Chapter 5
The independent report on Mancini Freight was 184 pages.
Nobody in the family read it once.
They read pieces.
argued.
returned.
misquoted.
corrected.
That was more honest than pretending a report delivered closure.
Headline findings:
Legacy security procurement lacked adequate vendor transparency.
Dominic Mancini maintained undisclosed financial relationships with two vendors.
Vela Risk Advisory payments functioned in part as improper noninterference payments to Salvi-linked actors.
Bennett Facilities Consulting charges were materially inflated relative to documented services.
Carlo Mancini failed to require sufficient oversight of confidential security spending.
No evidence Leo had approved or known vendor identities before the audit.
No evidence Sabrina participated.
No evidence Jade manipulated procurement.
No evidence all confidential vendors were illegitimate.
Several vendors had delivered real protective services.
The system problem was not:
security itself fake.
It was:
secrecy broad enough to hide conflicts.
Then restitution.
Mancini Freight sued:
Bennett.
North Crown.
Vela.
Settlements varied.
Bennett repaid part of inflated fees and terminated work.
North Crown entered independent review and refunded undisclosed related-party fees.
Vela collapsed after Salvi arrests; recovery limited.
No fantasy of getting every dollar back.
The board absorbed the unrecovered portion after civil remedies were exhausted.
Then Dominic’s company shares.
He still owned a minority stake in private family company.
Could they strip?
Not automatically.
Shareholder agreement had misconduct buyback clause tied to final adjudication.
So not immediate.
No revenge seizure.
He remained shareholder without management rights while case pending.
That frustrated Leo.
Then Elaine Park, general counsel, said:
“Governance is not supposed to satisfy anger quickly.”
He remembered.
Then company changes.
Security procurement moved under:
CFO plus compliance.
vendor ownership disclosure.
annual independent review.
no “confidential vendor” exemption from board audit, only protected annex.
Emergency access keys:
central register.
return verification.
periodic rekey for sensitive sites.
Could this prevent betrayal?
No.
Better.
Then Leo stepped away from day-to-day security decisions.
Not because weak.
Because he had been too close.
Independent chief security officer:
Monica Reyes.
Twenty years corporate protection.
no family ties.
First thing she said:
“I do not take instructions from uncles.”
Leo laughed.
Then:
“Or fiancés.”
She ran church reconstruction security for any future events only if contracted by venue, not Leo.
Clear.
Then Jade’s life.
People online? Was attack public news.
Yes.
Local headlines:
WEDDING SHOOTING AT SAINT AGATHA.
MANCINI FAMILY FEUD ERUPTS.
BRIDE’S KEY FOUND AT SCENE.
That last one infuriated Sabrina.
Police had not released bouquet detail initially.
Leak.
Someone from emergency response or guest posted photo.
Rumor:
Sabrina opened door.
False.
Her name dragged.
She considered public statement.
Leo said:
“Your call.”
She issued short one through lawyer:
A key attached to my bouquet was not the key used by attackers and was placed there without my knowledge. Law enforcement has confirmed I am not suspected of facilitating entry. I will not comment further during the criminal case.
Specific.
No emotional essay.
Then outlets corrected.
Not all.
One gossip page kept headline.
She let lawyer handle.
No personal crusade.
Then Jade.
She hated being described as “mystery bridesmaid accountant.”
She declined interviews.
Her audit work stayed confidential except report findings.
Then a commentator called her Leo’s “secret financial weapon.”
She laughed.
“Do I get cape?”
No.
She remained forensic accountant.
Then Sabrina’s relationship with Jade.
Tense.
Not because betrayal exactly.
Because Jade had withheld audit role.
They met without Leo.
Later Sabrina told him broad result only:
“I’m not mad she took job.
I’m mad everyone assumed I was safer not knowing.”
That was recurring.
Jade apologized for not raising safety boundary sooner.
Not for honoring legitimate audit confidentiality.
They repaired.
Then Father Michael.
He refused to reopen Saint Agatha for large events until security improvements complete.
Parish complained.
Weddings displaced.
Mancini family paid? Again no private fixes. Insurance covered the damaged glass and interior repairs. The parish reserve funded security upgrades, and Mancini Freight paid a documented settlement contribution tied to Dominic’s role.
The arrangement was transparent.
Then stained glass.
Replacement could not perfectly match historic panel.
Restoration firm salvaged pieces.
No one made memorial.
Father Michael said:
“It is a window, not an altar to violence.”
Some original fragments reused.
Others documented and disposed.
No shrine.
Then Dominic’s plea.
Eighteen months after attack, he pleaded guilty to:
conspiracy to facilitate unlawful entry and attempted abduction.
commercial bribery-related conduct? Could include undisclosed vendor kickbacks.
Maybe procurement fraud.
He admitted:
arranging breach.
planting key.
authorizing Miles.
knowing armed Salvi men would participate.
He maintained:
he expected no shots.
The court did not treat that expectation as a defense.
Dominic received a multi-year prison sentence.
Leo attended sentencing once.
Dominic spoke.
He said:
“I believed I was protecting a system that protected this family.”
Then:
“I crossed lines.”
Understatement.
Judge said:
“You did not merely cross a line. You opened a door for armed men.”
Powerful.
Could be too dramatic but okay.
Dominic received six years? Reasonable for serious conspiracy with armed assault. Maybe plea on lesser but still. We can state custodial sentence of several years without exact? Better restrained: “a multi-year prison sentence.” That's vague but plausible.
Leo did not feel triumph.
Then Carlo.
Dominic’s statement claimed Carlo had known about Vela payments.
Did he?
Dominic said:
“Carlo understood.”
No documents proved.
Leo refused to clean father.
Independent report amended:
Dominic asserts Carlo knew protection nature; no independent corroboration.
Specific.
That was enough.
Then Sabrina asked:
“Does it matter to you?”
“Yes.”
“Can you live without knowing?”
“I have to.”
Truth sometimes incomplete.
Then they talked marriage again.
Sabrina:
“I still love you.”
Leo:
“I love you.”
Then:
“That is not the same as being ready.”
Agreed.
They waited.
No countdown.
Two years after the attack, Jade became a partner at the forensic firm.
Her life stayed independent from the Mancinis.
She moved apartments.
adopted an ugly cat.
complained about billing.
took vacations without explaining them to anyone.
Normal.
Then one day she emailed Leo:
Final vendor remediation review complete. No material undisclosed legacy security vendors found.
The audit ended.
Not because all risk gone.
Scope done.
Leo closed file.
Then Sabrina saw.
“Finished?”
“Yes.”
“How feel?”
“Like a report finished.”
No mystical closure.
Then she said:
“Maybe we can plan a wedding.”
Leo stared.
“Maybe?”
She smiled.
“Do not make face.”
He laughed.
Then:
“Not Saint Agatha.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I want a place we choose for now, not because our families always used it.”
That felt right.
No fear.
Choice.
They picked a small civil ceremony with dinner later.
No armed family security.
venue professional team.
guest list smaller.
And Jade?
Maid of honor again.
She said:
“I’m standing far from side doors.”
Everyone laughed.
The joke belonged to them now.
The company also had to decide what to do with people who had worked under Dominic for years.
Some employees feared a purge.
Monica refused.
“Employment under a compromised leader is not proof of misconduct.”
So they reviewed:
roles.
payments.
conflicts.
actual conduct.
Most stayed.
One manager had accepted undisclosed consulting work from North Crown and resigned during review.
Another had challenged Dominic repeatedly in old emails and been sidelined.
She was promoted only after a competitive process, not as symbolic reward.
Then the church claim closed.
Insurance covered restoration.
Mancini Freight paid a documented settlement contribution tied to Dominic’s role.
The parish used reserve funds for security upgrades.
No private envelope.
No “family takes care of family” shortcut.
Father Michael said:
“If we learned anything, it is that private fixes are still private.”
Leo almost laughed.
Then the side-door duplicate sat in police evidence until both Dominic and Miles cases resolved.
When police asked whether anyone wanted it returned, nobody did.
Saint Agatha authorized destruction with obsolete keys.
No display.
No memorial box.
Metal had done its job as evidence.
Then one day, Jade emailed Leo:
Final remediation review complete. No additional material undisclosed legacy vendors found.
He stared at the sentence.
The audit was finished.
Not because the company was now pure.
Because the assigned scope was done.
That distinction mattered.
He closed the file.
The civil settlements created another uncomfortable question.
Should Dominic’s relatives repay anything simply because family money had benefited from inflated vendors?
No.
Investigators traced the specific undisclosed fees to Dominic and related entities.
No evidence Alessia or other relatives knowingly received them.
The company pursued the people and entities connected to the transactions.
Not the surname.
That distinction prevented the audit from turning into collective punishment.
Then employees asked whether Carlo’s family dividends should be clawed back.
Counsel said:
not without a legal basis.
Again:
frustrating.
correct.
Leo realized how easy it would be to build a new unfair system in the name of cleaning the old one.
Rules mattered most when anger wanted exceptions.
The process held even when nobody liked the outcome.
The civil review also found one payment Dominic had rejected.
A vendor had proposed a “relationship fee” for introductions to port officials.
Dominic wrote:
No. Too exposed.
That sentence did not redeem him.
It did show he had boundaries.
The problem was where he drew them:
not always at legal or ethical lines,
sometimes at what he thought could be managed quietly.
Leo found that more disturbing than a cartoon villain.
May you like
Dominic knew some limits.
He simply believed he was entitled to choose the others.
