Chapter 9 - The Last Person Ava Expected to Betray Her
Vanessa stared at the signature.
“No.”
Ava wished she could say the same.
The authorization belonged to Elena DeLuca.
Dante called her immediately.
Elena didn't deny it.
“I signed the documents.”
Dante went silent.
Ava took the phone.
“Why?”
“Because Richard told me the company had to disappear.”
“That's not an answer.”
“He said if DeLuca Holdings remained intact, everything would eventually come back to Adrian.”
“And you believed him?”
“I believed I could control the buyer.”
Ava looked at the acquisition company.
Then she understood.
“You own it.”
Silence.
“Elena?”
“Yes.”
Dante looked devastated.
Elena had created the holding company years earlier as a contingency.
Richard discovered it.
Adrian discovered it.
Everyone had been using pieces of Elena’s old protection system against everyone else.
The $8.4 million wasn't sitting in Richard’s personal account.
It was inside Elena’s dormant company.
“Can you return it?” Ava asked.
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
“Ava—”
“Do it.”
A pause.
Then Elena said, “All right.”
Within an hour, the stolen funds were frozen and scheduled for restitution.
The emergency company sale was canceled.
The board removed Richard.
Dante temporarily stepped aside while investigators reviewed the historic transactions.
And then someone asked the obvious question.
Who would run the company?
Dante looked at Ava.
She laughed.
“No.”
“You haven't heard the offer.”
“I was supposed to get married today.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
“I’m wearing a wedding dress in a bank vault.”
“Still not an answer.”
Vanessa smiled weakly.
Ava looked at Dante.
“No permanent decisions tonight.”
“Fair.”
By midnight, Ava finally returned home.
Lorraine came with her.
Vanessa did too.
Three women entered the house where so many of their worst habits had been created.
Lorraine trying to protect everyone.
Ava trying to fix everyone.
Vanessa expecting to be rescued.
They sat around the kitchen table.
No one knew what to say.
Finally Vanessa spoke.
“I don't expect you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
Vanessa almost smiled.
Ava continued.
“Because I don't know if I can yet.”
“I understand.”
“But I want you to get your life together.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Without me paying for it.”
Another nod.
“Without Mom hiding your mistakes.”
Lorraine looked down.
“And without blaming me because I made different choices.”
Vanessa cried quietly.
“I can try.”
“No.”
Ava looked directly at her.
“You can do it or not do it. But stop promising to try.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I’ll do it.”
Lorraine reached for Ava’s hand.
Ava let her.
“I failed both of you,” Lorraine said.
“Mom—”
“No. Let me say it.”
She looked at Vanessa.
“I taught you that someone would always clean up after you.”
Then at Ava.
“And I taught you that love meant being the person who did the cleaning.”
Ava’s eyes filled.
That sentence hurt because it was true.
Lorraine squeezed her hand.
“You were allowed to need people too.”
For years Ava had believed strength meant never needing anyone.
Adrian had loved that about her when it benefited him.
Vanessa had resented it.
Lorraine had depended on it.
Maybe Ava herself had hidden behind it.
Her phone vibrated.
Dante.
One message.
LOOK OUTSIDE.
Ava frowned.
She went to the window.
Dante stood beside his car.
Not entering.
Not assuming he was welcome.
Just waiting.
Ava stepped outside.
“You could have knocked.”
“I wasn't sure I should.”
“That’s unusually considerate.”
“I’m experimenting.”
She smiled despite herself.
Dante handed her a folder.
“What now?”
“Your father’s full personnel record.”
Ava looked at it.
“You found it?”
“Elena had a copy.”
Ava opened the folder.
There was a photograph of Thomas Monroe at thirty-seven.
Ava smiled.
Then she found a handwritten recommendation.
It had been written by Dante twenty-three years earlier.
Thomas Monroe possesses the rare ability to see dishonesty hiding inside ordinary numbers.
Ava read it twice.
“You respected him.”
“Very much.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because when you came to work for us, I didn't want your father’s history determining your future.”
Ava closed the folder.
“Was making me CFO about my father?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“You're better than he was.”
Ava looked at him sharply.
Dante almost smiled.
“He would have agreed.”
They stood quietly.
Then Dante handed her another envelope.
Ava opened it.
A formal offer.
Interim Chief Financial Officer.
She looked at the salary.
Then at him.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Too low?”
“Dante.”
“Negotiate.”
For the first time all day, Ava laughed without pain attached to it.
“I’ll think about it.”
“I expect you to.”
Dante turned toward his car.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
Ava held up the folder.
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
Then his phone rang.
Dante answered.
His expression changed.
Ava immediately knew.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then handed her the phone.
An investigator was speaking.
Richard had agreed to cooperate.
But only under one condition.
He would tell them everything about Thomas Monroe’s death.
Ava’s heart stopped.
The investigator continued.
Richard claimed Thomas had not died where Lorraine believed he had.
There had been another person with him.
Someone Ava knew.
Someone who had been present at the wedding.
May you like
Ava looked through the window at her mother and sister.
Then she heard the investigator say the name.
