Chapter 8 - The Woman Everyone Blamed
Roman was in federal custody when Vanessa disappeared.
Which meant the person who took her had been waiting for him to fail.
The photograph contained almost nothing useful.
Black upholstery.
Vanessa's face.
A strip of highway visible through the rear window.
My father examined it.
Dante stood across the room but kept his distance.
We hadn't spoken privately since Castellano Tower.
That was deliberate.
“Who benefits if Roman falls?” I asked.
Margaret answered.
“Everyone beneath him.”
“Too many possibilities.”
Gabriel leaned over the financial records.
“Not everyone knew about Vanessa.”
That narrowed it.
Vanessa had been protected at a private apartment known only to federal agents, my attorneys, and a handful of people from Roman's inner circle.
Dante said, “Someone leaked the location.”
I looked at him.
“Can you trace the vehicle?”
“We're trying.”
“No. Look at the photograph.”
He did.
“What?”
“The window.”
A green highway sign was reflected faintly in the glass.
Dante enlarged it.
Only three letters were readable.
IND.
Indiana.
My father stood.
“Roman has a property near Gary.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Salvatore had it. Roman sold it.”
“To whom?”
Gabriel searched corporate records.
His face changed.
“Victor Lane.”
I froze.
“Lane?”
Vanessa's surname.
“Her father?”
“No.”
Gabriel looked up.
“Her uncle.”
Everything clicked.
Vanessa hadn't been randomly selected by Roman.
She had been placed near him.
But by whom?
We drove south.
This time Dante didn't sit beside me.
I noticed.
I hated that I noticed.
The property was an abandoned lakeside club outside Gary.
Federal agents surrounded it quietly.
Inside, Vanessa woke tied to a chair.
Her uncle stood nearby.
Victor Lane was in his fifties, silver-haired, expensive suit.
And I recognized him.
He had attended my wedding.
One of Salvatore Castellano's oldest advisers.
The agents recorded through surveillance equipment.
Victor paced before Vanessa.
“You were supposed to get the ring.”
“I did.”
“And then you ran to Evelyn.”
“I wasn't going to let Roman kill her.”
Victor slapped the chair.
“He wasn't going to kill her. He needed her signature.”
Vanessa cried.
“You used me.”
“I gave you an opportunity.”
“You told me Roman loved me.”
Victor laughed.
“No man like Roman loves anybody.”
The irony nearly made me sick.
Vanessa had been manipulated by Roman.
Roman had been manipulated by Victor.
And Victor had underestimated Vanessa because everyone did.
The agents entered.
Victor grabbed Vanessa and put a gun against her head.
Chaos froze.
“Back!”
Everyone stopped.
I saw Vanessa's eyes.
Terrified.
Then she looked at me.
I remembered the ballroom.
The frightened twenty-two-year-old in red.
I stepped forward.
Dante whispered, “Evelyn.”
I raised one hand.
He stopped.
Victor shouted, “Stay back!”
“You want the ring.”
His eyes shifted toward me.
“I have it.”
I removed the sapphire from my pocket.
Vanessa stared.
Victor's greed overcame caution.
“Give it to me.”
“Let her go.”
“Ring first.”
“No.”
He pressed the weapon harder against Vanessa.
I held his gaze.
“Then shoot her.”
Vanessa's eyes widened.
Victor blinked.
“You won't.”
“You think I don't understand you?”
I stepped closer.
“You need Vanessa alive because she can testify Roman manipulated her, which lets you portray yourself as the innocent adviser who tried to protect her.”
Victor's expression changed.
“You kill her, your story dies.”
I threw the ring across the floor.
His eyes followed it.
That was all Vanessa needed.
She slammed her heel onto his foot and ducked.
Agents rushed him.
Seconds later, Victor was on the ground.
Vanessa sobbed.
I ran to her.
She threw her arms around me.
“I'm sorry.”
“So am I.”
“For what?”
“For thinking you were my enemy.”
She laughed through tears.
“I was sleeping with your husband. It wasn't an unreasonable conclusion.”
I laughed too.
A ridiculous sound after everything.
Outside, paramedics examined her.
Dante stood twenty feet away.
I approached.
“You could have stopped me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you?”
“You knew what you were doing.”
“You didn't know that.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“But it was your risk to choose.”
That was the difference.
Not perfection.
Respect.
“I was furious about the photograph.”
“You should be.”
“I still am.”
“I know.”
“Don't do it again.”
“I won't.”
I studied him.
“That's it?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Most men in my life give speeches when they're wrong.”
“I was wrong.”
A smile almost escaped me.
“Annoyingly efficient.”
His mouth finally curved.
Then his phone rang.
The smile vanished.
“What?”
He listened.
“When?”
He hung up.
“Roman made bail.”
I stared.
“How?”
“Not on the federal investigation. Those charges haven't been filed yet. The state case from the tower was reduced while evidence is reviewed.”
“Where is he?”
“Nobody knows.”
My phone buzzed.
A voicemail.
Roman.
I played it.
His voice was calm.
“Happy birthday, Evelyn. Sorry the gift arrived late.”
Then an explosion shook the night.
Flames rose in the distance.
My father turned.
His face went white.
“That's Warehouse Nine.”
The building containing the remaining original archives.
Dante's phone rang again.
Another property was burning.
Then another.
Roman wasn't escaping.
He was erasing evidence.
My phone received one final message.
YOU TOOK MY EMPIRE. NOW WATCH YOURS BURN.
I looked at the flames.
For four years, I had feared what Roman would do if I stopped obeying him.
Now I finally understood.
He could burn buildings.
He could destroy money.
He could attack a name.
But my empire wasn't any of those things.
I turned toward the people beside me.
My father.
Vanessa.
Gabriel.
Margaret.
Dante.
Roman had made one fatal mistake.
May you like
He thought destroying what I owned would destroy me.
And by morning, I intended to prove him wrong.
