Chapter 3 - The Lie Between Us
Sloan read the message three times.
Luca stood across the hotel room.
For the first time since he entered the wedding, she saw uncertainty in his face.
“You knew.”
It was not a question.
Luca said nothing.
Paige looked between them.
“Knew what?”
Sloan held up the phone.
“My mother.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Sloan—”
“You knew something about her death.”
“Yes.”
The word cut cleanly.
Paige whispered, “Oh God.”
Sloan crossed the room.
“How long?”
“Three years.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Luca did not move.
Did not touch his face.
Did not become angry.
He only looked at her.
“You knew when we were together?”
“Yes.”
Sloan’s throat tightened.
“You let me talk about her.”
“Yes.”
“You listened to me tell you how she died.”
“Yes.”
“You held me while I cried.”
His voice lowered.
“Yes.”
She hit him again.
This time her hand trembled afterward.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t know enough.”
“You knew more than I did.”
“I knew Richard had been involved in something connected to Eleanor’s final medical care.”
“That is enough.”
“No.”
“It was enough for me!”
Paige stepped closer.
“Sloan—”
“Don’t.”
Sloan turned away.
Everything she believed was collapsing.
Her father.
Carter.
Now Luca.
Every man in her life had apparently decided truth was something Sloan could not be trusted to handle.
She hated all of them for it.
Luca spoke.
“My father was involved.”
Sloan froze.
She turned slowly.
“What?”
Luca’s eyes hardened—not at her.
At the memory.
“Antonio Moretti.”
Sloan knew the name.
Luca’s father had died six years earlier.
Officially a heart attack.
Unofficially, Sloan had heard darker stories.
“What did he do?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“That answer is getting old.”
“I know.”
Luca walked toward the desk.
He opened another file from Miriam’s laptop.
A scanned invoice appeared.
Moretti Logistics.
Date: fifteen years earlier.
Medical transport.
Sloan stared.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Transported where?”
“That’s what I spent three years trying to discover.”
Paige looked at him.
“Why?”
Luca’s eyes returned to Sloan.
“Because after she left me, I needed to know whether my family had helped destroy hers.”
Sloan’s anger faltered.
Only slightly.
Luca continued.
“My father kept records. Most were burned after he died. One account survived.”
“What account?”
“Payments from Richard Hayes.”
Sloan’s stomach turned.
“How many?”
“Seventeen.”
“For what?”
“I couldn’t prove it.”
“Try.”
Luca exhaled.
“Surveillance. Private transportation. Medical intermediaries.”
Paige whispered, “Dad hired the Morettis?”
“My father.”
Luca’s tone became colder.
“Not me.”
Sloan folded her arms.
“And you inherited his empire.”
“I inherited his debts. His enemies. And enough of his sins to know I wanted answers.”
“You also inherited his reputation.”
“Yes.”
“Did you inherit his methods?”
Luca held her gaze.
“Some.”
There was no apology.
No lie.
That, more than anything, reminded Sloan why she had loved him.
And why she had left.
He did not pretend to be harmless.
Richard did.
Carter did.
Luca never had.
Sloan looked at the photograph of Miriam.
“10:30.”
Paige checked the time.
9:53.
“We have thirty-seven minutes.”
Luca picked up his phone.
“I’ll send people.”
“No.”
“Sloan.”
“The message says alone.”
“They expect you to obey.”
“I am going.”
“No.”
She turned on him.
“You don’t own me.”
Silence.
The words hit the room differently because of what he had said downstairs.
You’re mine.
Luca’s expression shifted.
“You’re right.”
Sloan blinked.
“I said that in the ballroom because I needed Richard to understand I would not let him isolate you.”
“Then maybe choose less medieval language next time.”
“I will.”
Paige gave a startled laugh through her tears.
Sloan almost did too.
Almost.
Luca continued.
“But you’re still not going alone.”
“I have to.”
“No. You have to appear alone.”
Sloan studied him.
“What are you suggesting?”
Luca looked at Paige.
“Can Richard’s office be accessed from another room?”
Paige wiped her face.
“There’s a library next door.”
“Connecting door?”
“Yes.”
“Locked?”
“Usually.”
Luca looked at Sloan.
“We get you inside. I enter through the library.”
“And if he sees you?”
“He won’t.”
“That sounds confident.”
“I am.”
“Annoyingly.”
“Also true.”
Paige looked at the laptop.
“What about the trust?”
Luca checked the time.
“We still have two hours.”
“Unless Dad submits it sooner.”
“He can’t without Sloan’s live voice authorization.”
Sloan remembered the man’s words.
Waiting for your voice.
“They want me to say something.”
Luca nodded.
“Likely a specific phrase.”
“And the sedative?”
“To keep you cooperative afterward.”
Paige went pale.
Sloan picked up her bouquet from where she had dropped it.
Then stared at herself.
“Why am I still holding flowers?”
Paige laughed again.
This one cracked into a sob.
Sloan put the bouquet down.
She removed her earrings.
Then her heels.
“What are you doing?” Luca asked.
“If I’m being kidnapped at my sister’s wedding, I’m not doing it in four-inch shoes.”
He almost smiled.
They left room 1714 through a service staircase.
Luca’s men met them two floors down.
Four quiet professionals.
No dramatic weapons.
No shouting.
Luca gave instructions.
Sloan listened.
It was strange watching him command.
He did not raise his voice.
Everyone moved immediately.
One man remained with Paige.
Another went to secure the Asteria terminal located somewhere in the hotel’s executive office suite.
Luca and Sloan took the private elevator to floor twenty-one.
Richard’s temporary office had been arranged in the Bellamy’s presidential business suite.
Paige had been right.
Of course it had.
Richard could not attend a wedding without an office.
At 10:08 Sloan reached the corridor.
Luca stopped behind the corner.
“You walk the rest alone.”
“What if the door locks behind me?”
“I’ll be there.”
“You said that three years ago.”
Pain flashed across his face.
She immediately regretted it.
But she did not apologize.
Not yet.
Luca said, “I deserved that.”
Sloan walked away.
The office door opened before she knocked.
Carter stood there.
His bow tie was gone.
His jacket hung open.
For the first time, he looked less like a groom and more like the man Sloan suspected had been hiding underneath.
“Come in.”
“Where is Miriam?”
“Safe.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you get until we finish.”
Sloan entered.
Richard stood behind a desk.
Miriam sat in a chair near the windows.
Her wrists were bound.
Her mouth was not.
She was alive.
“Sloan,” Miriam whispered.
Richard closed the door.
“You shouldn’t have dragged Moretti into this.”
Sloan stared at him.
“I didn’t.”
“You always do.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Richard looked toward the door.
“You think this started tonight?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He poured himself a drink.
His hand shook.
For all his control, Richard was terrified.
That gave Sloan courage.
“You forged my signature.”
“I preserved your mother’s company.”
“You stole her company.”
“Your mother was dying.”
“So you robbed her?”
Richard slammed the glass down.
“I saved Asteria!”
Miriam laughed bitterly.
“You nearly bankrupted it twice.”
Richard turned.
“Be quiet.”
Sloan looked at Miriam.
“Tell me what happened to my mother.”
Richard stepped forward.
“No.”
Sloan faced him.
“You do not get to say no anymore.”
“Your mother was sick.”
“I know.”
“She was confused.”
Miriam said, “She was lucid.”
Richard snapped, “You weren’t there every day.”
“I was there when she signed her medical directive.”
Sloan’s heartbeat quickened.
“What directive?”
Richard glared at Miriam.
Miriam kept speaking.
“Eleanor refused experimental sedation.”
Sloan stared.
“Sedation?”
Miriam nodded.
“She wanted to remain conscious as long as possible.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Sloan felt sick.
“What did you do?”
“I followed medical advice.”
Miriam’s voice hardened.
“No. You overruled her.”
Richard shouted, “She was in pain!”
“She told you no!”
The room fell silent.
Sloan stepped backward.
Memories returned.
Her mother sleepy.
Her speech slowed.
Nurses refusing to let Sloan stay.
Richard saying medication made Eleanor confused.
“What happened after that?”
Miriam hesitated.
Richard looked suddenly dangerous.
Sloan moved closer.
“What happened?”
Miriam’s eyes filled.
“Your mother realized Richard was taking control of Asteria.”
Sloan’s throat tightened.
“She asked me to help.”
“I prepared emergency documents.”
“The ones she never signed.”
Miriam looked at Richard.
“They were going to be signed the next morning.”
Sloan whispered, “But she died that night.”
“Yes.”
Richard said, “Enough.”
Miriam ignored him.
“Except she wasn’t supposed to die.”
Sloan stared.
“What does that mean?”
Richard reached for Sloan.
She moved away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Carter stepped in.
“We need to finish the authorization.”
Sloan looked at him.
“You’re standing here while he talks about my mother dying.”
“This is bigger than family history.”
Paige’s husband.
Her sister had married this man less than an hour earlier.
Sloan felt something inside her harden.
“What do you need me to say?”
Richard’s expression changed.
Relief.
He thought she had surrendered.
He turned a laptop toward her.
Asteria authorization portal.
Her name.
Her trust.
Transfer ready.
He pointed toward the microphone.
“Read the sentence.”
Sloan saw it.
I, Sloan Elizabeth Hayes, authorize the immediate and irrevocable transfer of beneficial ownership.
“And then Miriam walks out?”
“Yes.”
“Untied.”
“Yes.”
“And no one touches Paige.”
Richard hesitated.
Sloan’s voice sharpened.
“Say it.”
“No one touches Paige.”
Carter frowned.
“Richard—”
“Quiet.”
Sloan looked at Miriam.
The older woman shook her head.
Don’t.
Sloan understood.
She leaned toward the microphone.
Richard pressed record.
Sloan inhaled.
Then said clearly:
“I, Sloan Elizabeth Hayes…”
Richard leaned forward.
“…do not authorize any transfer.”
His face collapsed.
Sloan continued.
“I formally accuse Richard Hayes and Carter Bell of fraud, coercion, forgery, unlawful detention, and attempted theft.”
Carter lunged toward the laptop.
The library door exploded inward.
Luca entered.
Two security men followed.
Richard backed away.
Carter froze.
Luca looked at Sloan.
“Good phrasing.”
She exhaled shakily.
“Architects write contracts too.”
Carter reached inside his jacket.
Luca’s men moved.
“Don’t,” Luca said.
Carter stopped.
Richard began laughing.
Everyone looked at him.
“You think this matters?”
Sloan’s stomach dropped.
Richard picked up his phone.
“You think that was the only terminal?”
Luca’s expression changed.
Richard pressed one button.
Asteria’s laptop screen refreshed.
AUTHORIZATION PROCESSING.
Sloan stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Carter smiled.
“No.”
Miriam whispered, “The recorded wedding vows.”
Paige’s wedding.
Microphones everywhere.
Sloan had spoken during the ceremony.
A reading.
Her voice.
Carter had synthesized it.
The screen displayed:
VOICE AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.
FINGERPRINT ACCEPTED.
Sloan went cold.
A countdown appeared.
TRANSFER COMPLETION: 00:04:59.
Five minutes.
Luca looked at the screen.
Richard smiled.
“At midnight, she would have inherited Asteria.”
He lifted his glass.
“But in five minutes, there will be nothing left to inherit.”
Then the office lights went out.
May you like
And from the darkness came Paige’s voice.
“I found Mom’s original signature.”
