Chapter 2 - Thirty-Six Transfers
Roman shut down the gala.
Guests were escorted out.
Security sealed the financial offices inside the mansion.
Nora and Sophie were taken upstairs to a private suite with a doctor.
Roman stayed long enough to watch Sophie fall asleep against Nora.
Then he went downstairs.
He wanted records.
Every transfer.
Every approval.
Every bank confirmation.
For three years Roman had been operating D’Angelo Holdings from Europe after surviving an assassination attempt in New York.
Only a small circle knew he had survived.
Publicly, his condition had remained uncertain for months.
Helena told Nora he died.
Roman had believed Nora knew the truth.
Helena controlled communications during his recovery.
She told Roman that Nora wanted no further contact.
That Nora blamed him for bringing danger into her life.
Roman accepted it because the messages appeared to come from Nora.
He still sent money.
Every month.
$50,000.
Enough for housing.
Security.
Childcare.
Anything Sophie needed.
Vincent Marlowe sent confirmations.
The account statements looked legitimate.
Now Roman’s finance team opened the original transaction files.
The money had left Roman’s personal account.
That part was real.
But it never reached Nora’s.
The beneficiary account number differed by two digits.
The name attached to it looked almost identical.
Nora E. D’Angelo.
Nora’s middle initial was M.
The false account had been created two weeks after Roman was hospitalized.
Every monthly transfer went there.
Then the money moved again.
Multiple accounts.
Shell companies.
Property purchases.
Investment funds.
Some transfers were difficult to follow.
One destination was not.
A luxury apartment on Park Avenue.
Owned through a company controlled by Helena.
Roman stared at the ledger.
His mother had been living partly on money intended for Sophie.
Then his security chief entered.
Vincent had not escaped the mansion.
His car was still outside.
His phone was found in a coat-check bin.
Security footage showed him walking toward the old wine cellar ten minutes before Roman arrived.
Then the cameras went dark.
Roman ordered the cellar searched.
They found Vincent’s briefcase.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
A laptop.
And a sealed envelope marked with Roman’s name.
The laptop was encrypted.
The envelope was not.
Roman opened it.
Inside was a signed letter from Vincent.
Only four pages.
The first line made Roman sit down.
Helena did not begin stealing after Roman was injured.
May you like
She had been preparing the scheme months before.
And according to Vincent, the missing money was only a small part of what she wanted.
