Chapter 14
Adrian and Celeste returned separately.
Rocco did not offer either of them a bargain.
Rachel explained what evidence would be provided to investigators, lenders, insurers, and the museum board.
Adrian listened with his arms folded.
Celeste stared at the table.
When Rachel finished, Adrian looked at Rocco.
“You’re going to burn down your own reputation to make a point?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Rocco slid the crushed glasses across the table.
They had been preserved since the reception.
“My daughter spent months believing she had to hide a second pair of glasses from people living in my house.”
Adrian looked away.
Rocco continued.
“I built the kind of family where everyone thought hiding things from me was safer than telling me.”
Adrian laughed once.
“So this is therapy now?”
“No.”
Rocco leaned back.
“This is me telling you I’m not fixing that mistake by hiding what you did.”
Adrian turned toward Celeste.
“Tell him what happens to you if all those files go out.”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
Her debts would become public.
Her role in the fraud would be examined.
Her reputation would collapse.
Possibly her freedom too, depending on what investigators concluded.
Adrian expected fear to bring her back.
For months, it had.
Not this time.
Celeste said, “I already gave them the drive.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You stupid—”
His attorney stopped him.
Celeste flinched but remained seated.
“I’m done.”
“With what?”
“With being afraid of what happens if I stop helping you.”
Adrian looked at Rocco.
“You think she’s choosing you?”
Rocco answered before Celeste could.
“She isn’t.”
Celeste looked at him.
Rocco continued.
“She doesn’t get me back for telling the truth.”
That hurt her.
It was also the boundary she needed to hear.
Rachel placed the final authorization in front of Rocco.
It permitted release of additional internal Moretti records relevant to the investigation.
Rocco signed.
Adrian watched the pen leave the page.
“You can’t pull that back.”
“I know.”
May you like
Rachel transmitted the file.
For the first time in Rocco Moretti’s adult life, the family name was no longer standing between the truth and everyone outside it.
