Chapter 7 - THE LAST CONFESSION OF A DYING MAN
The answer arrived from an unexpected source.
Three days after Elena reunited with Grace, Matteo received a call from a nursing home outside Boston.
An elderly man named Arthur Bell had requested to see him.
Arthur had been his father's attorney for nearly thirty years. He had retired shortly before Matteo inherited the company and had refused every invitation to discuss old business.
Now, according to the nurse, he was seriously ill.
“He says you must come today,” she explained. “He says he cannot leave this unfinished.”
Matteo drove there with Luca and his attorney.
Arthur sat beside a window overlooking a small garden. His hands trembled, and his breathing was shallow, but his eyes remained sharp.
“You look like your father,” he said.
“So everyone tells me.”
Arthur smiled sadly.
“He would have hated hearing that.”
Matteo pulled up a chair.
“You asked to see me.”
Arthur nodded.
“I have very little time. And there are things I should have told you years ago.”
“Northstar?”
“Among other things.”
Arthur opened a drawer and removed a thin folder.
Inside were copies of letters written by Matteo's father during the final months of his life.
The letters revealed that Northstar had originally been established by a group of business owners who wanted to protect small companies from criminal takeovers.
Over time, the organization had become corrupted.
Members began using its resources to manipulate property deals, pressure politicians, and silence anyone who threatened their interests.
Matteo's father had participated.
He had signed agreements he later regretted. He had approved payments designed to keep powerful people cooperative. He had allowed the network to continue even after he understood what it had become.
Then Grace's daughter was taken.
Arthur explained that a doctor connected to Northstar had falsified Elena's medical records after her birth. The child had been transferred to another facility, then placed with a family under an altered identity.
Grace was told her baby had died.
Matteo's mother discovered the truth but feared that exposing it would trigger retaliation against Grace and the children.
She kept copies of the records.
Matteo's father tried to recover Elena and dismantle Northstar's criminal operations.
But Julian's father threatened to expose his involvement in the network and destroy Duca Holdings.
Arthur paused to catch his breath.
“Your father made one final attempt to secure the evidence. He hid the original records beneath the library and left the key with Grace.”
“Why didn't he go to the police?”
“Because he was afraid of what would happen when his own actions became public.”
Matteo looked at him.
“So he protected himself.”
“Yes.”
Arthur did not soften the answer.
“He told himself he was protecting you, too. But fear was part of it. He was a good man in some ways and a coward in others.”
Matteo stared at the letters.
It was the first time anyone had spoken about his father without trying to make him a hero.
“What happened before he died?”
Arthur hesitated.
“Your father met Julian's father at a private club. They argued. The following morning, your father suffered a fatal heart attack.”
“Are you suggesting he was murdered?”
“No. I have no evidence that he was. His medical records showed a serious underlying heart condition. But I believe the confrontation accelerated his decline.”
Matteo absorbed the answer.
It was not the dramatic revelation he might have expected.
It was something worse: a truth that could not be reduced to one villain and one victim.
His father had been involved.
He had tried to change.
He had failed to finish what he started.
Arthur reached for his hand.
“Don't repeat his mistakes.”
Matteo nodded.
Before leaving, he asked one final question.
“Who controls Northstar now?”
Arthur's gaze drifted toward the window.
“Julian's father is dead. The people who built the organization are old or gone. But the system survived. Evelyn Marlowe has been maintaining the records for years.”
Matteo frowned.
“Evelyn was a household manager.”
“She was also an administrator for Northstar. Your father gave her access to the original files because he believed she could protect them.”
“Then why did she threaten Grace?”
“Because Evelyn stopped believing in your father's plan. She came to believe that the organization was too powerful to dismantle, and that controlling the evidence gave her leverage.”
Matteo stood.
“Thank you.”
Arthur gripped his sleeve.
“One more thing. Evelyn has a copy of the winter file. She knows where the final account records are kept. If Julian gets those records, he'll destroy the evidence and blame you.”
Matteo returned to Boston with a new understanding of the danger.
Evelyn was not simply a frightened employee caught in a conspiracy.
She was a participant who had spent years managing the information that kept Northstar alive.
And Julian was preparing to make his move.
That night, Matteo convened a meeting with his attorney, Luca, and the investigators handling the case.
They agreed to preserve the evidence, avoid unauthorized confrontations, and coordinate any further action with law enforcement.
Then Matteo called Evelyn.
She answered immediately.
“I wondered when you would contact me.”
“I know about Northstar.”
A long pause.
“Then you know your father wasn't the man you thought he was.”
“I know he made mistakes.”
“And you intend to expose him?”
“I intend to expose the truth.”
Evelyn laughed softly.
“Truth is expensive, Matteo. It costs companies, reputations, and families. Are you prepared to pay that price?”
“Yes.”
“Even if Duca Holdings collapses?”
“If it was built on crimes, it deserves to be rebuilt honestly.”
For the first time, Evelyn sounded uncertain.
“You sound like your father.”
“Then perhaps he finally taught me something.”
Evelyn ended the call.
Within an hour, the investigators received an anonymous tip directing them toward a storage facility near the harbor.
Inside, they found boxes of financial records, old correspondence, and digital backups documenting Northstar's transactions.
Several records implicated Julian.
Others implicated Matteo's father.
And one file contained Evelyn's own signature on a payment authorization linked to the clinic where Elena had been taken.
The evidence was no longer a family secret.
It was becoming a criminal case.
But before the investigators could secure every record, Julian made a public announcement.
He accused Matteo of mismanaging Duca Holdings, concealing financial irregularities, and using company resources to intimidate employees.
He demanded an emergency board meeting.
And he promised to release documents proving his allegations.
Matteo watched the announcement from his office.
Luca stood beside him.
“He's trying to get ahead of the investigation.”
“Yes.”
“What do we do?”
May you like
Matteo closed the laptop.
“We tell the truth first.”
