Chapter 4 - THE WRONG MORETTI
Emma took one step away from Vincent.
Marco saw it.
"That isn't his ring."
Vincent held out his hand. His signet was wider, darker, marked with a black stone.
"Mine belonged to my father. The one on the video is older."
"Who wears it?" Emma asked.
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"My uncle, Dominic."
Dominic Moretti had spent the entire evening across the ballroom laughing with donors.
When they returned, his chair was empty.
So was Victoria's.
Isabella was being helped toward a private lounge.
Emma went with her.
The older woman looked exhausted but fully alert.
"The envelope," Vincent said. "Was it about Dominic?"
Isabella glanced at Emma.
"Your waitress has courage. Keep her close."
Emma almost corrected her, then remembered she had just been fired.
Vincent crouched beside his mother.
"What was in the letter?"
Isabella looked toward the closed door.
"Proof that I never approved the Lakefront Meridian deal."
Vincent went still.
Emma had heard of it. Everyone in Chicago had. A massive redevelopment project worth billions.
"The public announcement is next week," Vincent said.
"It should never happen," Isabella replied.
She explained that the Moretti Foundation owned a block of voting shares large enough to stop the deal. Someone had filed paperwork claiming Isabella had transferred control of those shares because she was "no longer capable of managing complex decisions."
"Did you sign it?" Emma asked.
Isabella's eyes sharpened.
"Absolutely not."
A knock sounded.
A hotel nurse entered carrying a glass of water and two pills.
"Mrs. Moretti, your evening medication."
Isabella looked at the cup.
Then at Emma.
"That's not my nurse."
The woman dropped the tray and ran.
Marco chased her into the hall.
Vincent reached for the pills.
Emma caught his wrist.
"Don't touch them."
May you like
One tablet had cracked on the carpet.
Inside the white coating was a bright blue powder.
