Chapter 6 - THE LEDGER BENEATH THE FLOOR
The ledger began twenty-four years earlier.
Roman was fifteen then.
His father, Alessandro Bellini, controlled a network of gambling rooms, cash businesses, and construction companies.
The hotel was one of his most valuable assets.
Roman remembered his father calling it the respectable face of the family.
Now he understood what that meant.
The ledger recorded money moving through false employee accounts.
Cash deposits disguised as service revenue.
Payments to shell companies.
And transfers into an employee benefits reserve.
But the final pages were different.
They contained handwritten notes.
Victor is taking more than agreed.
The employees are being used without their knowledge.
This must end.
Roman read the words twice.
His father had discovered the theft.
Then died before correcting it.
Gabriel examined the dates.
“The last entry was made three weeks before Alessandro's death.”
Roman stared.
His father had died of a heart attack.
At least, that was what the doctors had concluded.
Roman had never questioned it.
Now he wondered whether he had inherited more lies than businesses.
***
Emily found him in the office after midnight.
He sat alone.
The ledger lay open before him.
“You look terrible,” she said.
Roman looked up.
“Thank you.”
She placed a sandwich on his desk.
He stared.
“What's this?”
“Food.”
“I know what a sandwich is.”
“Then we're making progress.”
He almost smiled.
Emily sat across from him.
“Gabriel told me about the ledger.”
Roman nodded.
“My father knew.”
“About the theft?”
“Some of it.”
“Did he stop it?”
“No.”
Emily looked at him.
“Then he failed those people too.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
She hadn't meant to hurt him.
But she refused to lie.
Roman opened the ledger.
“My father wasn't a good man.”
Emily waited.
“He loved me. He protected me. He also built businesses on fear.”
Roman looked at her.
“I spent eight years trying to make the empire legitimate.”
“And you did some good.”
“Not enough.”
Emily considered that.
“Maybe enough isn't a destination.”
Roman looked up.
“What?”
“Maybe it's something you keep working toward.”
He stared at her.
Then asked:
“Why do you care so much about these employees?”
Emily looked down.
“My father worked in a factory for thirty-two years.”
Roman waited.
“When he got sick, the company told him his disability paperwork had been filed incorrectly.”
“What happened?”
“He lost his benefits.”
Emily swallowed.
“My mother worked two jobs to pay for his medication.”
Roman's expression softened.
“Is he alive?”
“No.”
Silence.
“He died when I was twenty-four.”
Emily looked at the ledger.
“I know what happens when people spend their lives working for a company that stops seeing them as human.”
Roman reached across the desk.
Then stopped.
Emily noticed.
He withdrew his hand.
“I'm sorry,” he said.
She smiled sadly.
“Me too.”
***
The next morning, the forensic team identified a hidden account.
It contained more than twelve million dollars.
The account had been opened under the name of a deceased Bellini family associate.
Victor controlled it through several intermediaries.
Roman immediately froze all company-authorized transfers connected to the account and gave the records to investigators.
Victor called within minutes.
“You're making a mistake.”
Roman stood by the window.
“No.”
“You don't understand what your father built.”
“I understand enough.”
Victor's voice hardened.
“You think you can destroy everything and walk away clean?”
Roman looked at the ledger.
“No.”
He paused.
“But I'm done pretending the dirt belongs to somebody else.”
Victor hung up.
Roman turned toward Gabriel.
“Find Keller.”
Gabriel's expression was grim.
“We're trying.”
“Try harder.”
Then Gabriel's phone rang.
He listened.
His face changed.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Thomas Keller has been found.”
Roman waited.
“Where?”
May you like
“In the river.”
---
