Chapter 5 - WHAT JAKE STOLE
Jake cooperated faster than Vincent expected.
That was the problem with hiring selfish men.
They often remained selfish after arrest.
Jake admitted forging the original inheritance authorization eighteen months earlier.
Not personally.
Vincent connected him to a document specialist.
Jake took $310,000 after fees and losses.
Most gone.
Gambling.
Cars.
A failed business.
The rest investigators began tracing.
Why had Vincent helped him back then?
He hadn't.
Different scheme.
Jake found the forger through criminal contacts.
Then six months ago Vincent discovered Jake’s name while researching Emma’s trust.
He recognized opportunity.
A desperate father with experience forging Ava’s signature.
Vincent offered him money.
First:
Get Ava to sign.
Then:
Build evidence she could not responsibly manage the trust.
Finally, if necessary:
Pursue custody.
Jake claimed he never intended to hurt me.
That sentence meant nothing.
He had been gathering photographs of my long shifts.
Late rent notices.
The apartment’s broken heater.
Emma staying with Mrs. Chen.
Every fact stripped of context could become a story.
Irresponsible mother.
Unstable housing.
Child frequently left with neighbor.
Working while injured.
Behind on bills.
The truth?
A mother keeping a child fed.
But truth depends partly on who gets to arrange the photographs.
Rachel hated the file.
“None of this establishes unfitness.”
“Could it scare me into signing?”
“Yes.”
Exactly.
Then she recovered another document.
A draft guardianship petition.
Not filed.
Jake named as proposed custodian.
Attached affidavit claimed I had “abandoned the child for extended overnight periods.”
My diner shifts.
I stared.
“I came home every night.”
“I know.”
“He knows.”
“Yes.”
My anger became colder.
Then the inheritance recovery began.
Accounts frozen.
A vehicle seized.
Jake’s remaining assets.
Professional-liability insurance connected to the forged notarization.
Rachel estimated I might recover over seventy percent eventually.
Not overnight.
But real.
More importantly, the Carter trust was locked.
No transfer without independent court review until Emma reached adulthood.
I remained trustee.
Jake had no authority.
One problem solved.
Then Rachel looked at Luca.
“Now yours.”
Vincent Marchetti remained COO of Castellano Holdings.
Luca had told him nothing.
Vincent believed Jake’s arrest was a minor complication.
He continued pushing the Carter Marine acquisition.
Why?
Because once Luca’s company purchased the broader business, Vincent’s shell buyers could acquire specific waterfront parcels through internal restructuring.
He would profit twice.
First from Emma’s artificially cheap shares.
Then from the land.
Estimated hidden gain:
$48 million.
Luca stared at the audit.
“For fourteen years.”
Rachel said:
“Maybe not all fourteen.”
“That's comforting.”
It wasn't.
I watched him.
Same expression I wore learning Jake had returned.
Betrayal has different numbers but similar faces.
“Did you trust him?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Luca looked at me.
May you like
“Enough not to check.”
I understood that too well.
