Chapter 5 - THE FATHER GIA HAD BEEN TAUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF
The Burlington bank box contained no cash.
Gia was glad.
She did not want another fortune attached to her father’s name.
It contained records.
That was better.
Worse.
More useful.
Ledger copies.
Security orders.
Trust statements.
Photographs.
A microcassette.
And a legal memorandum written by Michael Parker.
Rebecca read for three hours.
Gia walked around conference room.
Dante barely moved.
The facts assembled slowly.
The San Vito Trust had been created by Dante’s grandfather in the 1970s to support Moretti widows, injured employees, and descendants excluded from operating companies.
By 2004, it held nearly $180 million.
Corrado Moretti had become co-trustee after his father’s death.
Within eighteen months, approximately $14 million moved through a series of “emergency security investments.”
Those funds ended up in companies tied to Corrado.
Michael Parker discovered.
Luca discovered too.
Dante had been overseas managing European logistics expansion.
Salvatore—Dante and Luca’s father—had been ill after cardiac surgery.
Luca confronted Corrado privately.
Bad decision.
Corrado ordered Red Hook warehouse access sealed during a staged inventory “fire drill.”
Then fire started.
Whether Corrado personally ordered ignition remained unproven.
But he had ordered exits chained.
That alone could have killed Luca.
Michael arrived because Luca had called him.
He broke a window.
Pulled Luca out.
Then Michael moved $14 million from an account Corrado controlled into a protected trust so Corrado could not reach it.
That transfer became evidence used to call Michael thief.
Salvatore knew truth within weeks.
Why no police?
Fear.
Moretti criminal exposure.
Corrado’s network.
Luca demanded disappearance while gathering proof.
Salvatore agreed.
Lucia Moretti—mother—helped.
Michael objected.
Then Michael died.
His car went through a guardrail on wet Turnpike.
Police classified accident.
Brake issue.
Could Corrado have caused?
Maybe.
The bank records contained no proof.
Gia refused to turn suspicion into certainty.
“My father could have had an accident.”
Dante looked at her.
“Yes.”
“You think Corrado killed him.”
“I think Corrado benefited.”
“That is not proof.”
“No.”
Good.
Gia’s mother received insurance settlement.
But after Michael’s public accusation, clients vanished.
Their house was sold.
Gia remembered.
Her mother crying over utility bills.
Gia taking community-college courses first because university tuition became impossible.
She had spent years believing father had made one reckless choice that ruined them.
Her mother never called him thief.
But never corrected public version either.
Now Gia understood.
Nora Parker had been afraid.
Maybe Morettis paid for silence?
The records showed something else.
A monthly payment.
$4,800.
From San Vito protective trust to Nora Parker for six years after Michael’s death.
Gia went cold.
“My mother took money.”
Rebecca read details.
“Witness-protection support.”
“Not settlement.”
“Who authorized?”
“Lucia Moretti.”
Dante looked down.
Gia laughed bitterly.
“Your mother paid mine.”
“Yes.”
“My mother never told me.”
“No.”
Ellen said later Nora used money for Gia’s college and mortgage arrears.
Gia sat with that.
It did not make her mother corrupt.
It made her scared and practical.
Still.
Every adult had chosen what Gia could know.
Her father.
Mother.
Ellen.
Lucia.
Salvatore.
Luca.
All protecting.
All controlling.
Dante watched her.
“What?”
she asked.
“I was going to say something.”
“Don’t if it’s comforting.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Go ahead.”
“I am beginning to understand why you react badly when people decide things for you.”
Gia stared.
“Beginning?”
He almost smiled.
Then Rebecca discovered the biggest issue.
The protected $14 million had grown.
Invested conservatively for twenty-one years.
Now worth approximately $38 million.
Beneficiary structure:
Luca Moretti, seventy percent.
Michael Parker or descendants, thirty percent.
Gia stared.
“No.”
Rebecca continued.
“Michael’s share compensates fiduciary services, legal exposure, and personal indemnity.”
“No.”
“Gia.”
“I’m not taking eleven million dollars from mafia trust because my father did the right thing.”
Dante spoke quietly.
“It may legally belong to you.”
“Legally and emotionally are not same.”
He nodded.
Good.
“What happens if I refuse?”
Rebecca explained disclaimer options.
Could redirect to charitable structure depending trust terms.
Gia thought of father.
Michael had done forensic accounting for nonprofits.
He had believed money could be tracked.
Truth in numbers.
Maybe scholarship.
Whistleblower legal-defense fund.
But not yet.
No crisis decision.
“Freeze.”
Rebecca nodded.
“No distribution until I decide.”
“Yes.”
Good.
Then a message arrived from Corrado.
Not to Dante.
To Gia.
A handwritten note delivered through auction house counsel.
YOUR FATHER STOLE FROM MY FAMILY. DANTE IS USING YOU TO FIX HIS OWN SUCCESSION PROBLEM. WALK AWAY BEFORE YOU BECOME ANOTHER PARKER WHO MISTAKES MORALITY FOR SAFETY.
Gia read.
Then laughed.
“What?”
Dante asked.
“He thinks insulting my father is persuasive.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“Do not answer.”
Gia looked.
“That was an order.”
He closed eyes.
“Would you prefer not to answer?”
“Yes.”
“Then do that.”
She smiled.
The next move came from Moretti family board.
Emergency session.
Corrado demanded Dante remove himself from decisions concerning San Vito, citing conflict and “romantic involvement with Parker heir.”
Gia nearly choked.
“Romantic?”
Dante looked offended.
“We have not even had dinner.”
“Exactly.”
“You have bled on my handkerchief.”
“That is apparently marriage in your family?”
Marco laughed.
Dante glared.
The allegation mattered because family knew how to discredit women.
Gold digger.
Mistress.
Influence.
Gia refused.
She attended board with her own counsel.
Not as Dante’s guest.
As Michael Parker’s legal successor in trust dispute.
The Moretti boardroom was exactly as unbearable as she expected.
Dark wood.
Men who spoke like every sentence had been rehearsed by ancestors.
Corrado Moretti sat across.
Sixty-eight.
Silver hair.
Warm smile that did not reach eyes.
“So this is Gia.”
She stared.
“We’ve established.”
His smile thinned.
“Your father was talented.”
“You accused him of theft.”
“Yes.”
“Make up your mind.”
Several directors looked down.
Corrado continued.
“Michael became unstable after Luca’s death.”
“Luca didn’t die.”
The room froze.
Dante closed eyes briefly.
Gia had not been instructed to keep that private.
Corrado’s face changed.
Just enough.
She saw.
“You knew.”
Corrado said nothing.
Gia leaned forward.
“You knew he survived.”
“No.”
“Then why aren’t you surprised?”
Silence.
Rebecca slid documents.
Trust transfers.
Security orders.
Luca’s letter.
Corrado’s attorney objected.
Independent auditor demanded review.
Dante did something no one expected.
He stood.
“I am recusing myself.”
Gia looked.
Corrado smiled.
Then Dante continued.
“Not because Corrado asked.”
“Because my position should not decide whether my brother’s evidence is believed.”
He placed chairman voting proxy in independent trustee escrow pending investigation.
The room erupted.
Corrado stood.
“You cannot.”
“I just did.”
“You’ll destabilize company.”
“Then company was too dependent on one man.”
Gia looked at Dante.
Interesting.
He was giving up power before anyone could claim he used it.
Not for her.
Not for romance.
For process.
Good.
The independent board voted to open full investigation.
Corrado lost immediate control of narrative.
Outside, Gia caught Dante near elevator.
“You gave up chair vote.”
“Temporarily.”
“You could lose it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at her.
“Because your father lost his name when my family chose convenience over truth.”
“And?”
“I am not repeating it.”
Gia’s throat tightened.
She hated emotionally competent mafia bosses.
Very inconvenient.
Then elevator opened.
Marco stepped out.
His face hard.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found Luca.”
Dante stopped breathing.
“Where?”
Marco looked at Gia too.
“Toronto.”
“He’s been living under the name Luke Maretti for nineteen years.”
Dante’s face went white.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Marco hesitated.
“He knows we found him.”
“Is he coming?”
“No.”
Dante’s pain showed.
Marco continued.
“But he sent one message.”
May you like
“What?”
IF GIA PARKER IS INVOLVED, KEEP HER AWAY FROM CORRADO. HE ALREADY TOOK ONE PARKER FROM ME.
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