Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO OWNED EVERY SECRET
Elena grabbed Vale’s number from her contacts and called.
Disconnected.
She called his office.
A recorded message said the line was no longer in service.
Vittorio entered behind her.
“His Midtown office is empty.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
“My people went there.”
“How long have your people been watching him?”
Vittorio didn’t answer quickly enough.
Elena crossed the library and shoved him once in the chest.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew enough to watch him.”
“I knew enough not to trust him.”
“And you let him stand three feet from me all night.”
Vittorio took the hit without moving back.
“I needed to see who reacted when the debt package surfaced.”
Elena stared at him.
“The offer.”
“Yes.”
“You baited them.”
“I baited whoever was engineering the default.”
“With my family inside the trap.”
His jaw tightened.
“With mine too.”
She almost asked what that meant.
Her phone vibrated.
Not a call.
A photo.
Caroline sat in a chair with duct tape across her mouth.
Charles sat behind her, head bowed.
Both alive.
For now.
Below the image:
MIDNIGHT. BRING MORETTI.
Elena shoved the phone toward Vittorio.
“He wants you.”
Vittorio read it once.
“That’s new.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing yet.”
Elena’s screen lit again.
Incoming call.
CHARLES WHITMORE.
She answered on speaker.
Vale’s voice came through clean this time.
No distortion.
“Elena.”
Her fingers dug into the edge of the desk.
“Put Caroline on.”
“She’s listening.”
“I want to hear her.”
A rustle.
Then Caroline’s muffled sob.
Elena closed her eyes for half a second.
“Take the tape off.”
“No.”
“You need me cooperative.”
“I need you rational.”
“You kidnapped my father and sister.”
“Your father kidnapped this company from everyone around him for thirty years. I’m simply collecting what he owes.”
Vittorio held out his hand for the phone.
Elena kept it.
“Meridian Family Office is yours.”
Vale was silent.
That silence lasted exactly long enough.
Elena pressed.
“You skimmed the Newark payment.”
“Your mother built a very useful machine. Your father kept feeding it.”
“Why frame me?”
A soft click sounded on the line.
A lighter.
Vale inhaled.
“Because Charles would sacrifice you.”
Elena looked at the board resolution still on the table.
Vale continued.
“I needed everyone to believe the signature before the lenders understood the structure.”
“You used Victoria.”
“I used what Charles created. Fear, hierarchy, obedience. Your family has always been efficient that way.”
Elena’s free hand curled.
“Where are they?”
“You’ll get coordinates at eleven-thirty.”
“If Caroline is hurt—”
“She won’t be if you follow directions.”
Vale paused.
“Bring Moretti.”
Vittorio leaned toward the phone.
“I’m here.”
Vale laughed once.
“Of course you are.”
Vittorio’s face didn’t move.
“You’ve been waiting a long time to say that.”
“So have you.”
Elena looked between the phone and Vittorio.
Vale spoke again.
“Did he tell you why he came to dinner?”
Elena said nothing.
“Did he tell you why he already had your mother’s incorporation papers?”
Her eyes moved to Vittorio.
He went still.
Vale heard the silence.
“There it is.”
Elena’s voice dropped.
“Why does he have them?”
Vale answered before Vittorio could.
“Because Margot Whitmore did not create Halcyon to protect your father from strangers.”
A chair scraped somewhere on Vale’s end.
Caroline made a sound.
May you like
Vale’s voice came closer to the phone.
“She created it because of the Moretti family.”
