Chapter 6
The Bellandi family wanted the investigation stopped.
Not all of them.
Enough.
Jackson’s uncle Vincent came first.
Then two cousins.
Then Angelo Bellandi, seventy-two, who had served as the family’s informal consigliere since Jackson was in college.
They met in Jackson’s library.
Leo was nowhere near them.
Jackson had prohibited all family business from the residential wing while his son recovered.
Vincent spoke first.
“You found the book. Burn it.”
Claire, sitting beside Jackson, looked almost offended by the stupidity.
Jackson remained expressionless.
“That is your recommendation?”
“It isn’t real.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You said it isn’t yours.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then destroy it.”
Claire leaned forward.
“And when the lender receives an anonymous complaint two weeks from now asking why a betting ledger was hidden inside Mr. Bellandi’s game room?”
Vincent looked at her.
“Why would they?”
“That’s what we’re trying to learn.”
Angelo sighed.
“This is exactly the problem with outside lawyers.”
Claire smiled.
“Thank you.”
Angelo ignored her.
He looked at Jackson.
“Handle Chad internally.”
“My son was involved.”
“He frightened the boy.”
“He swung a bat beside his head.”
“He did not hit him.”
Jackson’s expression changed.
Angelo saw it and adjusted his tone.
“I am not defending that.”
“You just did.”
“I am saying the family does not need auditors reading twenty years of private activity because Chad lost his temper.”
Claire placed the fabricated ledger on the table inside an evidence sleeve.
“Then explain this.”
Angelo did not touch it.
Nobody had an answer.
The next discovery came from Peter Weller, the finance manager who approved the $186,000 withdrawal.
Peter had kept text messages with Chad.
Chad:
Need cash Friday. Old table settlements. J knows.
Peter:
Jackson approved?
Chad:
Yes. Don’t bother him during closing week.
Jackson read the messages.
“I never approved it.”
Peter believed Chad because the Bellandi family had operated that way for years.
One relative spoke for another.
One executive claimed Jackson knew.
Nobody wanted to bother the boss.
Exactly the culture that allowed the money to leave.
Then Peter remembered something else.
Chad had asked which outside compliance firm the refinancing lenders were using.
“Why?” Claire asked.
“He said he wanted to know who would be crawling through our accounts.”
“When?”
“About a month ago.”
Third clue.
Chad knew the lender’s compliance review was coming.
He knew what kinds of undisclosed cash activity could threaten the deal.
He controlled the account that produced the cash.
He had administrator access to the system that printed records under Jackson’s credentials.
And he had been alone in the room where those records appeared.
Jackson looked around at his relatives.
Vincent still wanted the ledger burned.
That frightened Jackson almost as much as Chad.
May you like
Not because Vincent was involved.
Because Chad could have reasonably expected the family to react exactly that way.
