Chapter 44: KAYDEN'S SUSPICIONS

Kayden's POV

I couldn't let it go.

Grey's face haunted me. That nagging sense of familiarity that I couldn't pin down.

I'd seen him before. I was certain of it, but where, when, I had no idea.

The morning after the celebration dinner, I started my own investigation.

Pulled up family records, employee files, security logs from the past five years.

If Grey had been around the Gravano operations before, there would be a record somewhere.

I started with the obvious places. Current employees, recent contractors, anyone who'd had access to family businesses in the past year.

I found nothing so I expanded the search to two years, three years but there was still nothing under the name Grey Falvetti.

But that feeling wouldn't go away. The certainty that I'd seen his face before.

Marco knocked on my study door around noon.

"You've been in here all morning. Everything okay?"

"Fine. Just working on something."

"Related to the Belle situation?"

"What situation?"

"Come on. Everyone knows you're suspicious of her boyfriend. The way you looked at him at dinner the other night..."

Marco sat down uninvited. "What's the deal? You don't like him?"

"I don't trust him."

"Why not? He seems normal enough. Boring finance guy, treats Belle well from what I can see."

"That's the problem. He's too normal, too perfect."

"And that's suspicious?"

"In our world? Yes."

Marco considered this. "You want me to run a background check? Official one through our channels?"

"Already done and it came back clean….too clean."

"So you think he's hiding something."

"I know he is. I just can't prove it yet."

"Want help?"

"Actually, yes. Pull up employment records of anyone who worked for us in the past five years. Security consultants, contractors anyone who might have crossed paths with the family."

"That's a lot of people."

"I know. But I need to see if Grey's face appears anywhere, under any name."

"You think he used an alias?"

"I think he's not who he says he is. And I think he's been around us before."

Marco stood. "Give me a few hours. I'll pull what I can."

By afternoon, I had a stack of files of employment records, contractor. agreements, security badges with photos.

I went through them methodically, face by face, looking for Grey.

Two hours in, I found something.

A security consultant from two years ago, on a three-month contract for system vulnerability assessment.

The photo was grainy, taken from a security badge but the face was familiar.

It was not Grey but it was close. They had the same bone structure, the same eyes, different hair color, different styling but they were definitely similar.

The name on the file was Grayson Falco.

Falco not Falvetti.

I pulled up the full file.

Grayson Falco had been brought in by my father on personal recommendation. He worked for three months assessing our digital and physical security.

Then he disappeared. No exit interview, no final report. He just stopped showing up and according to the notes, my father had said to let it go. That Falco had completed his work and moved on.

But there was no completed work. No report, nor documentation of findings.

Just three months of access to everything. Then nothing.

I stared at the photo. Was this Grey? It was hard to tell. The image quality was poor but the resemblance was strong.

I pulled up the personnel file for Grayson Falco. The age listed as twenty-six at the time, born in Connecticut.

It was the same age and same state as Grey Falvetti.

This wasn't a coincidence.

Grey Falvetti and Grayson Falco were the same person.

Which meant Grey had been inside our operations, had access to our security systems, our vulnerabilities.

Two years before he "accidentally" met Annabelle.

I needed to talk to Adeline.

I found her in the library, laptop open, papers spread around her.

"Busy?" I asked.

"Just researching something. What's up?"

"Grey. I found something."

She looked up sharply. "What kind of something?"

"He worked for us two years ago, under a different name."

"What name?"

"Grayson Falco."

Her face went pale. "How did you—"

"I've been going through employment records. I found his security badge photo. It's him, or someone who looks exactly like him."

"Grayson Falco," she said quietly. "That's his real name."

"You knew?"

"I just found out yesterday. My contact traced his identity. The Grey Falvetti name is fabricated, built on dead people's records."

We stared at each other.

"We're both investigating him," I said.

"Independently."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Fair point.

"What else did you find?" I asked.

She pulled up files on her laptop. "His entire background is fake. The Yale degree, the job at Meridian Financial, all of it constructed. Someone with serious resources helped him build this identity."

"Someone in our family. My father paid for the shell company that employs Grey. I haven't confirmed it yet, but the paper trail points in that direction."

"Your father sent him after Annabelle, after me."

"Looks like it. The question is why."

" For control….If Grey is embedded with Belle, your father can threaten her anytime I step out of line. It's insurance."

I sat down heavily. "My own father is using your sister as a pawn."

"We don't have proof yet, just suspicions and circumstantial evidence."

"Then we get proof. What else do you have?"

She showed me everything. The fake credentials, the shell company, the sealed juvenile records.

"Sealed records," I said. "That's government level. Or.."

"Or mafia level. Someone with serious connections buried whatever Grayson Falco did before he became Grey Falvetti."

"And you can't access them?"

"Not without triggering alarms. My contact says the protections are too sophisticated. Federal-level firewalls."

"Let me try something." I pulled out my phone and called a contact in the DA's office. Someone who owed me a favor.

"I need information on sealed juvenile records. Grayson Falco from Connecticut. Probably fifteen to twenty years ago."

"That's sealed for a reason—"

"I know. But this is important. Life or death important."

Silence. Then the man replied "Give me an hour. I'll see what I can do."

We waited.

Adeline paced while I researched more about Grayson Falco's time working for us.

"Did you know him?" Adeline asked. "Two years ago when he was here?"

"I don't remember meeting him. But I was in and out a lot back then. Father handled most of the security contracts personally."

"Because he knew who Grayson really was, knew what he was capable of."

"Maybe. Or maybe Father was the one who helped seal his records in the first place."

My phone rang. It was a call from the DA contact.

"I found something. But I can't send it to you. This is eyes-only classified. I could lose my job just looking at it."

"Tell me what you can."

"Grayson Falco, age fourteen, arrested for assault. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The victim was a young girl. Thirteen years old, she survived but barely."

My blood ran cold.

"What happened?"

"The case never went to trial. Records were sealed. But here's the interesting part, the judge who authorized the seal is Judge Marcus Bellamy."

"Why is that name familiar?"

"Because Judge Bellamy is on the Gravano family payroll. Has been for over a decade. He's the same judge who's denied warrants and sealed records in multiple cases connected to your family."

I couldn't breathe.

"And there's one more thing. The file references a guardian who petitioned for the seal. Someone who took responsibility for Grayson Falco after the arrest."

"Who?"

"Name's redacted. But the connection is clear. Whoever sealed these records had serious power. And based on the judge involved, serious connections to the Gravano family."

"Thank you. I owe you."

"You owe me big. And Kayden? Be careful. Whatever you're digging into, it's connected to some dangerous people."

He hung up.

I looked at Adeline.

"Grey has a history of violence against young girls, and my family helped bury it."

"Your father."

"It has to be. He's the only one with that kind of reach. That kind of relationship with Judge Bellamy."

Adeline pulled up something on her laptop. "Look at this."

It was a document. Court records that are partial and redacted, but visible enough.

In the matter of Grayson Falco, juvenile offender. Petition for sealed records granted. Guardian authorization: R. Gravano.

"R. Gravano," I said. "Russio Gravano."

"Your father was his guardian. Took responsibility for him after the assault and helped seal his records. And now, years later, he's sent him after my sister."

We sat in silence.

The pieces fitting together into something horrifying.

My father had protected a violent offender as a teenager. He kept him close to the family, and now was using him to control Adeline through her sister.

"We need to tell Annabelle," I said. "Show her this. Prove who Grey really is."

"She won't believe it, not without more evidence. She'll think we're making it up to break them apart."

"Then what do we do?"

"We keep digging. Find out exactly what Grey did, what your father's endgame is. And we prepare to move when we have everything."

"How long do we have?"

"Six months until the wedding. Less if Grey accelerates the timeline."

My phone buzzed. It was an email from Marco.

I found something else. Grey/Grayson was at the estate last week. Security log shows him entering through the east gate at 2 AM, he stayed for three hours. Want me to check what he was doing?

I showed Adeline.

"He's been in our home, at night. While we were sleeping."

"Meeting with your father…. it has to be."

"We need to confront my father and demand answers."

"Not yet. If he knows we're onto him, he'll just bury everything deeper. We need more before we make a move."

She was right. But every instinct I had screamed to confront my father now, to demand he stay away from Annabelle and Adeline….from our lives.

"Then we work faster," I said. "Together. No more independent investigations. We share everything."

"Agreed."

We spent the next hour comparing notes, building a timeline, connecting dots, and the picture that emerged was damning.

My father had protected Grayson Falco for years, given him access to the family, he even created the Grey Falvetti identity for him. Now, he is using him as a weapon against Adeline.

The question now is….what is the endgame.

What does my father ultimately want?