Chapter 14 - THE FATHER GIOVANNI FIRED
—
By seven the next morning, Fierro Tower had security at every entrance.
By eight, three television vans were parked across the street.
By nine, someone had leaked that an emergency board meeting had been called.
The city smelled a corporate war.
Giovanni looked like a man preparing for one.
He stood in the hotel suite fastening his cuff links while Lily ate cereal at the table.
She watched him suspiciously.
"Your tie is tight again."
He looked down.
"I have a difficult meeting."
"That makes bad choices more likely."
I nearly spit out my coffee.
Giovanni loosened the knot by half an inch.
"Better?"
Lily nodded.
"Much."
He looked at me.
"Your management style is spreading."
"She gets results."
For ten seconds, the room felt normal.
Then his phone buzzed and the weight returned.
Lucia had arrived downstairs.
Vincent had already entered the tower.
Carlo's location remained unknown.
Federal investigators had contacted corporate counsel overnight.
Tyler was still being questioned.
Robert had hired a criminal defense attorney.
My mother had stopped answering calls.
My father had sent Sophia twelve messages apologizing and asking to see us.
I had answered none.
Giovanni picked up his jacket.
"You do not need to come."
"I know."
"The board may discuss confidential material."
"I know."
"There will be press."
"Giovanni."
He stopped.
"Go."
He nodded.
Then Lily looked up from her cereal.
"Are you coming back?"
The question caught all three of us off guard.
Giovanni looked at me before answering.
I gave the smallest nod.
"Yes," he said.
Lily returned to her cereal.
"Okay."
He left.
I watched the door close.
Sophia appeared from the bedroom.
"That child just asked him the question she stopped asking Tyler."
My chest tightened.
"I know."
"Be careful."
"I am."
"No, you're careful with danger."
She sat beside me.
"Be careful with hope."
I hated my little sister for being right.
At ten-thirty, Evelyn called from Fierro Tower and asked whether I was willing to join by secure video for a limited portion of the board meeting.
"Why?"
"Vincent claims the emails are being misinterpreted and says his settlement strategy was intended to protect you."
I laughed.
"Of course he does."
"The independent directors want to hear whether he contacted you."
"He offered me one million dollars."
"Exactly."
I agreed.
Nathan took Lily to the hotel playroom with two security officers outside the hall.
Sophia stayed beside me.
The secure video opened on my laptop.
The boardroom appeared.
Giovanni sat at the head of the table this time.
Vincent sat halfway down.
Lucia sat behind him but not beside him.
That choice seemed deliberate.
Carlo's chair was empty.
An outside law firm occupied three seats.
A retired judge appointed as special board adviser sat near the center.
The chair of the audit committee spoke first.
"Ms. Hale, thank you for joining."
"You're welcome."
"Did Vincent Fierro contact you yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"In a conference room at Fierro Tower."
"What did he offer?"
"One million dollars in exchange for a statement distancing myself from Giovanni and limiting my involvement in claims connected to Tyler Mercer's loan."
Vincent interrupted.
"That is an incomplete characterization."
The retired judge looked at him.
"You will have your turn."
I continued.
"He also told me one million dollars would change my daughter's life."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"Did you accept?"
"No."
"Why not?"
I looked directly into the camera.
"Because he was counting on me being poor enough to confuse money with consent."
Nobody spoke.
The audit chair thanked me.
Then Giovanni asked a question I had not expected.
"Jessica, did anyone from Fierro Holdings ever tell you before the wedding that your name appeared on a Mercer Development loan?"
"No."
"Did I?"
"No."
"Did I ask you to marry me legally?"
"No."
Lucia raised an eyebrow.
Technically she had been the one to present the idea.
"Did I ask you for access to your trust?"
"No."
"Thank you."
The video portion ended.
I closed the laptop.
Sophia stared at me.
"You realize that looked like testimony in a divorce between billionaires."
"Please never say that again."
"Gladly."
The actual board fight lasted another three hours.
Evelyn sent updates only when permitted.
At 12:14, the audit committee voted to suspend Carlo from all corporate authority pending investigation.
At 12:52, the independent directors voted to refer the Mercer loan and related transactions to federal and state authorities.
At 1:31, Vincent proposed that Giovanni take temporary leave for reputational reasons.
The motion failed six to three.
At 1:47, Giovanni made his own motion.
Remove Vincent Fierro as executive chairman.
The vote deadlocked four to four with one abstention.
Lucia held the deciding proxy for a family trust that controlled the ninth vote.
At 1:56, she voted yes.
Vincent Fierro was removed from the company he had controlled for thirty-seven years.
Sophia read Evelyn's message aloud.
"Your mother-in-law just fired your father-in-law."
I glared at her.
"They are not my in-laws."
"Fine."
She smiled.
"Your fake mother-in-law fired your fake father-in-law."
"You are enjoying this too much."
"My wedding cake was destroyed by a custody conspiracy."
She pointed at herself.
"I am owed entertainment."
I laughed despite myself.
Then my phone rang.
Children's Memorial.
Dana sounded happier this time.
"We found the access source."
My pulse jumped.
"Who?"
"A temporary compliance contractor."
"Do I know them?"
"No."
"Then why target me?"
"The contractor's account was accessed remotely from an external IP."
"Where?"
"A corporate office in River North."
My stomach tightened.
"Which office?"
"Mercer Development."
I closed my eyes.
Tyler.
Again.
"Does that clear me?"
"The diversion allegations do not match medication dispensing logs, your toxicology is clean, and the records in the complaint were accessed improperly."
Dana's voice softened.
"You're cleared to return Monday."
I began crying before she finished.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just tears I had been holding since the reporter shouted about my license outside the courthouse.
"Thank you."
"You didn't do anything."
"I know."
And for the first time in days, those words felt true.
I did not do anything.
I did not cause Tyler's betrayal.
I did not forge a loan.
I did not create my family's secrets.
I did not make Robert steal.
I did not make Carlo corrupt.
I did not make Vincent cruel.
I had spent years accepting responsibility for damage other people chose to cause.
The habit ended there.
At three, Giovanni returned.
He looked exhausted.
Lily ran to him before I could warn her not to run in socks on polished hotel floors.
"You came back."
He caught her lightly by the shoulders before she collided with him.
"I said I would."
"Did you make good choices?"
He looked at me over her head.
"Ask me tomorrow."
Lily considered that.
"Okay."
Then she ran back to the playroom.
Giovanni took off his jacket and sat across from me.
"Hospital?"
"Cleared."
Relief crossed his face.
"Good."
"Board?"
"My father is out."
"I heard."
"Carlo is suspended."
"I heard."
"Federal investigators want documents."
"I heard that too."
He leaned back.
"Apparently I am unnecessary."
"Don't get excited."
I poured him coffee.
"You're still useful for reaching high shelves."
He almost smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
"Jessica, there is something I need to tell you before someone else does."
I set the pot down.
"I hate that sentence."
"So do I."
"Go ahead."
"Last night, after we found the trust note tied to Elena's foundation, I had my private counsel review my sister's estate records."
"And?"
"Elena left a sealed memorandum for me."
"About the trust?"
"About your grandfather."
I stared at him.
"What did it say?"
"She knew he had named her successor trustee."
"So you were wrong when you said she may not have known."
"Yes."
"Did she tell you?"
"No."
"Why?"
"The memorandum says your grandfather asked her to keep the arrangement private until either Robert resigned or a beneficiary challenged him."
"That sounds like him."
"There is more."
Of course there was.
"Elena investigated Robert before she died."
My pulse slowed.
"Why?"
"Because she saw unusual withdrawals from the trust report your grandfather gave her."
"Did she find anything?"
"Yes."
"What?"
Giovanni looked at me.
"The first unauthorized payment was not to Robert."
"Then who?"
He placed a photocopy on the table.
A check from the trust dated seven years earlier.
Amount: $250,000.
Payee: Margaret Hale.
My mother.
Memo: CONSULTING SETTLEMENT.
I stared at it.
"What consulting?"
"There wasn't any."
"Why would my mother receive two hundred fifty thousand dollars?"
Giovanni's voice was quiet.
"Elena believed it was payment for signing a beneficiary competency affidavit about you."
My entire body went cold.
"Seven years ago?"
"Yes."
That was two years before Lily was born.
Two years before Tyler left.
Two years before anyone could pretend they were protecting an exhausted single mother.
My mother had been helping Robert build a case against me before there was any crisis to justify it.
I looked at Giovanni.
"What did the affidavit say?"
He hesitated.
"That you were impulsive, financially irresponsible, and vulnerable to manipulation by romantic partners."
I laughed once.
The irony was almost perfect.
"She described me as the person she was helping create."
"Jessica—"
"No."
I stood.
"I need to hear this from her."
Sophia appeared in the doorway.
She had heard enough.
Her face was white.
"Jess."
I looked at my sister.
"Where is Mom?"
Sophia swallowed.
"She just texted me."
"What did she say?"
Sophia turned her phone toward me.
One message.
I'M SORRY.
Then another.
I CAN'T LET ROBERT GO TO PRISON FOR WHAT I STARTED.
My blood went cold.
May you like
A third message arrived while we watched.
DON'T LOOK FOR ME.
