Chapter 17 - The Vows
The cathedral annex had been wired before sunrise.
Every room except the confessional spaces carried court-authorized audio surveillance.
Two cameras faced the long conference table where Charles Beaumont, Gabriel Ventresca, and Celeste now sat.
Sloan watched from a command vehicle parked beneath a construction awning one block away.
Luca watched from a room inside the cathedral rectory.
Nora stood beside him.
Elena sat behind them with Dr. Keller and Sal.
On the monitor, Charles looked at his daughter with open disgust.
"You disappeared."
Celeste removed her sunglasses.
"You had Derek grab me in a parking garage."
"He was bringing you here."
"He left blood on the floor."
"Because you hit him with a metal clasp."
"He deserved more."
Gabriel closed the door.
"We are not here to discuss family manners."
Charles turned toward him.
"You confessed at the hotel."
Gabriel's face went still.
"To what?"
"Do not insult me."
"You think I do not know the penthouse was wired?"
Luca looked at Sloan's feed.
Charles had known.
Maybe not during the first minutes, but soon enough afterward.
Gabriel leaned over the table.
"Then why are you here?"
Charles smiled.
"Because the wedding is still happening."
Celeste laughed bitterly.
"You still think I am marrying him?"
Charles looked at his daughter as if she were a disappointing employee.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because without the marriage, every instrument we prepared becomes useless."
"Every instrument you prepared," Celeste said.
"Do not include me when the indictments arrive."
Charles's smile disappeared.
"You signed the side letter."
"Because Vale told me it was a marital asset schedule."
"You approved the medical vendor."
"Because your office told me to."
"You put pressure on Elena."
Celeste's face hardened.
"That was me."
Nora stared at the screen.
There was no excuse in the answer.
For once, Celeste did not blame anyone else.
"And I will answer for it," she continued.
Charles blinked.
"You are becoming sentimental."
"No."
"I am becoming realistic."
She leaned toward him.
"Luca knows about Harlan."
"He knows about Mercer."
"He has Vale."
"He has the ledger."
Charles's face changed for the first time.
"What ledger?"
Gabriel smiled faintly.
"There it is."
"You did not know Warren kept a copy."
Charles stared at him.
"Where is it?"
"Not with me."
"Then why are you smiling?"
"Because for the first time in seventeen years, you are scared too."
Charles stood.
"You fool."
"Antonio would still be alive if you had followed instructions."
Luca's breath stopped.
Elena closed her eyes.
Inside the annex, Gabriel rose slowly.
"My instructions?"
"You ordered the route change," Charles said.
"You told the driver where Antonio would be."
"You paid the truck."
"I paid for a warning."
"You paid a man with two prior drunk-driving charges to ram my brother's car."
Charles's voice sharpened.
"The collision was supposed to happen at low speed."
"Your driver accelerated."
"And you buried the report."
"Because you begged me to."
"Because you had stolen from the company for years."
Gabriel slammed his hand against the table.
"We both had."
Silence followed.
Nora looked at Luca.
He had gone completely still.
Sloan's voice came through the earpiece.
"We have enough."
Luca did not respond.
Charles continued, quieter now.
"Antonio was going to destroy us."
"He was going to expose the options, remove you from the board, and turn over Vale's records."
Gabriel's eyes burned.
"He was my brother."
"And you changed his route."
"You sent the truck."
Celeste stood between them.
"Stop."
Both men looked at her.
"You killed Luca's father over shares and debt instruments," she said.
"Then you spent eleven years pretending to honor him."
Gabriel's face crumpled for one second.
Charles's did not.
"Grow up," Charles said to his daughter.
"Families like ours are built on decisions nobody puts in biographies."
Celeste stared at him.
"You sound proud."
"I sound alive."
The words settled over the room.
Nora saw Elena grip the arm of her wheelchair.
Luca crouched beside her.
"We can stop this now."
Elena looked at him.
"Not before he explains what he wanted from you."
Luca hesitated.
Then he nodded toward Sloan's monitor.
The operation continued.
In the annex, Gabriel slid a folder across the table.
"Here are the original Beaumont option agreements."
Charles did not touch it.
"Where did you get those?"
"Antonio's archive."
"You told me they were destroyed."
"I lied."
"Why bring them?"
"Insurance."
"Everybody has insurance today," Celeste said bitterly.
Gabriel looked at her.
"The wedding can still happen ceremonially."
"The legal license does not have to be filed."
Charles laughed.
"You think Luca will cooperate after last night?"
Gabriel looked toward the cathedral wall.
"He already is."
Charles's eyes narrowed.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning Luca wants us here."
Celeste stared.
Gabriel continued.
"The rehearsal collapse was staged."
Nora looked at Marco, who had just entered the rectory room.
"How did he know?"
Marco's expression darkened.
"Mercer must have realized the vitals did not match."
In the annex, Charles stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
"You knew?"
Gabriel nodded.
"I knew by midnight."
"And you still came?"
"Because my only chance now is to give Luca you."
Charles reached inside his jacket.
Federal agents moved toward the annex doors.
Celeste stepped back.
Gabriel grabbed Charles's wrist.
A small black device fell onto the table.
Not a weapon.
A remote control.
Charles smiled.
"Too late."
He pressed the button.
Every public screen inside St. Matthew's Cathedral came alive.
The wedding guests were already arriving.
Ushers stopped in the aisles.
A video began playing across the cathedral monitors.
It showed Luca in the hidden Hudson office watching Celeste through secret cameras.
Then it cut to Nora entering the blue room.
Then to Elena leaving the estate in the unauthorized medical van.
Then to Luca speaking with men identified by on-screen captions as organized-crime associates.
The footage was edited to create a different story.
One in which Luca had staged his mother's disappearance, spied on his fiancee, manipulated police, and fired Nora to silence a witness.
A title appeared across the screens.
THE TRUTH ABOUT LUCA VENTRESCA.
Guests began murmuring.
Reporters outside immediately received the same video through anonymous email.
Charles looked toward the hidden annex camera and smiled directly into it.
"Now arrest me," he said.
"And explain that to the world."
Federal agents entered.
Charles raised his hands.
Gabriel did not resist.
Celeste remained standing beside the table.
Sloan ordered all three separated.
Luca looked at the cathedral feed.
His reputation was detonating in real time.
Daniel entered the rectory room carrying a phone.
"Every network has the video."
"The board is asking for an emergency call."
"Two lenders want statements."
"The district attorney is requesting clarification."
Nora looked at Luca.
"What do we do?"
He stared at Charles's edited video.
Then he looked at the clock.
It was 3:42 p.m.
The wedding was supposed to begin in eighteen minutes.
"We continue," Luca said.
Daniel stared.
"There is no bride."
A voice came from the doorway.
"Yes, there is."
Celeste stood between two federal agents.
She had removed the gray coat.
Beneath it she wore a simple white dress, not the couture wedding gown waiting at the hotel.
Sloan appeared behind her.
"She wants to make a statement in public."
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
Celeste looked at him.
"Because my father just used your cameras to tell a lie."
"And I know where the unedited copies are."
Nora stared at her.
Celeste continued.
"He hacked the hotel archive through Beaumont Digital Risk."
"But he never knew Marco kept an isolated duplicate server."
Marco's face changed.
"How do you know about the duplicate?"
"Warren told me."
"Before he decided insurance was more useful than loyalty."
Luca looked toward the cathedral.
"What are you proposing?"
Celeste's voice was steady.
"Let the ceremony begin."
"Let every camera in New York point at us."
"Then show them what really happened."
Nora did not trust her.
Neither did anyone else.
May you like
That was exactly why the plan might work.
At four o'clock, the cathedral bells began to ring.
