Chapter 6 - THE NOTEBOOK OF NAMES
The photographs from Sadi's phone revealed a pattern.
Containers arrived at Pier Seventeen.
Their official manifests listed industrial machinery, construction equipment, or household appliances.
But the payment records told a different story.
Large transfers moved through shell companies before disappearing into accounts controlled by Victor Serrano.
An independent attorney helped Sadi provide the evidence to federal investigators.
Within days, investigators identified several suspicious shipments.
Some contained stolen electronics.
Others were linked to forced labor operations.
Leo's organization had been used to move illegal cargo.
He had suspected theft.
He had not understood the full extent.
When federal agent Rebecca Hale confronted him, she was direct.
"Your companies provided the infrastructure."
Leo sat across from her.
"I didn't authorize trafficking."
"That doesn't mean you have no responsibility."
He looked away.
Hale continued.
"We need records. Not excuses."
Leo gave her access to shipping schedules and internal correspondence through his attorneys.
He knew the decision could destroy him.
But Sadi's injuries had forced him to confront something he had avoided for years.
Violence was not clean simply because he controlled it.
A criminal organization could never be entirely separated from the harm it enabled.
That evening, Leo visited Sadi.
She was sitting beside the hospital window.
"Did you find anything?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Is Rey involved?"
"Yes."
She closed her eyes.
Leo sat across from her.
"There's something else."
She looked up.
"My companies were involved too."
Sadi stared.
"Did you know?"
"Not about the trafficking."
She waited.
"But I knew my business wasn't innocent."
Silence settled between them.
Finally, Sadi said:
"Then you have a choice."
Leo looked at her.
"What choice?"
"Keep protecting the empire."
May you like
She paused.
"Or protect the people it hurt."
