Page 17 of Danica's Revenge

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Chapter eleven

Infiltrated

Ipacebetweenmydesk and the window.Fuck.“Are you sure, Luigi?”I ask, not for the first time.

“Certo,signore…I’m sorry.I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news.”Luigi keeps his distance, our previous encounter still fresh in his mind, I’m sure.

“How long has this been going on for?”I crack my knuckles, turning my back to the nervous accountant.

“A few months—four to be exact.Since we moved some of the banquet’s expenses over to the dealership’s account.”

“The cash flow was better.It made sense to funnel some expenses through there,” I remember.

“Yes, it was a good idea at the time.”

Keeping the money moving was always such an intricate process.The complexity of it all used to break my mind; trying to understand all of the numbers and different businesses when I first took over.I was so young though, so who could blame me?It wasn’t about blame though.Nobody was happy to have me in charge, full stop.But they wouldn’t dare challenge the will of my father, even after his death.

Thank fuck for Luigi.At least my father left me with an impeccable team of dirty accountants who specialized in money laundering (though none of us ever called it that).Luigi had been with me since the start.Just like Emilio.This was the first time any money had gone missing though…

“If it was such a good idea, how did we manage to lose all that money then?”It’s hard to keep my temper at bay.There is no Zen garden on earth that could calm me down now.I am very tempted to draw my knife and finish what I started the last time Luigi brought me bad news.But I need him.Besides, I now know he’s not the one to blame.

“Little bits at a time,signore.That’s why we didn’t catch it earlier.They used one of the company credit cards and kept the payments low enough to avoid being flagged.Five thousand dollars here, ten thousand there.Just slowly siphoning it out, paying fake invoices to fake companies, all with the same account number.It got lost in the day-to-day expenses really.See here,” he draws my attention back to the stack of printed-out statements lying on my table.

As I walk closer to look, Luigi jumps back, out of reach immediately again.So jittery.As he should be.

“And you’re certain aboutwhodid it?”I don’t want to deal with this.Not now.Everything is going so well.

“Sí.They had the card all along.He paid for the banquet’s flowers last week, remember?”

I lower my head and sigh heavily.You can’t trust anyone.Fuck.“And the account?Where all the money was sent to.Who does it belong to?”I finally ask the question Luigi was clearly dreading to answer.

“It took us a while to trace that one through the various shell companies…” Luigi goes quiet.

“Who?”I demand.

“It’s one of the Ricci family accounts, signore.” He’s visibly scared of my reaction.

I stare at Luigi in disbelief.“It can’t be.Why?"None of this makes sense.

“I’m sorry, signore.All I have are the numbers.Thewhy, I cannot answer.”

“Thanks, Luigi.That’s all.Not a word to anyone, understood?”

“Of course.My silence is guaranteed, always.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

Luigi nods.

“You may go.”

“Grazie, signore.”The nervous accountant scatters without any formalities, eager to escape unscathed this time.

I just stare at the stack of statements on the table, unsure of what to do next.Fuck, fuck, fuck!There must be something I’m missing.

I start digging through it all again, line by line.

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