Chapter 2 - The Audit of the Hidden HospitalBy 2:00 A.M., the top-floor executive command suite at The Moretti Maritime Tower overlooking the Delaware River was operating under an impenetrable, non-negotiable tactical lockdown.
Outside the private elevator banks, twenty armed Vance Security operators guarded every corridor. Inside the private master suite, my orange cat, Walter, was resting comfortably on a velvet sofa, eating fresh salmon provided by Gabriel’s executive staff.
In the central executive study, sitting around a broad black granite conference table, were me, Gabriel Moretti, Bridget Colton, Marcus Vance, and two federal forensic accounting experts.
Bridget Colton opened three heavy, red-sealed leather binders, sliding digital ledgers, wiretap logs, and real estate charters flat onto the granite table before Gabriel and me:
"Gabriel, Nora," Bridget spoke crisp and fast, her sharp blue eyes holding surgical professional fury. "The forensic audit into Mercy Harbor Medical Center, Dr. Miles Carter, and the Vance-Sterling Syndicate is complete."
Gabriel stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, his suit jacket off, his white shirt sleeves rolled up over his broad, tattooed forearms, his dark eyes burning with an apocalyptic, predatory fire. "Explain it to us, Bridget."
Bridget tapped the digital displays:
THE ONE-HUNDRED-EIGHTY-MILLION-DOLLAR EMBEZZLEMENT: Certified banking registries proving Mercy Harbor’s board chairman, Richard Sterling, and Dr. Miles Carter systematically diverted $180 million over five years from the hospital's trauma wing into offshore accounts to force a corporate bankruptcy.
THE LEAKED BLOODLINE REGISTRY: Intercepted wiretaps proving Dr. Miles Carter sold Nora’s full name and address to Richard Sterling for $500,000, intending to have Nora abducted to frame Gabriel for a civilian casualty.
THE SOVEREIGN MATERNAL TRUST: Original probate charters confirming thirty-two-year-old Donna Nora Elizabeth Bennett-Moretti as sole sixty percent controlling common equity holder over the entire Philadelphia Medical & Logistics Network—a trust established by her late grandfather.
My jaw locked into unyielding granite.
"Dr. Carter sold my home address while I was giving blood to save your life," I rasped out, every word falling like an iron block into the quiet room. "While Richard Sterling was liquidating the trauma unit that keeps this city alive."
Gabriel walked across the room, dropping flat onto one knee right in front of my chair.
May you like
The broad, powerful Don reached out, taking my small, calloused hands into his broad palms, looking into my hazel eyes with eternal, unshakeable devotion.
"They built their luxury on your sacrifice and my blood, Nora," Gabriel promised, his deep baritone an iron blade that shook the room. "Tomorrow morning at the Philadelphia Healthcare Assembly... we show this city who really owns the Moretti empire."
Related Stories
