Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO COULDN’T USE FAVORITES
The federal case against Domenico moved slowly.
Good.
Fast justice is usually television.
Real cases needed:
financial tracing.
device forensics.
witness interviews.
privilege review.
board records.
foreign trust documents.
Months.
I built event schedules.
Wonderful.
At Lakefront Civic Arts, nobody cared whether Luca Castellani liked lemon cookies.
Harper Lin cared whether loading dock B was double-booked.
I became very good at loading dock B.
---
Luca’s legal situation became public in pieces.
He entered a cooperation agreement.
Not immunity.
He admitted:
One commercial bribery payment.
Use of off-book surveillance through Silas in the Gerard Voss matter.
Approval of coercive pressure during the Harker acquisition.
Failure to disclose certain legacy transactions promptly after becoming CEO.
No violent offenses.
No claim that he personally ran every criminal operation attached to Castellani history.
Specific.
Federal prosecutors agreed to consider his cooperation and the fact he had dismantled much of Strategic Continuity before the investigation.
The board kept him suspended as CEO.
Aria Benton remained interim.
Good.
---
Domenico’s lawyers attacked Luca as a jealous nephew destroying the company over a receptionist.
Again.
They filed motions suggesting Luca fabricated portions of the Favorites archive after the wedding because he wanted a reason to remove Domenico and “pursue an employee free of internal criticism.”
Absurd.
Also insulting.
Evidence beat it.
The Lake Geneva archive drives had creation dates years earlier.
Silas’s notes predated the elevator.
Financial records tied Domenico to North Crown.
No red dress could alter timestamps.
I loved timestamps.
---
Then Domenico tried something uglier.
He offered to cooperate.
Against Luca.
His proffer claimed Luca had used Favorites more than once after Alessandro’s death.
Three times.
Gerard Voss.
A union lawyer.
A city zoning official.
Luca had admitted Voss only.
Was he lying?
My stomach tightened.
Not because romance.
Because pattern.
I asked Leah whether I should stop contact with Luca.
She said:
“Do you want legal advice or emotional advice?”
“Legal.”
“You are a witness in a related matter. Keep substantive case discussions through counsel. Personal contact is not prohibited, but do not discuss facts.”
“Emotional?”
“I charge extra.”
I laughed.
Then stopped contacting Luca for two weeks.
He did not chase.
Good.
---
Investigators found the union-lawyer claim was partly true.
Silas had searched her.
At Luca’s request?
Email said:
Find conflict only. No personal.
Why?
She represented workers suing Castellani over overtime practices.
Luca suspected her husband owned stock in a competing supplier.
Conflict search could be legitimate through lawyers.
Silas went beyond:
marriage history.
medical debt.
child’s school.
Did Luca receive those details?
No evidence.
His file copy contained only the ownership conflict.
Domenico had the deeper file.
Different.
---
The zoning official claim was false.
Silas created a file.
Domenico requested it.
Luca’s name appeared only because he was CEO on project cover sheet.
Good.
The Voss case remained Luca’s.
One key.
Not three.
Still one.
---
Domenico’s cooperation offer did not save him.
He admitted enough to strengthen charges:
Maranello self-dealing.
Use of Silas.
Concealment payments to Mara Harker.
Corporate obstruction.
Extortion through Favorites.
He still denied ordering elevator hijack.
Silas contradicted him.
The voice memo contradicted him.
A jury would decide unless plea.
---
Then Silas gave investigators one final archive.
Not about Domenico.
About me.
He had recorded Luca in the hotel corridor after the elevator rescue.
I did not know.
Audio:
Gideon:
“Move Thornton to penthouse.”
Luca:
“No.”
Gideon:
“She’s leverage.”
Luca:
“She’s a person.”
Gideon:
“That doesn’t change risk.”
Luca:
“No. It changes who decides.”
Silence.
Then:
“Ask her.”
I listened in Leah’s office.
My throat tightened.
The first night, before Luca had time to learn what answer I wanted from him, he had already corrected the language.
Person.
Not leverage.
That mattered.
It did not erase Harker.
Did not erase Voss.
Did not erase jealousy.
But people are allowed to contain contradiction.
Maybe that was the hardest thing.
---
The legal conflict ended sooner than expected.
Domenico accepted a plea.
Not because mercy.
Because North Crown banking records arrived from Europe and destroyed his trial theory.
He pleaded guilty to:
wire fraud conspiracy.
Extortion.
Obstruction.
Unlawful surveillance conspiracy.
Corporate self-dealing violations.
The cyber count tied to elevator included his approval through Silas.
No attempted murder.
No kidnapping.
He admitted intending to frighten Luca into changing the vote.
Silas pleaded separately and received reduction for cooperation.
Milo Serra from North Meridian was not criminally charged.
He was fired for security failures and faced civil consequences.
Gideon was cleared of conspiracy after records showed he had preserved logs and repeatedly objected to shared credentials.
Not every suspicious man in a dark suit was guilty.
Good.
---
Luca’s plea came after.
One count commercial bribery.
One count conspiracy tied to coercive business practices.
The Voss surveillance conduct was included as relevant conduct in sentencing but not separate charge.
His cooperation mattered.
So did his early reforms.
So did Harker.
The judge imposed:
Ten months home confinement with electronic monitoring.
Three years probation.
A substantial fine.
Restitution to identified victims.
No executive office at Castellani Industries for two years.
Independent compliance monitor.
No prison.
Some people online called it rich-man justice.
Maybe.
Others said cooperation justified it.
I did not need to decide sentencing policy.
I needed to know what he did next.
---
The board permanently removed Domenico.
Aria Benton became CEO.
Not interim.
Luca retained his ownership stake but no operational control during restriction.
Maranello stayed with Castellani temporarily pending review.
The board later rejected North Crown sale unanimously.
Good.
Marcus sent me a screenshot of the vote.
NO RED DRESSES REQUIRED.
I laughed.
---
Luca began home confinement at his townhouse.
Not family estate.
He had sold the old Lake Geneva lodge as part of forfeiture and cleanup.
His movements limited to approved work, legal, medical, and religious activities.
He worked remotely on nonexecutive matters through the monitor.
No commanding rooms.
Interesting.
---
Three weeks into home confinement, he texted:
Legal conflict between us is effectively closed according to both counsel. May I ask the question?
I stared.
Then called Leah.
She laughed.
“Of course you did.”
“Is it okay?”
“Legally? Yes. Employment conflict is gone, witness restrictions are resolved, and his supervision does not prohibit dating.”
“Emotionally?”
“Still extra.”
I hung up.
Then replied:
ASK.
His message came:
Will you have dinner with me when I am permitted to leave for an approved personal outing after home confinement ends?
I laughed.
THAT IS MONTHS AWAY.
I HAVE WAITED EIGHTEEN MONTHS.
YOU ALSO WASTED EIGHTEEN MONTHS.
A pause.
FAIR.
I typed:
DO NOT.
His next message:
SORRY.
I laughed harder.
Then:
YES. CURRENT ANSWER.
He did not reply for a full minute.
Then:
I AM NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE HOUSE AND SOMEHOW THIS IS STILL THE BEST NIGHT I’VE HAD ALL YEAR.
Dangerous.
Warm.
Mine.
---
We did not start a prison-letter romance because he was not in prison.
We did something stranger.
We talked.
Phone calls.
Video.
Texts.
No late-night security emergencies.
No corporate strategy.
We discussed:
Food.
Books.
Lakefront event disasters.
His terrible cooking.
My certification course.
Elena’s baby, born healthy in London.
He did not send gifts without asking.
Once:
Can I have cookies delivered?
I replied:
NO.
He answered:
CRUEL.
Then nothing arrived.
Good.
---
One evening I complained that Lakefront’s donor database was ancient.
He said:
“I know a vendor.”
Then stopped.
“Do you want the name?”
I smiled.
“Yes.”
Small.
That was how change became visible.
Not speeches.
Questions inserted before action.
---
Near the end of home confinement, Elena visited Luca and video-called me without warning.
She turned camera toward his ankle monitor.
“This is the least stylish thing he has ever worn.”
Luca glared.
I laughed.
“Red would help.”
He looked at me.
“Do not start.”
Elena said:
“She should wear the dress again on your date.”
Silence.
My face warmed.
Luca’s expression changed.
Not jealousy.
Memory.
I said:
“Maybe.”
His eyes sharpened.
Elena made a delighted noise.
I ended the call.
Some power should be exercised.
As part of the federal settlement process, outside counsel began notifying living people named in the Favorites archive.
Not every file led to a lawsuit.
Not every subject wanted contact.
Some had died.
One former vendor wrote back with a single request:
Destroy the photographs of my family when the court no longer needs them.
That sentence stayed with Luca.
He told me during one of our evening calls, without naming the person.
“My father thought information became valuable once he possessed it.”
“And?”
“I’m learning that sometimes the ethical value is in letting it disappear.”
Good.
Castellani paid for independent archival review and court-approved destruction of non-evidentiary duplicate personal material where subjects requested it.
No press release.
No “healing initiative.”
Just less data surviving than before.
For a family that had treated knowledge as power, deletion became a form of surrender.
Luca did not ask whose file prompted that request.
Neither did I.
For once, not knowing everything was not a weakness in the system.
May you like
It was part of the repair.
Luca agreed.
