Chapter 6 - Anna's Letter)
Sebastian read Anna's letter in silence.
Each sentence felt like a voice returned from five years of absence.
Anna had known she was dying when she wrote it.
That knowledge lived between every line.
My love,
If you are reading this, then I ran out of time.
I need you to understand one thing before anything else. I did not hide this because I stopped trusting you.
I hid it because you trusted them.
Your father discovered irregularities in the family trust shortly before his stroke. He asked me to review them because I was the only person outside the company with legal training and no formal role in the board structure.
What I found frightened him.
Transfers had been made from the family trust to companies controlled indirectly by Preston and Lucinda.
Some carried Matteo's authorization.
Some carried yours.
Neither signature was genuine.
Martin Vale helped create the accounts.
When he realized how much evidence existed, he demanded money to disappear.
Preston paid him.
Lucinda covered the transfer trail.
Matteo planned to remove both of them from the family holdings.
He never got the chance.
Sebastian stopped reading.
Leo watched him.
"Grandpa knew?"
Sebastian nodded.
He continued.
There is more.
Matteo created a revised trust schedule shortly before his death.
It protects Leo's inheritance and removes voting authority from any beneficiary involved in fraud against the family companies.
The original document disappeared from Matteo's office the night he died.
I found a signed duplicate.
I could not file it without revealing that I had continued investigating after you asked me to stop working.
I was afraid.
Not of you.
Of time.
Of leaving you with another war while you were trying to keep me alive.
I made the wrong choice.
I am sorry.
I placed the signed trust schedule somewhere Preston and Lucinda would never willingly destroy.
The vase.
Sebastian closed his eyes.
Elisa understood.
Anna had not hidden the primary evidence in Unit 417.
She had hidden the legal weapon inside the antique vase.
Leo whispered, "Mom knew."
Sebastian nodded.
"Yes."
The letter continued.
If the vase has been opened before you find this letter, assume they know.
Do not confront them with copies.
Find the original.
The final accounting ledger is not here.
Martin kept it as insurance.
I traced him once.
If he is still alive, Lucinda knows where.
Ask her about Blackwater Point.
Sebastian lowered the letter.
Thomas spoke first.
"Blackwater Point is a private marina in Maine."
Sebastian knew it.
The Caradonna family had once kept a summer house nearby.
Preston and Lucinda had spent summers there as children.
Elisa picked up the flash drive.
"What's on this?"
Thomas connected it to an isolated laptop.
Folders appeared.
Bank transfers.
Corporate registrations.
Emails.
Photographs of signatures.
Enough evidence to prove serious financial misconduct.
But not enough to show where the stolen money ultimately went.
One file contained a recording.
Anna's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, Sebastian, I'm sorry."
Leo covered his mouth.
Sebastian almost stopped the recording.
He forced himself to listen.
"I know you'll blame yourself. Don't. I chose to keep investigating. Matteo asked me to protect Leo's trust, and once I understood what Preston had done, I couldn't walk away."
A pause.
"I thought I had more time."
Sebastian looked away.
Anna continued.
"Lucinda isn't innocent. But she is afraid of Preston. Remember that if you ever confront them."
Then the recording ended.
Elisa looked at Sebastian.
"That matters."
"Why?"
"Anna wanted you to know Lucinda might break."
Thomas nodded.
"If we can separate them, she may cooperate."
Sebastian looked at the papers.
"The original trust schedule is still inside the vase."
"Apparently."
"And the vase is sitting in my ballroom."
"Under security."
"For now."
Leo asked, "Why don't we just open it?"
Sebastian considered.
Because part of him wanted to.
But Anna had warned him.
If the vase has been opened before you find this letter, assume they know.
He shook his head.
"No."
Elisa frowned.
"You still want them to move first?"
"Yes."
Thomas spoke carefully.
"That creates risk."
"Then control the risk."
Sebastian gave instructions.
Hidden cameras would cover the ballroom.
The vase pedestal would have motion sensors.
Security would observe every hallway.
Preston and Lucinda would not be confronted.
The wedding would proceed.
Elisa stared at him.
"You realize how insane that sounds."
Sebastian looked at her.
"We can postpone."
"No."
"Elisa."
"I'm not letting them turn our wedding into something we run away from."
He moved closer.
"If anything happens to you or Leo because of this..."
"Then we prepare."
She took his hand.
"We don't panic."
Leo raised his hand again.
"I vote for not panicking."
Sebastian almost smiled.
Then Thomas's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
Everyone looked at him.
Thomas ended the call.
"Someone entered the Cambridge warehouse twenty minutes after we left."
Sebastian stood.
"The unit?"
"Destroyed."
Leo stared.
"But we took everything."
Thomas shook his head.
"Not everything."
May you like
He held up the warehouse inventory receipt.
"There was supposed to be a second box."
