Chapter 4
Clara refused to meet Dante without Javier present.
Dante refused to let Javier control the conversation.
So there was no meeting.
Instead, Dante’s attorney reviewed what Clara and Javier had been doing financially.
He was not looking for crimes.
He was looking for preparation.
The first thing they found was ordinary enough to be overlooked.
Clara had moved most of her personal jewelry out of their Chicago house.
The pieces were insured at a private vault facility in Wisconsin.
Then came a six-month lease on a furnished home near Madison.
Signed by Clara.
Not Javier.
Paid in advance.
Dante stared at the lease.
“She was planning to leave.”
His attorney, Rachel Moran, did not agree automatically.
“Or she wanted another residence.”
“Without telling her husband?”
“That makes leaving more likely.”
“Why Wisconsin?”
“No idea yet.”
There was more.
Clara had transferred money from a personal investment account into cash equivalents.
Not Bellini money.
Her own.
Legal.
Quiet.
Portable.
Three months of preparation.
Dante called Javier.
“Does your wife have a house in Wisconsin?”
Silence.
Then:
“What?”
Dante gave him the address.
Javier said nothing for several seconds.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
That response sounded genuine.
Dante believed him.
Javier arrived at the office forty minutes later furious.
Not at Dante.
At Clara.
“She was planning to leave me.”
“Maybe.”
“You knew?”
“I found out today.”
Javier paced.
Then stopped.
“Was she leaving before the barbecue?”
“The lease started three weeks ago.”
Javier’s face lost color.
Dante watched him process it.
Then Javier said something strange.
“She kept telling me you were going to take everything.”
“What?”
“My position.”
“My crews.”
“My place in the family.”
Dante narrowed his eyes.
“I never said that.”
“She said you had.”
“When?”
“After your meeting with Marco in June.”
Dante remembered the meeting.
It had been about moving two legitimate logistics contracts away from Javier because his crew kept creating compliance problems.
That was business.
Not expulsion.
“Clara told you I planned to strip your rank?”
“Yes.”
“She lied.”
Javier went still.
Dante understood something.
May you like
The arrogance at the barbecue had not appeared from nowhere.
Someone had been feeding it.
