Chapter 11 - The Leather Case
Daniel insisted they wait for investigators before opening it.
Marcello agreed.
Three hours later, the case was cataloged and opened.
Inside were no jewels.
Vanessa had hidden a private archive inside a century-old dumbwaiter.
The documents showed Bell River was planning to acquire three DeLuca hotels through a debt restructuring.
The seventy-eight-million-dollar transfer would have financed the purchases.
Vanessa’s temporary trust votes made the deal possible.
The pregnancy did not merely protect her position.
Marcello stared at the map.
“These are Luca’s properties.”
“His division.”
Vanessa’s plan would have transferred the hotels from DeLuca Hospitality into an outside vehicle partly controlled by her family.
At a price the independent valuation later called substantially below fair market range.
Elena whispered:
“She was using Luca’s baby to buy Luca’s company.”
Then they opened the flash drive.
Most files were financial.
Vanessa sat in the blue room.
She spoke directly to the camera.
“If this goes wrong, Marcello will say I planned everything.”
“I didn’t.”
The recording was dated six weeks after Luca’s death.
“I was pregnant. I lost the baby yesterday.”
“I should tell them.”
“Lucia says Bell River needs thirty days.”
Marcello turned toward his mother.
Lucia looked shattered.
“Thirty days becomes nothing. I can do thirty days.”
Vanessa wearing the first prosthetic.
“I can’t stop now. If I stop, they ask what I signed.”
“If I stop, Marcello audits Luca’s division.”
“If I stop, Bell River dies.”
Recorded two nights ago.
Vanessa looked straight at the camera.
“If I make it to the merger vote, I never have to wear this thing again.”
She smiled without humor.
“Then I can finally lose the baby.”
Elena felt cold.
May you like
The gala had not been the end of the deception.
It had been the night before Vanessa planned to stage its ending.
