Chapter 2 - Room 1714
The elevator doors slid apart.
Paige stood inside.
Barefoot.
Her wedding shoes were gone.
Her veil had been ripped away.
She was crying.
“Sloan.”
Luca moved slightly in front of Sloan.
Paige noticed.
“I’m not here to hurt her.”
“Then say what you came to say.”
Paige looked at him.
“I need my sister.”
Sloan stepped around Luca.
“What happened?”
Paige’s lips trembled.
“Carter tried to take my phone.”
“Why?”
“Because I called Miriam.”
Sloan froze.
“You have her number?”
“I found it this morning.”
“Where?”
“In Dad’s office.”
Paige stepped from the elevator.
“I wasn’t supposed to be there. I went in looking for Mom’s pearl earrings. Dad had left a file open on his desk.”
“What file?”
“Your trust.”
Sloan’s jaw tightened.
Paige reached for her.
Sloan moved back.
Pain crossed Paige’s face.
“I didn’t know before today.”
“You knew before the ceremony.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Dad told me it was legal.”
“He forged my signature.”
“I didn’t know that part.”
“You knew enough.”
Paige cried harder.
“I know.”
The anger Sloan had carried through the ballroom began to change shape.
It was easier to hate Richard.
Easier to despise Carter.
Paige was different.
Paige had been Sloan’s shadow when they were children.
The little girl who crawled into Sloan’s bed during thunderstorms.
The teenager Sloan picked up from parties without telling their father.
The bride whose hair Sloan had pinned only hours earlier.
“You stood there and married him.”
Paige looked toward the floor.
“I thought if I stopped the wedding, Dad would destroy everything.”
“What does that mean?”
“He threatened me.”
Luca’s eyes sharpened.
“With what?”
Paige wiped her face.
“He said if I interfered, Carter would expose something about you.”
Sloan stared.
“What?”
“I don’t know. Dad said there were photographs from when you were with Luca.”
Luca went still.
“Photographs of what?”
“He didn’t say.”
Sloan laughed bitterly.
“This family is unbelievable.”
Paige stepped closer.
“I called Miriam because her name was in the trust documents. She answered.”
“When?”
“About five hours ago.”
“What did she say?”
Paige looked terrified.
“She said Mom had tried to change the trust before she died.”
Sloan felt the words enter her slowly.
“Change it how?”
“She wouldn’t tell me over the phone.”
Luca held up the envelope.
“She told Sloan something else.”
Paige read the message.
Her face drained.
“No.”
Sloan closed her eyes.
“Room 1714.”
Luca looked toward the elevator.
“We go together.”
“I’m capable of entering a hotel room without permission.”
“Not tonight.”
Sloan glared at him.
Paige whispered, “He’s right.”
Sloan almost laughed.
“Great. My sister and the mafia boss agree.”
Luca’s mouth twitched.
“First time for everything.”
They entered the elevator.
Floor seventeen.
For eleven silent seconds, Sloan watched the numbers rise.
Paige spoke.
“Did you ever love him?”
Sloan turned.
“What?”
“Luca.”
Luca looked straight ahead.
Sloan wanted the doors to open.
“They’re not opening faster because you’re staring at them,” Paige said.
“Not the moment.”
“I’m trying not to think about Mom.”
The anger softened again.
Sloan exhaled.
“Yes.”
Paige blinked.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I loved him.”
Luca’s head turned slightly.
Sloan refused to look.
Paige gave a tiny, broken laugh.
“That explains why you looked like you’d been shot when he walked in.”
“Helpful.”
“What happened?”
“Paige.”
“Right.”
The elevator stopped.
Luca exited first.
The hallway was quiet.
Room 1714 stood near the end.
The key card worked.
Luca opened the door slowly.
Darkness.
He entered.
Sloan followed.
The room appeared untouched.
Bed made.
Curtains closed.
A suitcase sat on the luggage rack.
Paige whispered, “Miriam?”
No answer.
Sloan moved toward the desk.
Several folders lay stacked beside a laptop.
Her mother’s name appeared on the top one.
ELEANOR HAYES.
Sloan’s breath caught.
She touched the folder.
This time Luca did not stop her.
Inside were photocopies.
Medical records.
Trust documents.
Bank statements.
And a handwritten letter.
Dear Sloan,
If you are reading this, I have failed to tell you the truth myself.
Sloan sat down.
Paige came beside her.
Luca remained near the door.
Sloan continued reading.
Your mother contacted me three weeks before her death. She believed Richard was using her illness to obtain control over Asteria. She asked me to prepare documents transferring voting control directly to you upon her death.
Sloan stopped.
“What?”
Paige leaned closer.
“She was leaving it to you immediately?”
Sloan read on.
The documents were never executed.
Not because Eleanor changed her mind.
Because she became incapacitated before she could sign.
A second set of documents was later filed bearing Eleanor’s signature.
I believed the signature was fraudulent.
I attempted to challenge it.
Richard threatened my family.
I left New York.
Sloan’s hands began to shake.
Paige whispered, “Oh my God.”
Luca moved closer.
Sloan read the next page.
The trust Richard established in Eleanor’s name was a compromise forced through probate. It placed control in his hands until Sloan’s thirtieth birthday.
Tomorrow.
Sloan turned the page.
There was more.
I have recently obtained evidence proving Richard did not merely exploit Eleanor’s illness financially.
Sloan stopped breathing.
Paige gripped her arm.
“What?”
The sentence continued.
He interfered with her medical decisions.
Sloan’s vision blurred.
“No.”
She stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“No.”
Luca approached.
“Sloan.”
“Don’t.”
She backed away.
Her mother’s final months flashed through her mind.
Hospital rooms.
Richard controlling visitors.
Richard saying Eleanor was too weak to speak.
Richard refusing Sloan’s request to sleep beside her.
Then the morning he said she was gone.
Sloan had never seen the final medical chart.
Never met the doctor who pronounced her dead.
Richard arranged everything.
“Did he kill her?”
Her voice sounded like someone else’s.
Luca did not answer.
Paige sobbed.
Sloan looked at the letter.
There had to be more.
She turned the page.
Missing.
The rest of the letter was gone.
“Where is it?”
They searched.
Desk.
Suitcase.
Bathroom.
Nothing.
Then Luca opened the laptop.
Password prompt.
Sloan stared at it.
“What would Miriam use?”
Paige whispered, “Mom.”
Sloan typed ELEANOR.
Wrong.
ASTERIA.
Wrong.
Luca examined the suitcase.
A small framed photograph lay inside.
Eleanor standing with two young girls.
Sloan and Paige.
Summer.
Hamptons.
Sloan noticed handwriting on the back.
My stars.
She typed MYSTARS.
The laptop unlocked.
Paige gasped.
A folder filled the desktop.
EVIDENCE.
Sloan opened it.
Video files.
Audio recordings.
Scanned documents.
One file stood apart.
PLAY FIRST - SLOAN.
Sloan clicked.
Miriam appeared on screen.
Older than Sloan remembered.
Gray hair.
Tired eyes.
“If you’re seeing this, Sloan, I’m either missing or dead.”
Paige covered her mouth.
Miriam continued.
“Your father knows I returned to New York. He knows what I found. And he knows the transfer becomes irreversible at midnight.”
Sloan leaned closer.
“The forged agreement you were shown is only one part of their plan. Richard cannot legally complete the transfer without biometric verification from you.”
Sloan’s stomach dropped.
Paige whispered, “Biometric?”
Miriam continued.
“Fingerprint and voice authorization.”
Luca swore quietly.
Sloan looked at him.
“What?”
“They need you alive.”
“For now?”
His expression answered.
The video continued.
“I discovered Carter Bell’s company has developed authentication software capable of generating false voice authorization from recorded speech.”
Paige looked horrified.
“He records everything.”
“What?”
“Carter. He has smart systems in our apartment.”
Miriam continued.
“But fingerprints remain a problem.”
Sloan stared at her hands.
Then remembered the champagne flute.
Every glass.
Every bouquet.
Every surface she touched.
Luca understood at the same moment.
“They already have prints.”
Paige whispered, “The photographers.”
Sloan looked at her.
“The photographers?”
“Carter hired them.”
Luca pulled out his phone.
He called someone.
“Lock down the ballroom. No one leaves with photography equipment.”
Sloan stared at him.
“You can do that?”
“I just did.”
Miriam’s video continued.
“The final authorization must be submitted through an Asteria secure terminal before midnight.”
Sloan checked the time.
9:41.
Two hours and nineteen minutes.
“If they submit it?” Sloan asked.
Luca answered.
“They own everything.”
“And if they don’t?”
“At midnight you control Asteria.”
Paige whispered, “Dad is going to lose his mind.”
Luca looked toward the door.
“He already has.”
Footsteps sounded in the hall.
Running.
Luca signaled them back.
The handle turned.
Locked.
Then a man’s voice came from outside.
“Hotel security.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
He looked through the peephole.
“No uniforms.”
Sloan’s heartbeat hammered.
Another voice.
“Ms. Hayes, your father asked us to escort you downstairs.”
Paige whispered, “That’s Carter’s head of security.”
Luca moved them toward the bathroom.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Sloan.”
“This is my life.”
“And I’m trying to keep you in it.”
The words stopped her.
Luca reached beneath his jacket.
Sloan saw the shape of a handgun.
She stepped back.
“Luca.”
“I’m not planning to use it.”
“Then don’t.”
He met her eyes.
“I won’t unless they make me.”
The hotel room door shook.
Someone hit it from outside.
Paige screamed.
Luca positioned himself beside the entrance.
Another impact.
The lock splintered.
The door burst inward.
Two men entered.
Luca moved with terrifying efficiency.
One man reached inside his coat.
Luca slammed him into the wall before he could draw anything.
The second charged.
Luca struck his wrist.
A taser fell.
Sloan stared.
No gunshots.
No theatrical violence.
Just seconds of brutal control.
Then silence.
Both men were on the floor.
Luca picked up the taser.
“Interesting.”
Sloan looked at it.
“They weren’t trying to kill us.”
“No.”
Paige’s voice shook.
“They were trying to take Sloan.”
Luca searched one man’s pockets.
Phone.
Hotel access card.
And a syringe.
Sloan went cold.
“What is that?”
Luca examined the label.
“Sedative.”
Paige cried.
“Dad wouldn’t.”
Sloan looked at her sister.
“Yes.”
For the first time, she believed he would.
One of the men groaned.
Luca crouched.
“Who sent you?”
The man said nothing.
Luca held up the syringe.
“Wrong answer.”
Sloan touched his shoulder.
“No.”
He looked at her.
She knelt beside the man.
“What happens at midnight?”
The man laughed weakly.
“You won’t make midnight.”
Luca’s expression changed.
Sloan forced herself to remain calm.
“Where is my father?”
The man smiled.
“Waiting for your voice.”
Then a notification sounded from Sloan’s phone.
A text.
Unknown number.
She opened it.
A photograph loaded.
Miriam sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Behind her was a wall Sloan recognized immediately.
Her father’s private office.
Below the photograph was one message.
COME ALONE OR SHE DIES AT 10:30.
Sloan looked at the time.
9:46.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
AND LUCA MORETTI IS THE REASON YOUR MOTHER DIED.
