Chapter 5 - Unmasking The Parasite
""Get up, Alexander,"" Eleanor hissed from behind him, her voice trembling with humiliation as she watched her proud, powerful son kneeling on the floor like a condemned criminal. ""Have some dignity! You are a Moretti!""
""Dignity?"" Alexander whipped around, glaring at his mother with pure venom. ""Dignity doesn't pay three hundred million dollars in debt covenants, Mother! Dignity didn't protect my marriage from your poison!""
Olivia took a timid step forward, clasping her hands together in her signature pose of helpless innocence. ""Claire... sister... please,"" she sobbed, tears spilling down her cheeks. ""This is all my fault. I didn't mean to come between you and Alex. I was just... I was so insecure because you were so pretty, so accomplished, and I was just an adopted orphan who had nothing. If you're angry, take it out on me! Punish me! But don't destroy my brother's life's work. Don't ruin our family because of a silly misunderstanding on the jet.""
A ""silly misunderstanding.""
I walked slowly across the room until I stood directly in front of Olivia. For three years, whenever she put on this act, Alexander would rush to wrap an arm around her waist, and Eleanor would stroke her hair, glaring at me as if I were a cruel monster for simply existing.
I didn't shout. I didn't slap her.
Instead, I took a thick, black leather-bound dossier from Marcus and held it out in front of Olivia’s face.
""Do you recognize the name 'Aura Horizon Consulting,' Olivia?"" I asked smoothly.
Olivia’s tears stopped instantly. The color drained from her skin until she looked like porcelain about to shatter under pressure.
""I... I don't know what that is,"" she stammered, taking a half-step backward.
""You don't?"" I opened the folder, revealing high-resolution scans of offshore bank wires, forged shipping manifests, and luxury property acquisitions in the South of France. ""Aura Horizon is an entity registered in the British Virgin Islands. Over the last twenty-four months, thirty-four million dollars from Moretti Logistics’ charitable foundation was funneled directly into this account. And every single transfer was signed by you using Alexander’s digital corporate stamp.""
Alexander slowly rose from his knees, his eyes darting frantically between me and his sister. ""Claire... what are you talking about? That money went to pediatric cancer clinics across Latin America.""
""No, Alexander,"" I turned to look at him, my gaze piercing his desperate facade. ""That money bought two luxury yachts berthed in Monaco, a penthouse in Saint-Tropez, and funded the offshore gambling debts of a man named Julian Rossi—Olivia’s secret fiancé for the last two years.""
Eleanor let out a sharp, choked gasp. ""Julian Rossi? That bankrupt casino heir? Olivia, you swore you broke up with him three years ago!""
Alexander stood completely frozen, his jaw slack as he stared at the woman he had treated like a delicate, saintly child. ""Olivia... is this true?""
""She's lying!"" Olivia shrieked, her voice shedding its fragile, breathy timbre and turning shrill, vicious, and raw. ""She faked those documents to turn you against me! Alex, look at me! I'm your sister! I'm the one who needs you! She's a cold, calculating snake who planned this from the very beginning!""
""Julian Rossi was arrested at JFK airport two hours ago trying to board a flight to Dubai with six million dollars in bearer bonds,"" Marcus Vance interjected coldly. ""He has already signed a full confession implicating Miss Olivia in exchange for federal immunity. The Department of Justice has already issued an arrest warrant for grand larceny, wire fraud, and corporate embezzlement.""
As if on cue, the heavy double doors of the suite opened once more.
Four agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, dressed in dark windbreakers, stepped into the room, their badges displayed clearly.
""Olivia Moretti?"" the lead agent announced. ""You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit federal wire fraud and interstate money laundering. Hands behind your back, please.""
Olivia turned to Alexander, terror finally cracking her mask wide open. She reached out, her nails clawing at his sleeve. ""Alex! Save me! Tell them who you are! Call the governor! Alex, please! Don't let them touch me!""
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Alexander looked down at her hands.
For the first time in his life, he didn't reach back. He stepped aside, letting the federal agents snap the cold steel handcuffs around his sister's wrists.
