Roberto: Yes. Rest. I’ll make this for you next time.
I lock the screen and set the phone face down.
I can’t use my work laptop. If anything I pull up touches a log that Caterina can see, I’ll tip my hand before I even understand what I’m looking at. I grab my personal laptop from the shelf, plug it in at the small table by the window, and flip it open.
While it wakes, I run through the files in my head: three comps that shouldn’t exist, all with her initials. My job is to guard the program, not second-guess the owners. But my job is also to protect The Regent from drift. Both things can be true.
The desktop loads. I connect to my home Wi-Fi and open a fresh browser. I sit there for a beat, hands on the keys, breathing like I’m about to step onto a stage.
Then I type her name into the search engine.
Caterina Conti.
Links fill the screen. The standard stuff hits first: Caterina Conti on LinkedIn—Wharton MBA, same graduation year as me. A couple of alumni profiles with glossy headshots and bullet points: finance concentration, hospitality internships,volunteer board work. An old campus article about a case-competition win lists her as team lead.
Below that, a stack of pieces from the last week: local papers, hospitality trades, lifestyle blogs—photo galleries from The Regent’s grand opening. Ribbon cutting, speeches, donor shout-outs.
Shots of the lobby full and bright, the casino floor humming, the mezzanine set perfectly. Approved quotes on jobs and tourism, a pull-quote from Caterina about partnerships and community spend.
I can’t help it—I feel a surge of pride. We built this. The plan worked. People had a good time and went home talking about it.
I back out of the articles to the results page and keep scrolling.
I get to the bottom of the screen and am about to just exit when a thought hits me.
I go back up to the top and type in another name.
Roberto Conti.
Results populate fast. A lot of similar ones: LinkedIn first—General Counsel, Conti Enterprises; J.D. from Northwestern; undergrad at Loyola. Below that, the state bar directory: active status, and a bunch of other terms I don’t understand, like ‘white shoe firm’.
News clippings follow. Several this week from The Regent’s opening: quotes about jobs, compliance, communitypartnerships. Older pieces mention him as counsel on acquisitions for Conti Enterprises—permits, zoning, entertainment licenses.
A legal trade write-up has him on a roundtable about anti-money-laundering controls in hospitality. I click and skim: policy frameworks, source-of-funds verification, transaction monitoring.
Charity photos pop up next. Hospital foundation gala, a youth arts fundraiser, a scholarship dinner. He’s in a tux, expression composed, a beautiful woman standing next to him. No personal social media. Nothing out of the ordinary.
I sit back and sigh. What am I doing? What did I think I was going to get out of this?
Just as I’m about to exit and give up—maybe it’s not too late to head over to his house—something catches my eye.
A local piece sits halfway down the page from a while back. The headline makes my pulse kick up.
Conti Attorney Secures Early Release for Brother in Landmark Plea Review
I click.
The article opens with a courtroom photo—Luca Conti in a dark suit at counsel table, jaw set; beside him, his attorney: Roberto. The caption names them both. The story runs through the basics: federal charges years earlier, a sentence that drew headlines, and then a successful motion package arguing flaws in how the plea and sentencingwere handled.
The judge granted relief, cutting the remaining time. Luca walked out years earlier than he would have given his original sentence, released under strict conditions, then full release after compliance benchmarks were met.
Roberto’s brother was in prison?
I continue reading. Halfway down, a paragraph stops me:
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Elena Pennino led the team that opposed the motion before she departed the office.”
Elena Pennino.
