Chapter 4 - What Travis Was Really Looking For
Lorenzo turned.
“Matteo.”
A man emerged from the corridor.
He was slightly younger than Lorenzo, dressed in a dark overcoat, with the same gray eyes.
Celia understood immediately.
Brothers.
Matteo looked at the open locker.
Then at Celia.
“You found 417.”
Lorenzo stepped between them.
“What are you doing here?”
“Following you.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“I received the same photographs you did.”
Celia held up the picture.
“Why is Travis in this?”
Matteo looked at her.
“Because Anthony Vale was his uncle.”
The revelation hit with physical force.
“Travis told me his mother was an only child.”
“He lied.”
Lorenzo took the photograph.
“Anthony never mentioned a nephew.”
“He kept his sister away from the business.”
“What business?” Celia asked.
Matteo looked toward Lorenzo.
“Tell her.”
Lorenzo’s face hardened.
“Our father financed redevelopment throughout Chicago. Anthony handled the accounts. When millions disappeared, our father believed Anthony had stolen it.”
“But he didn’t?”
“We don’t know.”
Matteo laughed bitterly.
“I do.”
He removed an envelope.
Inside were copies of transfers.
Anthony had discovered the scheme.
He hadn’t created it.
Someone inside Duca Capital had been moving money through Halcyon and framing Anthony.
“Who?” Celia asked.
Matteo’s eyes dropped.
“Our father.”
Lorenzo grabbed the paper.
“No.”
“Read it.”
Celia watched him.
Lorenzo read.
Then again.
“These signatures are forged.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Matteo produced another document.
A handwriting analysis.
Forgery confirmed.
“So someone framed both Anthony and your father,” Celia said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To control the redevelopment fund.”
“And Travis?”
Matteo’s expression became grim.
“He grew up believing the Ducas destroyed Anthony.”
Celia understood.
“Revenge.”
“At first, probably.”
“At first?”
“Travis started receiving money five years ago.”
Lorenzo looked at Celia.
Five years.
Three years before she met him.
“From Halcyon?”
“Yes.”
Celia felt sick.
Travis had approached her because she worked in compliance.
His affection had been access.
When she began unknowingly moving closer to the Halcyon investigation, his behavior intensified.
The messages.
Following her.
Breaking into her apartment.
Trying to discover what she knew.
“He wasn’t trying to get me back,” she whispered.
“He was trying to control what you found,” Lorenzo said.
A phone rang.
Matteo checked his.
“No.”
Celia’s.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Celia?”
Elaine.
“Where are you?”
“I’m safe.”
“Where?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Elaine, Daniel said there’s a leak in the department.”
“I know.”
“Who?”
Silence.
“Elaine?”
“The person who assigned you Halcyon.”
Celia stopped.
“That was you.”
“No.”
Her blood chilled.
Elaine continued.
“I handed you the folder. The assignment came from Deputy Director Simon Ward.”
Celia knew Ward.
Everyone did.
Thirty years in municipal compliance.
Respected.
Quiet.
Untouchable.
Daniel’s corrupted recording.
The leak is Deputy Director—
“Ward.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Daniel?”
“I found him.”
Celia gripped the phone.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Relief hit so hard she sat down.
“He’s hurt, but alive. He went into hiding after Ward threatened his family.”
“Why didn’t he go to police?”
“Because Ward has contacts everywhere.”
Celia looked at Lorenzo.
“Elaine, we found 417.”
Silence.
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Ward knows.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Celia heard something.
A metallic sound.
Behind them.
Lorenzo heard it too.
The locker corridor door had closed.
Matteo tried it.
Locked.
Celia’s phone buzzed.
A message from Travis.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED.
Then another.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO FIND OUT WHY I CHOSE YOU.
Lorenzo searched the corridor.
“Service exit.”
They found one behind a temporary renovation barrier.
Matteo forced it open.
They emerged into a loading area.
No one followed.
But Lorenzo’s car was gone.
Celia’s canvas bag had been inside.
So had the Halcyon file.
“My file.”
Lorenzo called someone.
Within minutes, security footage showed a man entering the car.
Not Travis.
Simon Ward.
Celia stared.
“He came himself.”
“That means he’s afraid,” Matteo said.
Lorenzo looked at him.
“Or desperate.”
Celia’s phone vibrated again.
This time, a photograph.
Her apartment.
Inside.
Someone had photographed her bedroom.
A message followed.
COME HOME, CELIA.
She felt Lorenzo move beside her.
Another photograph arrived.
On her bed sat the missing Halcyon folder.
And beside it—
a fresh red rose.
Travis used to leave red roses after every argument.
May you like
The final message contained only four words.
WE NEED TO FINISH THIS.
