Chapter 9 - The Crown Was Never His
At 11:42 p.m., I entered Marlowe Atlantic's abandoned Brooklyn terminal alone.
At least Luca believed I was alone.
For once, Dante trusted me enough to let me walk into danger without physically stopping me.
He hated it.
I could see that from half a mile away through the tiny camera hidden in my necklace.
The terminal was enormous.
Shipping containers created steel corridors beneath industrial lights.
Luca waited beside my mother.
Carlo stood near the transfer computer.
“Happy birthday,” Luca said.
“It's not midnight.”
“Eighteen minutes.”
I looked at Mom.
She nodded once.
Alive.
Good.
“Release her.”
“After the transfer.”
Carlo turned the laptop toward me.
Documents waited onscreen.
“Fingerprint. Facial recognition. Voice authorization.”
“And then?”
“You become extraordinarily rich,” Luca said.
“I already am, apparently.”
He smiled.
“And we become partners.”
“No.”
His smile weakened.
I approached the computer.
“Do you know what your problem is, Luca?”
“I'm sure you'll tell me.”
“You spent six years studying me and never learned anything.”
“I know everything about you.”
“You know where I went to school. What coffee I drank. Who my mother was. You know facts.”
I placed my finger on the scanner.
The first authorization turned green.
Carlo relaxed.
“You never knew me.”
Second authorization.
My face.
Green.
Luca stepped closer.
“I know you love power.”
“No. You love power. You assumed everyone else does too.”
The clock changed.
11:58.
“Voice authorization,” Carlo said.
A sentence appeared.
I, Elena Marlowe, authorize the complete transfer of controlling interest.
I looked toward my mother.
Then at Luca.
I spoke clearly.
“I, Elena Marlowe, authorize the complete transfer of controlling interest.”
Green.
Carlo smiled.
Luca exhaled.
The screen displayed:
TRANSFER PROCESSING.
Thirty seconds.
Twenty-nine.
Luca approached me.
“You see? We could have done this without all the drama.”
“Could we?”
Twenty-five.
He touched my face.
I slapped his hand away.
His expression darkened.
Twenty.
Then the screen flashed.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Carlo laughed.
Luca turned toward the monitor.
His smile disappeared.
Recipient:
MARLOWE EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP FOUNDATION.
Silence.
“What?”
I smiled.
“Happy birthday to me.”
Carlo attacked the keyboard.
“What did you do?”
“My mother and I amended the trust.”
Mom smiled through tears.
“The controlling shares transferred to the employees at midnight.”
Luca stared at me.
“You gave it away?”
“Enough of it.”
“You gave away billions?”
“I kept enough.”
His face twisted.
He truly could not understand.
That was why he had lost.
“You destroyed everything!”
“No. I destroyed what you wanted.”
Carlo raised his gun.
“Then you're useless.”
Before he could fire, the terminal lights died.
Dante's voice came through the darkness.
“Careful.”
Gunfire erupted.
I dropped.
Mom kicked her chair sideways.
Carlo fired toward Dante's voice.
Police stormed the terminal from both entrances.
Bianca had delivered the microdrive to federal investigators hours earlier.
Carlo ran.
He made it twelve feet.
Marco tackled him.
Luca grabbed me.
A gun pressed against my ribs.
Dante emerged from behind a container.
His weapon was raised.
“Elena.”
Luca dragged me backward.
“Drop it.”
Dante didn't.
Luca shouted, “Drop it!”
Dante looked at me.
Not Luca.
Me.
And I understood.
He wasn't going to make my decision.
Not anymore.
I moved.
Hard.
I drove my heel down onto Luca's foot and threw my head backward.
His nose cracked.
The gun shifted.
Dante fired.
The bullet struck Luca's shoulder.
He collapsed.
I ran toward Mom.
Police swarmed him.
Luca screamed while officers forced his hands behind his back.
“This was mine!”
I turned.
“No.”
My voice was calm.
“That's the point. None of it was ever yours.”
Carlo was arrested beside him.
For the first time in years, the Moretti brothers stood only twenty feet apart.
Luca looked at Dante.
“You always win.”
Dante lowered his weapon.
“No.”
Then he looked at me.
“She did.”
Police led Luca away.
Midnight arrived.
My phone changed dates.
Thirty years old.
My mother hugged me.
Bianca was crying while pretending she had dust in her eyes.
Marco smiled.
And Dante remained several feet away.
He didn't claim me.
Didn't touch me.
Didn't announce that I belonged beside him.
He simply waited.
So I crossed the distance.
I took his hand.
His fingers closed around mine.
“Happy birthday, princess,” he whispered.
I looked at him.
“That name is on probation.”
For the first time in weeks, Dante Moretti laughed.
Then I kissed him beneath the cold industrial lights while police cars flashed outside.
But even then, I knew defeating Luca wasn't the ending.
Because revenge had brought Dante and me back into the same room.
It could not rebuild what we had broken.
May you like
That part would be harder.
That part would require love.
