Chapter 5 - The Financial Collapse
The arrest of Vittorio Moretti and Lucas Bianchi hit the global financial markets like a magnitude-eight earthquake. By the following morning, the front pages of every major European newspaper featured massive headlines: EMPIRE FALLS: MORETTI TEXTILES CEO ARRESTED FOR MURDER AND FRAUD.
The stock price of Moretti Textiles plummeted by forty-eight percent within the first two hours of trading. Creditors were panicking, calling my office by the hundreds, demanding immediate loan settlements.
I didn't panic. I moved into Marco’s old corner office, drank black coffee by the liter, and went to work.
I called an emergency press conference for 2:00 PM at the company's global headquarters.
Standing behind a podium emblazoned with the Moretti logo, facing an aggressive wall of cameras, microphones, and shouting reporters, I raised my hand for silence.
"Ladies and gentlemen," I began, my voice steady, clear, and projecting across the massive auditorium. "Yesterday, federal authorities arrested the individuals responsible for the systematic corruption of Moretti Textiles. Let me make one thing crystal clear: the corruption stops today."
"Ms. Moretti!" a journalist shouted from the front row. "Does this mean the company is facing immediate liquidation? Are thousands of employees about to lose their jobs?"
"No," I answered firmly. "We are not liquidating. We are restructuring. Effective immediately, I am personally injecting thirty million euros of my family's private venture capital into the company to stabilize our accounts. We are cooperating fully with federal investigators, honoring all valid vendor contracts, and purging every single corrupt actor from our payroll."
"And what about your husband's tragic death?" another reporter yelled out. "Is there any truth to the rumors that he was murdered by his own father?"
The entire auditorium went dead silent. A hundred pairs of eyes locked onto me, waiting for a crack in my composure.
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I looked straight into the camera lens, knowing that Vittorio was watching this exact broadcast from his holding cell at the county jail.
"My husband, Marco Moretti, was a brilliant, honorable man," I said, every word dripping with ice. "He trusted the wrong people. But his voice will not be silenced. The truth will come out in a court of law. And justice will be absolute."
