Chapter 18 - The Last Lie
Gregory did not deny it immediately.
That was enough.
Serena laughed. “Tell her.”
Gregory closed his eyes.
“Victor wanted Carlo gone. But he didn’t choose the night.”
“You did,” Valeria said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Carlo found my real identity. He told me he was going to expose me at the board meeting the next morning.”
“So you killed my father to save your seat at the table.”
“I told Serena to give him enough medication to stop his heart. I told myself he was old. Sick. That it would look natural.”
“You told yourself murder was paperwork.”
Gregory lowered his head.
“I was wrong.”
“No. You were evil.”
Serena tried to bargain. She offered names, accounts, dates, details of Victor’s network. Federal agents listened with professional interest.
Valeria barely heard them.
She remembered Gregory kissing her cheek the night Carlo died, then going upstairs to arrange the murder.
Gregory looked at her one last time.
“I never planned to hurt Noah.”
“You locked him in a steel room.”
“I panicked.”
“You threatened his inheritance.”
“I was afraid.”
“You let Victor talk about accidents happening to children.”
Gregory’s face broke.
“I know.”
Valeria stepped close enough that the agents tensed.
“You keep describing yourself as scared, Gregory. Noah was scared. You were dangerous.”
She turned away.
Behind her, Serena called, “Ask him why he went pale in the ballroom before Noah said a word.”
Valeria stopped.
That detail from the beginning.
Gregory looked at Serena with pure hatred.
Valeria faced him again.
“Why?”
Serena answered for him.
“Because the teddy bear wasn’t the only live camera.”
She smiled.
“Gregory knew the hidden room itself had been wired by Carlo.”
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Tomas frowned. “Then where’s the footage?”
Serena said, “Ask Maya.”
