Chapter 16 - Blood on the Boardroom Floor
Vanessa's claim sounded impossible.
I wanted it to be impossible.
It was easier to hate people when history stayed organized.
Dad good.
Whitmore bad.
Moretti dangerous.
Vanessa cruel.
Nico traitor.
But real families never respect categories for long.
"Explain," I said.
Vanessa rubbed her hands together.
"The night at the warehouse, after I gave Voss the access card, I heard him arguing with your father."
"You told me that."
"I didn't tell you what happened after."
"Then tell me."
"Voss saw me listening."
Her voice tightened.
"He grabbed me."
I said nothing.
"He told me to forget what I heard."
"And Dad?"
"Your father stepped between us."
I pictured him.
Five foot ten.
Slightly overweight.
Bad left knee.
A man who hated even arguing with telemarketers unless they deserved it.
"What did he do?"
"He told Voss to take his hands off me."
"And?"
"Voss laughed."
Vanessa's eyes shifted toward the table.
"Your father picked up a steel clipboard and said he would introduce it to Voss's teeth if he didn't let me go."
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
Tears reached my eyes at the same time.
That sounded so much like Dad that it hurt.
Vanessa almost smiled.
"Voss let go."
"Why didn't you tell police?"
"My father told me Daniel was extorting the company."
"And you believed him."
"I wanted to."
"For eight years?"
"For eight years, I believed whatever version kept me from asking what my phone call had caused."
I leaned back.
"That doesn't excuse what you did to me."
"I know."
"Stop saying that like it repairs anything."
She flinched.
"I'm not asking you to forgive me."
"Good."
"I'm asking you to help me keep my father alive long enough to tell the truth."
There it was.
The bargain.
Not redemption.
Usefulness.
That I understood.
Harlan entered after Vanessa's attorney ended the interview.
Dominic waited in another room.
When I told him about the merger demand, his face became cold.
"I will not sign it."
Vanessa had warned me he would say that.
"Then Nico may kill Charles."
"If I sign it, Nico can bury half the evidence under Moretti control and create a paper trail that makes my company responsible for Whitmore fraud."
"So we fake the signing."
Harlan looked at me.
"No."
"You really only have one opening position."
"Because your opening position is usually illegal or dangerous."
"A fake corporate signing isn't illegal if Dominic doesn't file it."
Dominic considered it.
Harlan pointed at him.
"Do not encourage her."
Dominic ignored him.
"Nico will verify."
"Then give him something verifiable for an hour."
Dominic's attorney, Michael Soren, had been silent until then.
He finally spoke.
"We could execute a conditional board resolution authorizing the merger subject to closing documents that would never be delivered."
Harlan stared at him.
"I dislike everyone in this room."
Soren continued.
"The resolution would be real."
"And revocable?" Dominic asked.
"Until closing."
"Nico sees the board vote, thinks he has what he wants, and comes to the exchange," I said.
Harlan looked at all of us.
"This is now an operation."
"Good," I said.
"Which means police control it."
"Less good."
He ignored me.
The board meeting was scheduled for ten the next morning in Moretti Development's downtown headquarters.
Only six directors were told the minimum necessary.
Vanessa attended remotely from Harlan's office under supervision.
Dominic sat at the head of a long walnut table thirty-eight floors above the river.
I sat in an adjoining conference room with Harlan, Marco, and two federal investigators who had joined after the financial evidence expanded beyond local jurisdiction.
The FBI agents made everything feel suddenly more real.
Agent Priya Shah specialized in financial crimes.
Agent Lucas Reed specialized in organized crime.
Reed looked at Dominic through the glass as if he had been waiting years to place him inside a sentence.
"Your friend has interesting books."
I looked at him.
"He's not my friend."
Marco coughed.
Harlan looked amused.
Reed raised an eyebrow.
"Sure."
I decided I disliked him too.
At 10:14, Dominic called the meeting to order.
At 10:21, the board voted four to two to authorize conditional merger execution.
At 10:24, the corporate filing portal reflected the board action.
At 10:27, Nico texted Marco.
GOOD.
NOON.
BRING AVERY AND THE DOCUMENT HER MOTHER KEPT.
Harlan looked at me.
"We still don't know what document he means."
"Neither does he."
"You sure?"
"If he knew, he would have stolen it with the medal."
Agent Shah nodded.
"He's fishing."
"Then we give him bait," I said.
We created a photocopy packet from Dad's recipe card, the name list, and one ledger fragment.
Enough to look important.
Not enough to destroy the case if Nico took it.
Dominic finished the board meeting at 10:41.
He entered our room and loosened his tie.
"He bought it?"
"Apparently," Harlan said.
Dominic looked at me.
"You are not going to the lake house."
I stared.
"We are doing this again?"
"Nico specifically requested you."
"Exactly."
"Which is why you stay here."
"Then he knows it's a trap."
"It is a trap."
"Yes, but traps work better when the bait arrives."
"You are not bait."
The words came out sharper than he intended.
The room went quiet.
Agent Reed looked away with the exaggerated politeness of someone definitely listening.
I looked at Dominic.
"I'm not asking you."
"And I'm not asking you either."
"This is my father."
"And Nico is my problem."
"He became my problem when he interfered with my mother's treatment."
"Avery."
"Dominic."
Harlan slammed one palm lightly against the table.
"Both of you stop."
We looked at him.
"Carter goes because Nico expects her."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"But she goes wired, with tactical teams in position, and she follows orders."
I opened my mouth.
Harlan raised a finger.
"Actual orders."
I closed it.
We left at eleven.
Then everything broke.
The first sign was Marco's phone losing connection to the lake house perimeter team.
The second was Agent Shah receiving an alert that someone had accessed the Moretti board network again.
The third was the elevator stopping between the thirty-first and thirtieth floors while we were still inside Moretti headquarters.
The lights flickered.
Dominic looked at Marco.
"Nico."
Marco touched his earpiece.
"Security, respond."
Static.
Then the elevator dropped half a floor.
I grabbed the rail.
Dominic hit the emergency button.
The car stopped hard.
Agent Reed drew his weapon.
Harlan swore.
"Nobody panic."
"Great advice," I said.
A metallic scraping sounded above us.
Marco looked up.
"Someone is on the car."
The ceiling hatch moved.
Reed aimed upward.
"Police."
No answer.
Then smoke began entering through the vent.
Not fire smoke.
Chemical.
My eyes burned.
"Cover your mouth," Shah said.
Dominic pulled off his jacket and pressed it over my nose before I could argue.
The hatch opened.
A masked man dropped something into the car.
Reed fired upward.
The device hit the floor and released thicker smoke.
People coughed.
Marco kicked it toward the corner.
I heard the emergency doors begin to separate manually.
Someone outside was forcing them open at the floor below.
Harlan shouted instructions.
The gap widened.
Hands reached in.
At first I thought rescuers had arrived.
Then one hand held a gun.
Marco slammed the doors against it.
A shot fired.
The bullet struck the elevator wall.
Dominic shoved me down.
Agent Reed returned fire through the gap.
The gun disappeared.
Then a second opening formed near the top as the roof hatch was pulled wider.
The masked man dropped into the car.
He landed on Marco.
I moved toward him.
Dominic grabbed my waist.
"Stay down."
"Let go."
The attacker swung at Marco.
Marco blocked.
Agent Shah tried to reach him but another shot came through the lower door gap.
Chaos compressed into three feet of metal.
The attacker turned toward Dominic.
I saw the knife first.
I drove my foot into his wrist.
The blade hit the floor.
He punched me across the jaw.
Light burst behind my eyes.
Dominic hit him from the side.
They crashed against the wall.
The attacker reached inside his coat again.
I trapped his arm.
He was stronger.
Dominic grabbed the man's shoulder.
Marco pulled him backward.
Then the elevator doors finally opened wide at the thirtieth floor.
Two armed men stood outside.
One fired.
Marco spun.
A red stain spread across his side.
"Marco!"
Dominic caught him.
Reed fired toward the hall.
The attackers retreated.
Harlan dragged us out of the elevator.
Alarms filled the building.
Employees screamed farther down the corridor.
Sprinklers suddenly activated though there was no fire.
Marco was on the floor.
Blood spread beneath his jacket.
I dropped beside him and pressed both hands over the wound.
"Stay with me."
His face had gone white.
"I've had better mornings."
"Stop talking."
"You sound like Linda."
I looked at him.
"You know my mother well enough to say that?"
He almost smiled.
Then he coughed.
Paramedics were still floors away.
Dominic knelt on Marco's other side.
His hands were shaking.
I had never seen that before.
"Who did this?"
Marco's eyes moved toward the corridor.
"Nico."
"You saw him?"
"No."
"Then how do you know?"
Marco swallowed.
"Because I finally remembered why he was at Whitmore Industrial the morning Daniel died."
I leaned closer.
"Why?"
Marco's voice was barely audible.
"Antonio sent him before me."
Dominic froze.
"What?"
"I wasn't twelve minutes late."
Marco's eyes filled with pain.
"Nico was supposed to pick Daniel up at six thirty."
My hands pressed harder against the wound.
"Then why did you go?"
"Antonio called me at six forty-five."
"Why?"
"Because Nico told him Daniel never showed."
The platform collapsed at 6:41.
Nico had been inside the building seven minutes earlier.
Marco looked at me.
"Nico lied."
Sirens grew louder in the hallway.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
Nico's name appeared on the screen.
Dominic answered.
"You son of a—"
Nico laughed.
"Board meeting looked good."
Dominic stared toward the ceiling cameras.
"Where are you?"
"Not at the lake house."
My blood went cold.
"The exchange was never there," I said.
Nico heard me.
"Hello, Avery."
"Where is Charles?"
"Safe enough."
"What do you want?"
"I wanted everyone out of the Moretti building."
Dominic's face changed.
"Why?"
Nico chuckled.
"Because while you were all trapped in the elevator, my people were in your boardroom."
Agent Shah looked toward the stairs.
"What did they take?"
Nico answered before Dominic could ask.
"Nothing."
Pause.
"I left something."
A security officer shouted from the boardroom floor above us.
Then came an explosion.
The blast rolled through the building like thunder.
The ceiling shook.
Glass shattered in the corridor.
Dominic looked upward.
Nico's voice continued through the phone, calm and almost pleased.
May you like
"Now let's see who the newspapers believe killed Charles Whitmore."
