Chapter 9 - The Woman in the Red Dress Strikes Back
Thomas Vance was alive.
The discovery reopened everything.
Eleanor admitted she had known.
After Daniel tried to kill Thomas fourteen years earlier, Thomas disappeared.
He had been moving money back toward the company for years, trying to repair what Daniel stole.
“Where is he?”
Eleanor didn’t know.
But the thirty-million-dollar transfer contained coordinates.
Switzerland.
I went with Adrian.
Not because I wanted another father.
Richard was my father.
But Thomas had answers.
We found him in a small lakeside house.
He opened the door himself.
Older.
Thin.
My eyes.
That disturbed me most.
He stared at me.
“Gianna.”
Nobody used the second n.
My mother had.
I stepped inside.
Thomas told me he had loved my mother.
He also admitted he had failed her.
He allowed Daniel to frighten him into silence.
Later, when he tried to repair the damage, it was too late.
“I don’t want your forgiveness,” he said.
“Good.”
“I want you to have the truth.”
He gave me the last ledger.
It documented politicians, executives and intermediaries Daniel had bribed.
Enough evidence to guarantee conviction.
Then he gave me something else.
A photograph.
My mother holding me.
Richard stood beside her.
Thomas stood several feet away.
On the back, my mother had written:
A father is the man who stays.
I understood.
Thomas had too.
We returned to New York.
Daniel pleaded guilty when confronted with the ledger.
Marcus accepted a cooperation agreement.
The criminal network collapsed.
The story should have ended there.
Instead, someone leaked the ledger.
Names appeared online.
One belonged to a federal prosecutor involved in Tyler’s case.
Another belonged to a Vance board member.
Someone was still protecting the network.
Adrian traced the leak.
It originated from my office.
Only four people had access.
Me.
My assistant.
Adrian.
And Karin.
I called Karin.
No answer.
We checked her apartment.
Empty.
On her kitchen table sat her phone.
Beside it was a photograph of us taken two days earlier.
Someone had drawn a red circle around my face.
On the back were three words.
SHE COMES NEXT.
Then we heard movement inside Karin’s bedroom.
Adrian reached for the door.
May you like
It opened before he touched it.
A bloody hand appeared around the frame.
