Chapter 5 - The Chairman
Roman did not chase the voice.
That surprised me.
Instead, he ordered everyone into the mansion’s underground security room.
Within twenty minutes, backup power restored the cameras.
Marcus discovered the outage had been triggered internally.
Someone with administrator credentials had shut down the system.
Only three people possessed those credentials.
Roman.
Marcus.
And Anthony Valente.
Anthony’s credentials had supposedly been revoked two months earlier.
They hadn’t.
Roman called him.
No answer.
Marcus traced Anthony’s phone.
It was inside the mansion.
That discovery changed everything.
Security searched room by room.
They found Anthony’s phone beneath a chair in the west corridor.
Beside it was a bloodless torn cuff from a dress shirt.
No Anthony.
No explanation.
Roman studied the photograph Price had left.
Sophie sat beside me coloring on a security notepad as if we weren’t trapped inside a conspiracy.
Then she looked at the picture.
“Why did somebody scratch his face?”
Roman crouched beside her.
“To hide who he is.”
She studied it.
“But you can still see his ring.”
Roman froze.
He took the photograph back.
The scratched-out man wore a distinctive square signet ring.
Roman knew it.
His grandfather had owned one exactly like it.
But his grandfather had died when Roman was nine.
Evelyn examined the picture.
“That isn’t your grandfather.”
“Who else had the ring?”
She hesitated.
“Your father gave a duplicate to his business partner.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Which partner?”
Evelyn looked terrified.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Marcus knew the name.
So did I, vaguely.
Gabriel had once been one of Matteo Valente’s closest associates. He disappeared from Chicago after Matteo’s death.
Roman believed Gabriel had moved overseas.
Evelyn shook her head.
“Gabriel hated your father by the end.”
“Why?”
“Because Matteo chose you.”
Roman frowned.
“Chose me for what?”
“To inherit control.”
Roman laughed without humor.
“I was his son.”
“Gabriel believed the organization should have gone to him.”
Roman looked at the medical directive again.
A rival from his father’s generation.
A plan stretching back seventeen years.
Medical access cultivated before Roman even inherited anything.
Suddenly, the timeline made sense.
This wasn’t Anthony’s plan.
Anthony had merely been recruited into something older.
Marcus searched financial records.
Within an hour, he found a shell corporation that had paid Nathan Cross’s medical-school debt.
The corporation was controlled through several layers of trusts.
The final beneficiary was Gabriel Moretti.
Roman leaned back.
“The Chairman.”
Marcus nodded.
Then Vivian asked the question none of us wanted to ask.
“If Gabriel has been planning this for seventeen years, why act now?”
Roman looked at her.
“Because something changed.”
Price’s folder provided the answer.
Roman would turn thirty-nine in three weeks.
According to a trust created by his father, on Roman’s thirty-ninth birthday several major assets would permanently consolidate under his personal ownership.
After that, no temporary incapacity committee could seize them.
Gabriel was running out of time.
Roman had to be removed before his birthday.
Sophie’s interruption had ruined the first attempt.
Marcus found something else.
A lunch reservation had been made for 12:30 in Roman’s private dining room.
Guests included Anthony.
Dominic.
Evelyn.
Vivian.
And Gabriel Moretti.
Roman stared.
“Gabriel was supposed to be here?”
“According to the calendar.”
“I never approved that.”
The invitation had been entered through Roman’s personal account.
His digital identity had been compromised.
Then Dominic called.
This time, he agreed to come to the mansion.
He arrived forty minutes later.
Roman met him in the library.
Seeing Dominic walking normally was surreal.
Dominic embraced Evelyn.
Roman did not embrace him.
“You lied to me.”
Dominic nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I made the mistake of confronting Gabriel eleven months ago.”
Roman stared.
“The stroke?”
“Wasn’t natural.”
Dominic explained that his drink had been contaminated with medication that caused a severe blood-pressure event.
He survived.
While recovering, he pretended his condition was worse than it was.
It allowed him to investigate unnoticed.
Roman asked about Anthony.
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Anthony thinks Gabriel will make him head of the family.”
“Will he?”
“No.”
“Then why help him?”
“Because Anthony has spent his entire life believing you stole what should have been his.”
Roman looked away.
Old jealousy.
The simplest motive beneath the most complicated plan.
Dominic turned to Sophie.
“And you’re the young lady who ruined seventeen years of planning?”
Sophie looked worried.
“Am I in trouble?”
For the first time all day, Roman smiled.
“No.”
He crouched beside her.
“You may have saved my life.”
Sophie considered this.
“Can I still have lunch?”
Everyone laughed.
Even Vivian.
For ten seconds, the room felt normal.
Then Marcus entered.
“We found Anthony.”
Roman stood.
“Where?”
“In the wine cellar.”
They brought Anthony upstairs.
His wrists had been tied.
His mouth taped.
He looked furious and frightened.
When freed, his first words were:
“Gabriel is inside the house.”
Roman stared.
Anthony insisted he had agreed to help Gabriel remove Roman temporarily, not kill him.
The plan was supposed to trigger a medical episode and force Roman away from management for thirty days.
Anthony expected the committee to take control.
Then he discovered Gabriel had changed the plan.
“What changed?” Roman asked.
Anthony looked at Sophie.
“The witness.”
My arms tightened around my daughter.
Anthony continued.
“Once the girl saw the inhaler, Gabriel knew the paperwork wouldn’t survive scrutiny.”
“So?”
“He decided to activate the permanent option.”
Roman’s voice went cold.
“What permanent option?”
Anthony swallowed.
“Your death.”
The room became silent.
Roman moved toward him.
“Where is Gabriel?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said he’s inside.”
“He brought people through the old service tunnels.”
Roman turned to Marcus.
Marcus looked shocked.
The mansion had tunnels built during Prohibition.
Most had been sealed decades earlier.
Apparently, not all of them.
Dominic asked Anthony where Gabriel planned to go.
Anthony shook his head.
“He doesn’t need to reach Roman anymore.”
Roman frowned.
“Why?”
Anthony looked toward the inhaler.
Then toward Sophie.
“Because the inhaler wasn’t the only thing he switched.”
Roman stared at the blue device in his hand.
He had already used it twice.
Marcus snatched it away.
Roman’s face changed.
“What’s inside it?”
Anthony whispered:
“Ask Nathan.”
Roman’s breathing suddenly tightened.
Vivian reached for him.
Then every phone in the room rang at the same time.
A recorded voice played through them.
May you like
Gabriel Moretti said:
“Roman, you have twelve minutes.”
