Chapter 4: One Hour Until Midnight
Marcello called the company’s emergency line while Sarah carried Lily downstairs.
“Freeze every transfer under my name,” he said.
A tired voice answered, “I’m sorry, Mr.
Moretti.
Mr.
Julian Moretti has already been listed as acting chairman.”
“On whose authority?”
“Yours.”
Julian followed them into the ballroom.
“You should have read before you signed.”
Music faded as guests turned toward them.
Vanessa came down without the false belly, one hand pressed over her flat dress.
An older board member named Beatrice Cole crossed the room.
“Marcello, why has Julian called an emergency board vote?”
“He’s trying to take control with a signature I didn’t knowingly give.”
Julian raised his glass.
“My brother is overwhelmed.
This scene proves it.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“I tried to protect him, but he frightened me upstairs.”
Marcello stared at her.
“You begged me to trust you ten minutes ago.”
“I begged you to calm down.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“That isn’t what happened.”
Julian looked her over.
“And you are?”
“Sarah Bennett.
Lily is my daughter.”
“The temporary florist?”
“The event coordinator,” Marcello corrected.
Julian smiled.
“An employee whose child wandered into a private bedroom.
How convenient.”
“Lily told the truth,” Sarah said.
“Or her mother taught her what to say.”
Marcello moved between them.
“Leave Sarah out of this.”
“That is your weakness,” Julian replied.
“Anyone cries, and you hand them your trust.
Vanessa.
Staff members.
Strangers with children.”
Marcello’s face went still.
Julian leaned closer.
“Father spent his last year correcting your mistakes.
Now I’m doing the same.”
Marcello gripped the back of a chair.
Its legs scraped across the floor.
“Say that again,” he whispered.
“You heard me.
Father never trusted you to protect what he built.”
Sarah touched Marcello’s sleeve.
He jerked away, then looked ashamed.
“Marcello,” she said softly, “don’t let him choose the ground you stand on.”
Beatrice placed herself beside him.
“I voted against Julian’s appointment.”
Julian’s smile vanished.
“That vote was confidential.”
“I’m seventy-two, Julian.
Find someone else to frighten.”
She handed Marcello a printed notice.
“You have until midnight to challenge the proxy.
Hale refused to show us the original.”
“Why help me?” Marcello asked.
“You and my father disagreed for twenty years.”
“Your father once saved my pension when he could have bought my silence for less.”
Beatrice turned to Julian.
“Some debts are paid late.”
Vanessa pulled Julian aside.
“You said the board was unanimous.”
“It will be.”
Sarah’s phone vibrated.
She read an email, then showed it to Marcello.
The message came from an unknown address.
ASK VANESSA WHO PAID FOR ROOM 614 AT THE BELMONT HOTEL.
THE RECEIPT IS ATTACHED.
Marcello opened the attachment.
The room had been booked every Thursday for six months.
The cardholder was Julian Moretti.
Vanessa lunged for the phone.
“That receipt is false.”
Sarah moved it behind her back.
“Then you won’t mind us calling the hotel.”
Julian snapped his fingers at security.
“Escort Sarah and her daughter out.”
One guard stepped forward.
Beatrice blocked him with her cane.
“Touch them,” she said, “and I’ll call every newspaper editor who owes me lunch.”
Marcello’s mobile rang.
Daniel Hale’s name appeared.
“Hale, stop the transfer.”
“I can’t,” the lawyer replied.
“The original authorization has been verified.”
“By whom?”
“By the notary who watched you sign it.”
Marcello looked across the ballroom.
A thin man near the exit lowered his head and slipped through the doors.
Beatrice pointed after him.
“That’s the notary.”
Julian checked his watch.
May you like
“Forty-two minutes,” he said.
Then every light in the ballroom went out.
