Chapter 7 - Eighteen Million
Marcus had stolen eighteen million dollars through a chain of construction invoices.
The waterfront sale would have buried the shortage.
Ruby’s votes were the last piece.
Without them, the sale failed.
With them, Marcus could move assets, refinance debt, and make the missing money disappear inside a larger transaction.
Nico tracked Marcus to a private airfield in Teterboro.
He was trying to leave.
I did not go after him.
Marcus was arrested before boarding a charter jet.
He had two phones.
One passport.
And a flash drive.
Valentina’s lawyer arrived.
She refused to answer more questions.
Fine.
I had other people to ask.
Dr. Nathan Sloan was brought in by detectives that afternoon.
He looked terrified.
“I never intended to hurt Ruby.”
“You diagnosed my child with disorders she does not have.”
“I was told it was temporary paperwork.”
“By who?”
He looked at Luca.
Then at the detective.
“Marcus.”
“And Valentina?”
“She brought Ruby to my office.”
“What happened?”
Sloan admitted Valentina had asked him to photograph ordinary bruises and write that they were “consistent with poor supervision.”
He refused at first.
Then Marcus reminded him about a private loan Sloan had taken from a Falcone-linked lender.
Blackmail.
Still a choice.
Sloan made it.
The detective took his statement.
Before he left, Sloan said one thing I did not expect.
“Ruby wasn’t the only child I examined.”
I stood.
“Who else?”
“Ethan.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
Sloan swallowed.
“Mrs. Falcone asked me to document anxiety and sleep problems.”
“For what?”
He looked ashamed.
“A backup guardianship petition.”
I stared at him.
“If Ruby’s removal failed?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“If she lost control of both children, she planned to claim you were unstable and dangerous.”
May you like
Valentina had not only prepared to take Ruby.
She had prepared to take Ethan too.
