Chapter 7 - The Twenty-Million-Dollar Trap
Ava did not go alone.
She also didn't tell Richard that.
The meeting point was a closed riverside restaurant.
Police positioned themselves several blocks away.
Dante remained in a surveillance vehicle.
Elena stayed somewhere secure.
Ava carried E-17 inside a plain envelope.
Or what Richard believed was E-17.
The real documents were already with investigators.
Ava entered through the restaurant’s side door.
Richard waited.
Lorraine sat at a table.
Unharmed.
Her mother looked at Ava and began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Richard stood.
“The file.”
Ava held up the envelope.
“First my mother leaves.”
Richard smiled.
“You’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You don't have leverage.”
“I have the one thing you've spent twenty-three years trying to destroy.”
His smile disappeared.
“Give it to me.”
“Tell me where Adrian and Vanessa are.”
“I don't know.”
“Wrong answer.”
Richard studied her.
Then laughed.
“You really are Thomas’s daughter.”
Ava felt the words like a hand around her heart.
“You remember him?”
“Unfortunately.”
Ava kept her expression neutral.
“Did you kill him?”
Richard’s face changed.
Not guilt.
Annoyance.
“Your father made the mistake of believing paperwork could protect him.”
Ava’s pulse accelerated.
Every word was being recorded.
“That's not an answer.”
“No.”
Richard moved closer.
“I didn't kill Thomas.”
Ava believed he was telling the truth.
Not because she trusted him.
Because men like Richard enjoyed claiming victories.
If he had done it, some part of him would want her to know.
“Then who did?”
Richard glanced at Lorraine.
Lorraine looked away.
Ava felt cold.
“Mom?”
Lorraine shook her head violently.
“No.”
Richard smiled.
“Oh, Ava. Your family has always been complicated.”
“Stop.”
Lorraine stood.
“Thomas discovered Richard’s accounts. But that night, he wasn't meeting Dante.”
Ava stared.
“He was leaving us.”
“What?”
“He had agreed to enter witness protection.”
Ava couldn't breathe.
“He wanted us to go too. I refused.”
Lorraine was crying now.
“I thought he was destroying our family over numbers.”
“What happened?”
“We fought.”
Ava’s throat tightened.
“He left.”
“And?”
“He had a heart condition he never told you about. He collapsed in the parking garage.”
Ava looked at Richard.
Richard shrugged.
“I didn't kill him. But his death was convenient.”
Lorraine covered her face.
Ava suddenly understood her mother’s guilt.
For twenty-three years, Lorraine had blamed herself for the argument.
Richard had exploited it.
“What did Dad give you?”
Lorraine reached beneath her necklace.
A tiny key hung there.
“I kept it.”
Richard’s eyes fixed on it.
Ava understood.
This was what he wanted.
Not E-17.
The key.
“To what?”
Lorraine whispered, “A safe-deposit box.”
Richard moved.
Police entered immediately.
“Don't.”
Richard stopped.
Dante appeared behind them.
His voice was calm.
“It’s over.”
Richard looked around.
Then smiled.
“No, it isn't.”
Ava’s phone vibrated.
An automated company alert.
The frozen $12 million transfer had been reactivated.
Ava stared.
Impossible.
Her credentials were locked.
Dante’s were locked.
Only one person could override both.
The chairman.
Dante.
But he was standing beside her.
Unless someone had created another executive identity.
Ava opened the authorization.
ADRIAN DELUCA.
New title:
ACTING CHAIRMAN.
Dante stared.
“How?”
Richard smiled.
“Emergency succession paperwork.”
“You forged it.”
“No.”
Richard looked toward Lorraine.
“It was signed by a controlling shareholder.”
Dante’s face changed.
“Elena.”
Ava realized the truth.
Six years earlier, before disappearing, Elena had transferred voting shares into a trust.
Someone had activated it.
Richard continued.
“Adrian doesn't need his father anymore.”
Ava’s phone rang.
Adrian.
She answered.
“Where’s Vanessa?”
“Safe.”
“Let me hear her.”
A pause.
Then Vanessa came onto the line.
“Ava?”
She sounded exhausted.
But alive.
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian returned.
“I need the key.”
Ava looked at Lorraine’s necklace.
So Adrian knew too.
“What’s in the box?”
“Something Richard can never have.”
Ava looked at Richard.
His confidence disappeared.
Interesting.
Adrian and Richard were no longer on the same side.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
For once, Adrian sounded like the man Ava had once loved.
“But if Richard gets that box, your father’s evidence disappears forever.”
Ava stared at Richard.
Richard suddenly lunged toward Lorraine.
Police stopped him instantly.
The room erupted.
Ava heard Adrian say her name through the phone.
Then:
“Ava, listen carefully. Vanessa and I are at the bank.”
“What bank?”
“The one holding your father’s box.”
Ava looked at the key.
Adrian whispered:
“And someone just walked in who shouldn't know we're here.”
May you like
Ava heard Vanessa gasp.
Then the line went dead.
