Chapter 4 - The Funeral Invoice
By 4:00 a.m., the safehouse study had transformed into a war room.
While Emma slept peacefully in a guest room upstairs guarded by two security officers, Alessandro and I sat across from Nicholas Vance, Alessandro’s chief legal strategist and corporate counsel.
Spread across the glass desk were financial ledgers, corporate registration filings, and the decrypted digital files recovered from Chef Jean-Luc’s personal computer.
"Marco was thorough," Vance said, adjusting his glasses as he pointed at a flow chart on his laptop. "Two weeks ago, a Panama-registered entity called Aegis Maritime LLC was incorporated. Its sole managing director is listed under an alias, but the banking routing numbers lead directly to an account held by Marco Rossi’s brother-in-law in Geneva."
"How much has he moved?" Alessandro demanded.
"Nothing yet," Vance replied. "The Moretti Shipping master accounts require a dual-biometric authorization key. One key is held by you, Alessandro. The second key... was registered under Elena’s name six months ago when you appointed her executive trustee of the estate."
I blinked in surprise, looking at Alessandro. "You made me a dual trustee?"
"If anything ever happened to me," Alessandro said quietly, looking directly into my eyes, "I wanted you to have total financial independence from the syndicate. No capo could cut you off. No relative could strip your home."
A wave of warmth touched my chest, instantly cutting through the lingering memory of the swapped soufflés. Even in his ruthless world, Alessandro had spent seven years quietly building armor around me.
"Marco knew about the dual key," Vance continued. "That's why he needed Elena eliminated along with Alessandro. If both trustees died within hours of each other, the corporate charter dictates that emergency power reverts to the sitting Underboss—Marco Rossi—for ninety days."
"Ninety days is long enough to bleed four hundred million dollars dry and liquidate the fleet," Alessandro said grimly.
"And here is the smoking gun," Vance added, sliding a printed PDF document across the desk.
It was the official invoice from Greyson & Sons Mortuary.
Itemized on the ledger were:
1x Solid Mahogany Casket with Velvet Lining — $45,000
Private Mausoleum Vault, Section 4, Calvary Cemetery — $110,000
Expedited Transport & Embalming Services — $13,400
Total: $168,400
Paid in full via wire transfer at 11:30 a.m. on the morning of our anniversary.
And listed as the primary billing contact on the invoice was Marco Rossi’s corporate email address.
"He didn't even bother using a dummy account for the funeral deposit," I said, staring at the paper in disbelief. "Why would he be so careless?"
"Arrogance," Alessandro answered, his voice dropping into a dangerous growl. "Marco believed that once I was dead and Elena was gone, no one would ever audit his personal accounts. He thought he would be crowned head of the family by sunrise, and dead men don't demand receipts."
"The board meeting is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. at Pier 42," Vance warned. "Marco has summoned all five regional capos under the pretense of an emergency announcement regarding Alessandro’s 'sudden medical incapacitation.' If he presents the forged emergency transfer documents, the capos will accept him as acting boss."
I looked at the clock on the wall.
4:42 a.m.
Three hours until the meeting.
"Vance," I said, my mind racing ahead. "Can you patch into the master display screens inside the executive boardroom at Pier 42?"
Vance smiled thinly. "I built the terminal's encrypted network, Elena. I can stream whatever you want onto those screens with ten seconds' notice."
I turned to Alessandro. "We aren't going in with guns drawn, Alessandro. That's what Marco expects. If there's a shootout on the docks, the media will call it a mafia war, and the federal authorities will freeze all company assets."
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Alessandro stepped closer to me, his dark eyes searching my face. "What are you planning?"
"We let Marco take the podium," I said, a dark smile touching my lips. "We let him tell the capos that I am dead and that you are dying. We let him sign the takeover papers on camera. And then... we play the video from Il Cielo."
