Chapter 8 - The Decision That Made Marco Panic
Camilla did not go home that night.
By Saturday morning, she had made a second decision.
She resigned from DeLuca Architectural Millwork.
Domenico objected.
“You don’t have to quit.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You’re suspended while we review.”
“I approved things I should not have approved.”
“You were misled.”
“I also chose not to verify them.”
“That doesn’t mean you throw away your job.”
Camilla looked at him.
“No. It means I stop letting being your daughter decide what consequences I get.”
Domenico had no argument for that.
She wrote a formal resignation, returned her company card, and handed Sharon the passwords for every vendor portal she had managed.
Then she called Marco and told him she was staying with Domenico until she decided what she wanted to do about their marriage.
Marco arrived twenty-five minutes later.
Domenico met him in the living room.
The broken vase had been cleared away, but the empty space on the console table made the room look wrong.
The envelope remained on the mantel.
Marco saw Camilla’s overnight bag beside the stairs.
“So this is what we’re doing now?”
Camilla stood near the fireplace.
“I’m not going home tonight.”
“Because your dad told you not to?”
“Because I don’t know what else you lied to me about.”
Marco looked at Domenico.
“This is exactly what he wants.”
Domenico remained quiet.
Camilla said, “Dad didn’t tell me to leave you.”
“He didn’t have to.”
“Marco.”
“What?”
“I resigned.”
That stopped him.
“From the company?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because my approvals are part of the problem.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“I signed off on invoices.”
“Because I explained them to you.”
“That’s not making me feel better.”
Marco began pacing.
The anger in him shifted into something else.
Urgency.
“You need to undo that.”
“No.”
“Call Sharon.”
“No.”
“Camilla, listen to me. You need access until Monday.”
Domenico’s attention sharpened.
Camilla heard it too.
“Why Monday?”
Marco stopped.
The mistake was already made.
He knew it.
Camilla’s voice went quiet.
“What happens Monday?”
“Nothing.”
“You just said I need access until Monday.”
“I meant because payroll—”
“I don’t handle payroll.”
Marco looked toward the door.
Domenico stepped between him and the foyer, not threatening him, simply making it clear the conversation was not finished.
“What happens Monday?” Domenico asked.
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Don’t touch me again.”
“I’m not touching you.”
Camilla stared at her husband.
“Marco.”
He looked at her.
For the first time since the vase shattered, he seemed genuinely frightened.
Not angry.
Not offended.
Afraid.
Camilla said, “Tell me.”
Marco looked toward the mantel.
Then toward Domenico.
Finally he said, “There’s an equipment deposit scheduled.”
Domenico frowned.
“For what?”
“The CNC router.”
Domenico knew about the planned router purchase.
A new machine had been discussed for months.
The board had approved a budget ceiling.
But no final purchase order had been presented to him.
“How much?”
Marco hesitated.
Camilla answered for him.
“Dad.”
Marco closed his eyes.
“Seventy-two thousand.”
Domenico felt his stomach tighten.
“To whom?”
“North Jersey Industrial Systems.”
Sharon had not mentioned that company.
“When does it clear?”
“Monday.”
“Who approved it?”
Marco did not answer.
Camilla looked at him.
Then she understood.
“My login.”
Marco said nothing.
Camilla stepped backward as if distance might help her hear him differently.
“You used my approval?”
“I had your credentials.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“You gave them to me before.”
“For emergency vendor access. Not to approve seventy-two thousand dollars.”
“It’s for equipment.”
“Is the equipment real?”
Marco looked at Domenico.
That pause answered more than words could.
Domenico went to the kitchen and called Sharon.
He asked her to contact the bank first thing and place a hold on any pending nonroutine vendor payment.
When he returned, Marco was standing at the front door.
Camilla was crying silently.
Marco’s hand was on the knob.
He looked back at her.
“You don’t understand what stopping that payment does.”
Camilla wiped her face.
“Then explain it.”
Marco opened the door.
He did not.
May you like
And that was the moment Camilla stopped being afraid of what the envelope might do to her marriage.
She became afraid of what her marriage had already done to her.
