Chapter 43 INVESTIGATION BEGINS

Chapter 43 INVESTIGATION BEGINS

Adeline's POV

I called Stardust the moment we got home.
"I need everything you have on Grey Falvetti. Now."

"I'm still digging. These things take—"

"I don't have time. He just proposed to my sister. Wedding's in six months. I need to know who he really is before then."

There was silence on the other side. “Okay. Let me walk you through what I've found so far. It's... weird."

"Weird how?"

"His background exists. But it's shallow. Like someone built an identity that looks real on the surface but falls apart under scrutiny."

"Explain."

"Grey Falvetti, born in Hartford, Connecticut, twenty-eight years ago. Parents listed as deceased, no siblings. Attended Yale, graduated with honors. Currently works at Meridian Financial Group."

"That all sounds legitimate."

"It does. Until you dig deeper. I pulled his Yale records. He's listed as a graduate, class of 2019. But there's no photo in the yearbook. No mention in any campus publications. No social media posts from classmates tagging him. It's like he was a ghost."

"Maybe he kept a low profile."

"No one keeps that low of a profile. College is four years. There should be something….a club membership an intramural team, a study group. Something."

"What about his employment?"

"That's where it gets weirder. Meridian Financial Group exists, he's on their payroll, but I can't find any actual work product. No client meetings. No deals closed. No transactions under his name."

"So it's a front."

"Looks like it. Someone's paying him a salary to maintain the appearance of employment. But he's not actually doing the job."

I processed this. "What about before Yale? Childhood? High school?"

"That's where the trail goes completely cold. I found a birth certificate. But no school records, no medical records, no childhood photos. Nothing that proves Grey Falvetti actually existed before eighteen."

"So the identity was created. When he turned eighteen."

"That's my best guess. Someone built him a background. Good enough to pass casual inspection. But not good enough to withstand serious scrutiny."

"Can you find out who?"

"I'm trying. But whoever did this knew what they were doing. They used real institutions. Real paperwork. Just... fabricated the details."

"What about his parents? You said they're listed as deceased."

"Robert and Margaret Falvetti. Died in a car accident fifteen years ago. I pulled the death certificates. They're real. But here's the thing—they never had a son named Grey."

My blood ran cold. "What?"

"I found their wills. Their estate records. No mention of children. The estate was split between Robert's brother and Margaret's sister. If they'd had a son, he would have been the primary beneficiary."

"So Grey stole their identities? Used dead people to build his background?"

"Essentially. He took the Falvetti name from a couple with no living descendants. Built himself a paper trail using their information. Smart, actually. Hard to disprove unless you dig deep."

"Which we're doing."

"Which we're doing. But Blue, this gets darker. I found something else."

"What?"

"Grey Falvetti—or whoever he really is—has been flagged in three different databases. FBI, Interpol, and something else. Something I can't identify. The files are sealed. Classified. I can't access them without triggering alarms."

"Sealed how?"

"Government level. The kind of seals that suggest witness protection. Or intelligence work. Or something worse."

"Can you break through?"

"Not without risking exposure. These aren't normal firewalls. These are federal-level protections. If I push too hard, someone will notice. And they'll start looking at who's asking questions."

"So we're stuck."

"For now. But I can keep digging around the edges. Find out what he's been doing. Where he goes. Who he talks to."

"Do it. I need to know who this man really is before he marries my sister."

"I'll do my best. But Blue? Be careful. Whoever Grey really is, he's connected to some serious people. People with resources and reach."

"Noted."

I hung up and sat there, processing.
Grey Falvetti wasn't real. His entire identity was fabricated, built on dead people's names and fake credentials.

Which meant everything he'd told Annabelle was a lie.

The question was why. What was he really after?

I spent the next day digging on my own, pulling up everything I could find on Meridian Financial Group. The company Grey supposedly worked for.

On the surface, it looked legitimate, offices in Manhattan, client testimonials, professional website.

But when I looked closer, something felt off.
The client testimonials were generic, stock photos, names that didn't appear anywhere else online.

The office address was real. But when I cross-referenced it with building records, Meridian only rented a single small office, not the multiple floors their website suggested.

And the company itself was only three years old. Despite claiming decades of experience.

It was a shell company, a front.
The question was for what.

I pulled up Grey's employee profile on LinkedIn. Professional photo, impressive credentials, connections to hundreds of people in finance.

But when I clicked on those connections, most of them were fake profiles with no activity, no posts, no interactions.

Someone had built Grey an entire professional network out of nothing.
This level of fabrication took resources, time and money.

Who had that kind of capability? And why use it to target my sister?

That afternoon, I drove to Meridian's office address.

It was a nondescript building in Midtown that shared office space.
I went inside and asked the receptionist about Meridian Financial Group.

"Suite 412," she said without looking up.
I took the elevator to the fourth floor and found Suite 412.

It was small. Just one room with a desk, a computer, filing cabinet, but no people, no activity.

The kind of office maintained for appearances, not actual work.

I was about to leave when a cleaning person appeared.

"You looking for someone?"

"Yes, I'm looking for Grey Falvetti. Does he work here?"

"The tall guy with dark hair?"

"That's him."

"He comes in sometimes, a couple times a week and stays for a few hours. But I don't think he actually works. He just sits at the desk, types on his computer, then leaves."

"Does anyone else work here?"

"Not that I've seen. The place is usually empty."

I thanked her and left. Outside, I called Stardust again.

"I need you to check something…..Meridian Financial Group. See if there are any connections to the Gravano family. Any payments, any shared board members…anything."

"On it. Give me a few hours."

By evening, I had more pieces. But they weren't fitting together yet.

Grey's identity was fake, his job was fake, his entire life was a construction.
But why? Why go to such lengths? Why target Annabelle specifically?

Unless it wasn't about Annabelle at all. Unless she was just the access point.
To me, Kayden, to the Gravano family.

My phone buzzed with a message from Stardust.

I found something. Meridian Financial Group received a series of payments three years ago. Large payments from a shell company connected to Gravano holdings. Someone in the family funded Meridian's creation.

My hands shook as I typed back: Can you trace who authorized the payments?

Stardust: Working on it, but the paper trail is deliberately obscured. Whoever set this up didn't want to be found.

I sat there, the pieces clicking into place.
Someone in the Gravano family had created Meridian, had created Grey's cover, had sent him after Annabelle.

This was planned, orchestrated from the very beginning.
The question was who. And why.

Another message from Stardust:
One more thing, Grey's real name isn't Falvetti. I found a sealed juvenile record. Just a glimpse before it disappeared but I got a name. Grayson Falco. Ring any bells?

Falco. The name tickled something in my memory. But I couldn't place it.

Me: What else did you find?

Stardust: That's the problem. Everything about Grayson Falco is sealed. Juvenile records, court documents, all of it locked down tight. Government-level seals. The kind that suggests either witness protection or something much worse.

Me: Can you break through?

Stardust: Not without triggering alarms. These aren't normal firewalls. These are federal-level protections. If I push too hard, people will notice. Dangerous people.

I stared at my phone.

Grey's real name was Grayson Falco. And someone had gone to extreme lengths to bury his past.

Which meant whatever he'd done, whoever he really was, it was bad enough to require that level of protection.
And this person was engaged to my sister.

Me: Keep digging..carefully. I need to know what he did, what he's capable of.

Stardust: I'll try. But Blue? Be careful. Whoever Grayson Falco really is, he's connected to people with serious power. And they don't like questions.

The call ended.

I sat quietly in the dark room, my mind racing.

Grey wasn't who he claimed, his name was fake, his past was sealed, his entire identity was a construction funded by someone in the Gravano family.
And in six months, he'd marry my sister.

Unless I could stop it.
Unless I could prove who he really was and what he really wanted.

But time was running out.
And the deeper I dug, the more dangerous this became.