon, Vanessa came into the library.
“Why have the household accounts been frozen?”
Luca closed the report.
“An audit is underway.”
“An audit? For what?”
“Payments that don't match the services listed.”
Vanessa laughed lightly.
“Those are routine household expenses.”
“Then you'll have no trouble explaining them.”
Her smile tightened.
“Are you accusing me of stealing?”
“I'm asking you to explain the invoices.”
“You've let the staff fill your head with stories.”
“No. The records did that.”
Vanessa placed her tablet on the desk.
“I've been managing this house for months while you were occupied with your business. I handled the vendors, the schedules, the guests, everything. And now you're treating me like a criminal because a maid complained about a lunch bag?”
“Hannah's complaint has nothing to do with the invoices.”
“Of course it does. She's the one who started this.”
“No. The records started it.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You're choosing them over me?”
“I'm choosing to find out what happened.”
She turned and left.
Later, Rafael informed Luca that Vanessa had attempted to access the payroll system again. Her access had been suspended pending the review.
Luca gave a quiet instruction.
“Make sure the staff know they can speak to the accountant privately. No retaliation. No changes to their schedules without approval.”
Then he looked at the list of employees.
At the bottom was Hannah's name.
He noticed that her overtime had been reduced to zero for the two weeks before her maternity leave, even though the kitchen log showed she had worked several late shifts.
May you like
He tapped the page.
“Add this to the review.”
