Chapter 17 - VINCENT'S CHOICE

Federal agents questioned Vincent, Marco, and Isabella.

A shell casing at the scene matched ammunition registered to a Moretti security company.

Victoria’s attorneys seized on it immediately.

They claimed Vincent had orchestrated everything.

Emma asked him directly.

“Did you?”

“No.”

She watched his face.

“Would you tell me if you had?”

He did not answer quickly enough.

Emma walked away. Truth was supposed to cost something.

Marco discovered the ammunition had been checked out two years earlier by retired security captain Frank Doria.

Frank had worked for Carlo.

He confessed within a day.

“I did what Carlo should have done.”

“You murdered a man.”

“He tried to kill Isabella.”

“So you decided you were a court?”

Frank’s face crumpled.

“I protected the family.”

Vincent answered quietly.

“No. You protected the sickness in it.”

Vincent could have buried it.

Instead he turned over internal security records and waived company objections.

The evidence cleared him.

It also exposed older Moretti crimes.

Board members panicked, contracts disappeared, stock dropped, and executives resigned. Vincent still refused to hide the records.

Emma found him alone in Room 614.

Carlo’s old office.

“You could have hidden it.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you?”

He looked at the desk.

“My father confused protecting a family with protecting its worst decisions.”

Emma leaned against the wall.

“That sounds expensive.”

A faint smile.

“Very.”

Then he looked at her.

“I owe you an apology.”

“For what?”

“The first night.”

Emma frowned.

“You didn’t do anything.”

“I told security to release you.”

“So?”

“I assumed I had authority over the situation because I owned the room.”

“You kind of did.”

“That doesn’t mean I should have.”

Emma smiled slightly.

“You’re getting strange.”

“I blame you.”

“Dangerous.”

“Dinner?”

Emma stared.

“Is that a date?”

“Yes.”

“No security at the table.”

“Agreed.”

“No private dining room.”

He looked pained.

“Public restaurant?”

“Very.”

“That seems reckless.”

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She laughed.

For the first time since the gala, the future felt like something other than an emergency.