Anthony interrupted.
“The distinction matters.”
I looked at him.
He continued.
“Victoria apparently flagged Elena as approved if the staffing agency ever assigned her to any Duca residence or office.”
“How many properties?” I asked.
“Six,” Victoria answered.
“So I could have ended up somewhere else.”
“Yes.”
“Then why flag me at all?”
Victoria folded her hands.
“Because of David.”
There it was.
My stomach tightened.
“What did he do?”
“Less than my family believed.”
That surprised Alessandro too.
He turned sharply.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria looked at him.
“It means Marco was wrong.”
Silence.
Alessandro’s expression changed.
Not disbelief exactly.
Resistance.
“Marco found altered freight invoices under David’s credentials.”
“Yes.”
“He confronted him.”
“Yes.”
“David disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Then what exactly was
Marco wrong about?”
“That David created the alterations.”
Victoria slid a folder across the table.
I did not touch it.
“What is that?”
“The completed audit.”
Alessandro went still.
“You told me the audit was inconclusive.”
“It was when I told you.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“And later?”
“We received the final forensic report seven months afterward.”
“You never sent it to me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Victoria looked at her brother.
“Because you were already grieving Marco and dismantling half the company.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is part of one.”
“Then give the rest.”
Victoria exhaled.
“The report cleared David.”
I felt my heart slam once.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“David Moreno did not alter the invoices.”
“Then why did he leave?”
“Because by the time the audit was complete, he had already resigned and disappeared.”
“He didn’t disappear.”
I laughed bitterly.
“He moved into my apartment.”
Victoria
looked surprised.
“When?”
“After he lost the job.”
“So he stayed in New York.”
“Yes.”
“We couldn’t locate him.”
“You didn’t look very hard.”
Victoria accepted that.
