Chapter 8 - Chloe's Last Secret
Chloe did not cry.
That frightened Vincent.
She simply stared at the message.
Then she said, “I’m going.”
“No.”
“He has my mother.”
“And he wants you.”
“So?”
Vincent stepped in front of her.
“So giving him exactly what he wants is not a strategy.”
“It is if I know what he wants.”
She went upstairs and returned with the birth certificate.
“The shares.”
Vincent understood.
Marco needed Chloe’s signature.
With her inherited voting rights, he could seize legitimate Moretti companies and wash billions through them.
But Chloe had another secret.
One she had told no one.
Three months earlier, while trying to leave Derek, she had hired an attorney.
She had discovered dormant assets in her name.
She hadn’t understood where they came from.
But she had signed a contingency instruction.
If she died under suspicious circumstances, every asset would transfer into a charitable trust.
Marco couldn’t kill her.
Not until she changed that document.
Vincent looked at her differently.
“You planned that while living with Derek?”
“I needed one thing he couldn’t take.”
“What?”
“My future.”
They created a plan.
Chloe would appear to cooperate.
Vincent would track her.
Federal agents would wait nearby.
It went wrong immediately.
Marco anticipated the tracker.
His men intercepted Chloe’s car.
Vincent’s signal disappeared.
By the time he reached the meeting point, Chloe was gone.
She woke in the warehouse.
Maria was tied nearby.
Derek sat across the room.
Marco placed papers in front of Chloe.
“Sign.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I expected that.”
He turned toward Maria.
Chloe’s face hardened.
“You need me alive.”
“Yes.”
“You need me willing.”
“Eventually.”
Derek spoke.
“She won’t do it.”
Marco struck him.
Chloe flinched.
“Stop.”
Marco looked at her.
“Sign.”
Chloe picked up the pen.
Maria shook her head.
“No.”
Chloe looked at her mother.
For seventeen years, she had dreamed of getting Maria back.
Now she understood something.
Love wasn’t possession.
It wasn’t surrender.
And it wasn’t allowing someone to use fear as a leash.
She snapped the pen in half.
“No.”
Marco’s expression changed.
A sound came from outside.
Gunfire.
Vincent.
Marco grabbed Chloe and dragged her toward a rear corridor.
They reached a loading bay.
A vehicle waited.
He shoved her inside.
Before the door closed, Chloe saw Vincent enter the warehouse.
Their eyes met across the distance.
Then the van accelerated.
Vincent ran after it.
Too late.
His phone rang.
Chloe’s number.
He answered.
But Marco’s voice came through.
“You should have stayed in your car that night.”
Vincent stopped.
Marco laughed.
May you like
Then he said something that made Vincent’s blood turn cold.
“I know what Chloe never told you.”
