Chapter 5: The Red Phone
Thomas blocked the staircase.
Celeste swung toward the service corridor, but Sarah closed the dressing-room door before Lily could follow.
“Move,” Celeste ordered.
“You are not going near my daughter,” Sarah replied.
Victor came around the corner and pulled Sarah away from the door.
“Let her pass.”
Marcello caught Victor’s wrist.
“You were supposed to protect this family.”
“I protect whoever pays me,” Victor said.
Celeste disappeared down the service stairs.
Victor shoved Marcello back and followed her.
Thomas grabbed the discarded radio.
“They’ll use the loading entrance.”
Marcello called the bank as they ran downstairs.
“This is Marcello DeLuca.
Freeze the foundation account.”
A woman answered, “The transfer was approved with your digital signature and security code.”
“I did not approve it.”
“Your attorney confirmed it ten minutes ago.”
Marcello stopped.
“Rebecca?”
“She is listed as counsel on the authorization.”
Thomas took the photograph from Marcello.
“Look at the woman behind us.”
Marcello enlarged the image.
The glasses hid her eyes, but the brooch and jawline were clear.
“Rebecca was at your wedding,” he said.
Thomas nodded.
“She wasn’t my lawyer.
She was Vanessa’s maid of honor.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Because Rebecca is Vanessa’s sister.”
Marcello stared at him.
“My attorney introduced us.”
“That was the plan.”
Sarah hurried down the stairs with Lily in her arms.
“There was another phone.”
“What phone?” Marcello asked.
Lily pointed toward the ballroom.
“The red one.
The lady put it with the flowers when the music started.”
Sarah set Lily down.
“Show us, sweetheart.”
They crossed the ballroom as guests whispered around the abandoned cake.
Lily stopped beside a tall arrangement of white roses.
“In there.”
Marcello reached between the stems and pulled out a red phone wrapped in a napkin.
The screen lit without a passcode.
A message from Rebecca filled it.
TRANSFER CONFIRMED.
VICTOR HAS THE PASSPORTS.
DO NOT MISS THE FLIGHT.
Thomas scrolled upward.
“There are messages about the false medical letter.”
Marcello pressed the recording icon.
Celeste’s voice came through the speaker.
“Once he signs the trust papers, the foundation money belongs to the child.
Since there is no child, Rebecca moves it to Montreal.”
Rebecca laughed in the recording.
“And Marcello will be too humiliated to challenge us.”
Marcello’s hand shook.
Sarah closed her fingers around his wrist.
“Don’t turn it off.”
The next recording began.
Celeste said, “If Thomas appears, Victor will remove him.
If the florist saw me upstairs, discredit her.
Say she planted the pad.”
“My name,” Sarah whispered.
“She knew my name.”
The ballroom doors slammed shut.
Victor stood in front of them, and Celeste was beside him.
She had removed her elegant shoes and held Marcello’s envelope under one arm.
“Give me the phone,” Victor said.
Marcello slipped it into his pocket.
“You’ll have to explain yourself to the board.”
“The board will believe its security chief before a florist, a toddler, and a jealous husband.”
Celeste pointed at Sarah.
“I can tell the authorities she used her child to enter private rooms.
One complaint could cost her every hotel contract she has.”
Sarah pulled Lily close.
“You planned to blame us from the beginning.”
“I planned for every possibility.”
Thomas stepped in front of them.
“Except me.”
Celeste smiled.
“Especially you.
Tell Marcello why you really came.”
Thomas went still.
Victor took the red phone from Marcello’s pocket and pushed all four of them into the wine storage room.
The lock clicked from the outside.
In the darkness, Marcello faced Thomas.
“What haven’t you told me?”
May you like
Thomas lowered his head.
“I helped Vanessa choose you.”
