Chapter 3 - Page Eleven
Giulietta tore the altered agreement in half.
Warren watched the pages fall.
"That was a copy."
"Good. Then you can keep another copy of my answer."
She dropped the ring onto the torn pages.
Marco blocked him with one arm.
"Back up."
"This is my wedding," Preston snapped.
"Not anymore."
Guests filled the ballroom two floors below. Politicians, bankers, businessmen, cousins, rivals, men who smiled in public and carried old grudges in private.
Three calls from the wedding planner.
One from an unknown number.
Silence.
"Giulietta?"
"Elena?"
"Listen to me. Don't sign anything."
Giulietta stopped walking.
"Where are you?"
"I don't know. Parking garage. Maybe under the hotel. They took my phone, but I found—"
Elena whispered, "Page eleven was swapped. I never approved it. Warren has someone inside your office."
Giulietta stared at the screen.
"We find her first."
"And Preston?"
"He stays where I can see him."
They moved fast through the staff hallway.
"You need to see this."
He turned the screen toward her.
All of them.
Nico played the clip.
Elena's black sedan entered frame.
A gray SUV followed.
Giulietta leaned closer.
"Pause it."
Nico froze the image.
Giulietta knew him.
Rafael DeLuca had served her father for eighteen years.
He had stood beside her father's coffin.
"Rafael's with the Hales."
Giulietta looked again at the frozen face.
"No."
"Rafael is with whoever paid him first."
Her phone buzzed.
May you like
A text from Elena's number appeared.
COME ALONE TO GARAGE LEVEL B4 OR SHE DOESN'T LEAVE.
