Chapter 7 - EMMA’S RED NOTEBOOKEmma remembered the notebook by accident.
Alessandro was leaving when she asked Sofia:
“Should I get your red book?”
Sofia’s face changed.
“No.”
Alessandro stopped.
“What red book?”
“Nothing.”
Emma answered anyway.
“Mom writes work in it.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“Emma.”
“What?”
Rosa looked suddenly interested.
Alessandro turned back.
“What does she write?”
Emma counted on her fingers.
“When she goes.”
“When she comes home.”
“When she works night.”
“When she doesn’t get money.”
Sofia looked embarrassed.
Alessandro understood immediately.
A private time log.
“Where is it?”
Sofia stared at him.
“My cottage.”
“May Marco retrieve it?”
“No.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Okay.”
That surprised her.
“You’re not going to insist?”
“It belongs to you.”
Sofia looked at him for a long moment.
Then:
“Rosa can bring it.”
Rosa did.
The red notebook contained twenty-two months of handwritten records.
Dates.
Start times.
End times.
Breaks.
Assignments.
Notes.
Stayed until 1:20 a.m. after fundraiser.
Clock changed to 10:00 p.m.
Asked Denise. She said system correction.
Worked Sunday. Not on check.
Chemical in west basement. Chest hurts afterward.
Told Denise.
Asked HR about overtime. Lost Saturday shift.
Victor visited. Denise said don’t bring up payroll while he’s here.
Page after page.
Sofia had built evidence without realizing that was what she was doing.
“I thought maybe I was calculating wrong,” she admitted.
Alessandro hated that sentence.
A system had been designed well enough to make workers doubt arithmetic.
Rachel Kim compared the notebook with electronic badge logs.
Match rate:
Ninety-four percent.
Sofia’s records were remarkably accurate.
Missing wages estimated at $18,760 over twenty-two months.
For one employee.
Rosa’s records showed another $15,000.
Caleb Warren:
$21,000.
A gardener.
Two drivers.
Kitchen assistants.
Dozens.
The total estimate across Moretti properties increased to $610,000 in unpaid or misclassified wages over three years.
Crestline argued some differences involved legitimate meal periods.
Then security footage showed employees cleaning during those “meal periods.”
More evidence.
More excuses collapsing.
The red notebook also contained something more disturbing.
Dates with small stars.
Alessandro asked:
“What are these?”
Sofia hesitated.
“People who left.”
Names.
Seven employees.
All had complained.
Hours.
Safety.
Housing.
Scheduling.
All were gone within months.
Some resigned.
Two were fired.
One had disappeared from payroll after a “mutual separation.”
Marco contacted them.
Five agreed to speak.
The first was Tania Brooks, a former housekeeper now working in a hotel.
She said Denise fired her after she refused to work while sick with influenza.
Official file:
Voluntary resignation.
Tania still had the text.
If you don’t show, don’t come back.
She replied:
I have a doctor’s note.
Denise:
Mr. Moretti expects reliability.
Alessandro read his own name.
Again.
Tania said she believed Alessandro personally supported the decision.
“Why?”
“Denise said you did.”
“Did you ever speak to me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She laughed.
“Because I wanted to leave with my dignity.”
Another employee, Malcolm Reese, reported asking why his overtime vanished.
Victor allegedly told him:
“If you don’t like the arrangement, the gate opens both ways.”
Victor denied saying it.
Malcolm had recorded part of the conversation.
He played it.
Victor’s voice.
Clear.
There are fifty people who would take this job tomorrow. Don’t make Alessandro regret trusting this crew.
Alessandro leaned back.
Not direct theft proof.
Direct use of his authority.
Marco looked angry.
“You never told me.”
Malcolm shrugged.
“You were head of security.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I thought you were management too.”
Marco went silent.
Another blind spot.
People did not distinguish departments the way executives did.
To workers, Marco was part of “them.”
Alessandro was “them.”
Everyone above Denise was “them.”
That evening Marco sat with Alessandro in the study.
“We missed this.”
“Yes.”
“I walked past these people every day.”
“So did I.”
Marco looked toward the doors Emma had entered through.
“I thought security meant keeping threats out.”
Alessandro stared.
“Maybe sometimes it means noticing what happens inside.”
May you like
Neither man liked the lesson.
That was probably why it mattered.
Related Stories
