Chapter 4 - The Company She Never Created
Faith’s forged company had received $312,000 in six months.
She learned that the next morning from a federal agent named Lena Park.
Park did not smile much.
Faith liked her immediately.
They met in a hospital conference room with Daniel Cho and an attorney from Mount Sinai.
“Buchanan Clinical Consulting was used to invoice Meridian for quality-control reviews,” Park explained.
Faith stared at the paperwork.
“My signature is fake.”
“We believe so.”
“My Social Security number?”
“Real.”
“My address?”
“Your former apartment.”
Faith’s stomach turned.
Vincent had not merely cheated on her.
He had built a financial identity inside her name.
“Where did the money go?”
“Most of it was transferred out within forty-eight hours.”
“To whom?”
Park looked at her.
“Several shell entities. One is connected to Luca Bellini.”
Faith leaned back.
“So if this breaks badly, it looks like I helped launder money.”
“That may have been the intention.”
Faith laughed once, without humor.
“Vincent always said I didn’t understand business.”
Park closed the folder.
“You understand enough to be dangerous to him now.”
That afternoon, Faith went to the Moretti townhouse by choice.
Francesco was in the library.
He rose when she entered.
“You came.”
“I need information.”
“Not comfort?”
“No.”
A faint smile. “Good.”
Faith handed him a copy of the company registration.
He read it.
His expression became still.
“Bellini.”
“Yes.”
Francesco crossed to the window.
“Luca has used medical companies before.”
“For what?”
“Moving money. Moving products. Buying influence.”
“Drugs?”
“Sometimes.”
Faith’s eyes narrowed.
“You sound like you know from experience.”
Francesco turned.
“I know because I spent years profiting from businesses adjacent to men like him.”
“Adjacent?”
His jaw tightened.
“You want honesty?”
“Yes.”
“My family has done things I will not dress up for you.”
Faith held his gaze.
“Have you hurt people?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without excuse.
“Have you killed people?”
Silence.
That was an answer too.
Faith looked away.
“Why did you help me?”
“Because you were dying in the rain.”
“That simple?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing is simple around you.”
“No.”
She faced him again.
“If I work with federal investigators, could that hurt you?”
“Possibly.”
“Will you ask me not to?”
“No.”
“Even if it exposes your world?”
Francesco’s voice softened.
“Faith, if being close to me requires you to become smaller, then you should leave.”
The words hit her harder than any declaration of love could have.
Vincent had spent eighteen months making her smaller.
Francesco, the most dangerous man she had ever met, was telling her not to.
Her phone rang.
Rebecca.
Faith almost ignored it.
Then she answered.
Rebecca was crying.
“He knows.”
“Who?”
“Vincent. He knows I talked.”
“Where are you?”
“In my apartment.”
“Leave.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“My brother is here.”
Faith frowned.
“I thought your brother lived in Florida.”
“He did.”
Rebecca’s voice dropped.
“Faith, there’s something I never told you.”
A loud knock sounded through the phone.
Rebecca gasped.
“What?” Faith said.
“My brother didn’t die in Florida because of a heart attack.”
Francesco’s attention sharpened.
Rebecca whispered, “He died after getting counterfeit Vasotril-X.”
Faith went still.
“You knew?”
“Not when I met Vincent. I found out later.”
The pounding at Rebecca’s door grew louder.
“Who’s there?” Faith asked.
Rebecca started sobbing.
“Vincent.”
Then the line went dead.
Francesco was already reaching for his coat.
Faith stepped in front of him.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You said you wouldn’t make me smaller.”
“This is different.”
“How?”
“There may be violence.”
Faith’s voice stayed steady.
“Then I’ll stay in the car until it’s safe. But I am not sitting here while another woman pays for what he did to me.”
Francesco studied her.
Then he nodded once.
“Stay beside Arthur.”
It was not permission.
It was compromise.
Faith took it.
That night, Faith returned to her borrowed room at the Moretti townhouse and opened every account she owned.
Credit report.
Student loan portal.
Bank statements.
She found two hard inquiries she did not recognize and one business credit card tied to Buchanan Clinical Consulting.
The balance was eighty-six thousand dollars.
Faith stared at the number until it blurred.
Then she called the issuer.
The representative asked her security question.
“What was the name of your first pet?”
Faith almost answered automatically.
Molly.
Then she stopped.
Vincent knew that.
He knew every childhood story she had ever told him in bed.
Every detail she had once considered intimacy could be turned into a key.
“Please freeze the account,” Faith said.
Afterward, she sat at the edge of the bed feeling violated in a way that had nothing to do with touch.
Francesco knocked once and waited.
“Come in.”
He stood at the door instead of entering fully.
“Arthur traced the car you saw outside the hospital.”
Faith’s head lifted.
“And?”
“Rental. Paid with a prepaid card.”
“That helps almost none.”
“Almost.”
She showed him the credit report.
His expression hardened.
“Vincent built a cage from your own information.”
Faith closed the laptop.
“I gave him the information.”
“You trusted him.”
“That was stupid.”
“No.” Francesco’s answer was immediate. “Trust is not stupidity. Misusing it is corruption.”
Faith looked at him.
“You always talk like a verdict.”
“I was raised by men who believed hesitation was weakness.”
“And do you?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
His eyes held hers.
May you like
“Because the worst decisions I ever made were the ones I made too quickly.”
For the first time, Faith wondered what he regretted beyond Sofia.
