Chapter 2 - The Man Behind the Locked Door
Amelia's heart slammed against her ribs.
The woman outside knew her name.
Vincent remained motionless.
"Who is that?" Amelia whispered.
"No idea."
The emergency lights activated.
Dim blue strips illuminated the floor.
Vincent approached the door but didn't touch it.
"Identify yourself."
Silence.
Then:
"My name is Elena Ward."
Vincent's expression changed.
Amelia saw it.
"You know her."
Vincent ignored the question.
"What do you want, Elena?"
"To keep you alive."
A second sound came from farther down the corridor.
A door closing.
Elena spoke faster.
"Dante changed the security rotation. The men downstairs aren't coming for you."
Vincent frowned.
"Then who are they coming for?"
A pause.
"Her."
Amelia felt cold.
Vincent looked back at her.
"Why?"
"Because of what she found."
Amelia instinctively touched her laptop.
Vincent unlocked one internal latch but left the deadbolt engaged.
"How do you know what she found?"
"Because I sent her toward it."
Amelia stepped closer.
"What?"
Elena answered through the door.
"Verdant Consulting wasn't hidden badly by accident."
The meaning took several seconds to settle.
Amelia had discovered Verdant because of a duplicate invoice number.
An amateur mistake.
She had thought Dante had become careless.
"What are you saying?" Amelia asked.
"I wanted you to find it."
Vincent's face hardened.
"Why?"
"Because I couldn't bring it to you myself."
"Why not?"
"Because your brother has been reading everything I send you for six months."
Vincent stared at the door.
Then the emergency lights flickered.
Elena whispered:
"We don't have time."
Vincent unlocked the door.
Amelia caught his arm.
"You don't know who's out there."
He looked at her hand.
Then at her.
She released him.
Vincent opened the door six inches.
A woman in her forties stood outside.
Dark suit.
Hair pulled back.
No visible weapon.
She held a small flash drive between two fingers.
Vincent opened the door wider.
Elena entered.
He immediately locked it again.
"Start talking."
Elena looked at Amelia.
"You kept copies?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Who are you?"
"Vincent's compliance attorney."
Amelia looked at Vincent.
"You have a compliance attorney?"
"I own legitimate businesses, Amelia."
"That wasn't what surprised me."
For the first time that night, something almost resembling amusement passed through Vincent's eyes.
It vanished instantly.
Elena placed the drive on the desk.
"Three months ago I noticed inconsistencies in Dante's expense authorizations. I started tracing them. Someone accessed my files."
"Dante?"
"I couldn't prove it."
"So you created something Amelia would notice."
"Yes."
Amelia folded her arms.
"You used me."
"I gave the best accountant in the building a thread."
"You put me in danger."
Elena's face tightened.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"But it did."
"Yes."
Vincent stepped between them.
"What is on the drive?"
"The part Amelia couldn't see."
Vincent inserted it into an offline computer.
A folder appeared.
Inside were financial statements, security schedules, internal messages, and scanned documents.
Amelia opened the first file.
Her eyes moved rapidly across the numbers.
"This is bigger than four million."
"Much bigger," Elena said.
"How much?"
"Twenty-three million."
Vincent stared at her.
"Over how long?"
"Seven years."
Amelia looked up.
"Dante couldn't have started this seven years ago."
"No."
Vincent's voice was quiet.
"Who did?"
Elena hesitated.
"Your father."
The room went still.
Vincent's father, Salvatore Moretti, had died six years earlier.
Amelia knew very little about him.
Vincent rarely spoke about family.
Dante spoke about their father constantly.
Usually with admiration.
Vincent looked at the documents.
"My father transferred money to Delano?"
"Not exactly."
Elena opened another file.
"The accounts existed while your father was alive. But some of the companies changed ownership after his death."
"To Carmine."
"Eventually."
"Through Dante."
"That's what I thought."
Amelia noticed the wording.
"Thought?"
Elena looked at her.
"Until tonight."
A loud impact came from somewhere downstairs.
Amelia flinched.
Vincent didn't.
"What changed tonight?"
Elena pointed to the laptop.
"Check the metadata on the most recent payment."
Amelia opened it.
Authorization: Dante Moretti.
Terminal: Executive Office 3.
Time: 8:17 p.m.
Then she noticed something else.
Biometric confirmation.
"Fingerprint approval," Amelia said.
Vincent nodded.
"Dante's?"
Amelia expanded the authentication record.
Her brow furrowed.
"No."
Elena said nothing.
Amelia checked again.
The identification field had been partially corrupted.
But the employee number remained.
She searched the internal directory.
No result.
"Who is employee 001?"
Vincent stared at the screen.
Elena answered.
"Your father."
Amelia slowly turned.
"That's impossible."
"Exactly."
Another noise came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Vincent killed the monitor.
Everyone fell silent.
The footsteps stopped outside.
A man's voice spoke.
"Dante sent me."
Vincent recognized it.
"Marco?"
"Yes."
"Where's Dante?"
"Downstairs."
"What happened?"
"Someone sealed the building."
Vincent glanced at Elena.
"Who?"
"We don't know."
Marco continued.
"The external security system isn't responding. The street exits are locked electronically."
Amelia looked at Vincent.
"So Dante didn't shut everything down?"
"Maybe."
Elena shook her head.
"No. Dante planned something at midnight. That doesn't mean this was it."
Vincent opened the door for Marco.
The guard entered.
His face was pale.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"We found Paulie."
Vincent waited.
"He's unconscious. No visible injury. Enzo's missing."
Amelia's stomach tightened.
"And Dante?"
"Also missing."
Vincent looked toward the dark corridor.
"How many people are upstairs?"
"Six."
"People you trust?"
Marco hesitated.
"Four."
Vincent nodded.
"Keep everyone away from this office."
Marco left.
Elena returned to the computer.
"We need to understand employee 001."
Amelia examined the metadata.
"It might be cloned authentication."
"Can you identify the terminal?"
"Executive Office 3."
Vincent frowned.
"There is no Executive Office 3."
"There was," Elena said.
Vincent looked at her.
"Where?"
"Your father's old office."
Vincent went completely still.
That office had been sealed after Salvatore's death.
Amelia knew because the accounting department still carried an unused property code associated with it.
She had always assumed it referred to storage.
Vincent looked at the clock.
12:08.
"Where is it?"
Elena pointed toward the eastern corridor.
"Behind the old conference room."
Vincent opened the office door.
Amelia grabbed her laptop.
"You're staying here."
"No."
"Amelia."
"Someone used a dead man's credentials to authorize four million dollars. You need someone who understands the records."
Vincent stared at her.
She stared back.
Finally he nodded.
"Stay beside me."
They moved through the emergency-lit corridor.
Elena followed.
At the eastern end, they reached a paneled wall.
Vincent ran his hand along it.
Nothing.
Elena pressed a concealed latch.
A narrow door opened.
Behind it was an office covered in dust.
Everything looked untouched.
Desk.
Chair.
Shelves.
A photograph of two young boys stood beside a lamp.
Vincent and Dante.
Amelia approached the desk.
A computer monitor glowed.
She stopped.
"Vincent."
He saw it.
The supposedly abandoned computer was running.
On the screen was a live accounting program.
A payment authorization window waited.
Recipient:
BARRETT FAMILY TRUST.
Amelia's face went white.
"That's my last name."
Vincent moved beside her.
The amount field read:
$4,000,000.
And beneath it:
FINAL BENEFICIARY AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Amelia whispered, "Why would my family be connected to your father's account?"
Before Vincent could answer, the old desk phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Vincent slowly lifted the receiver.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then his expression changed.
Amelia had never seen fear on Vincent Moretti's face.
Not until that moment.
He lowered the phone slightly.
"What did they say?" Amelia whispered.
May you like
Vincent looked directly at her.
"They said your father is alive."
