Chapter 13 - The Voice on the Recording.
Victor looked nothing like the wounded man everyone expected to find near the west gate.
His gray suit was clean.
His hands were steady.
The only blood on him was a narrow streak across one cuff.
Lorenzo slowly raised his hands.
“Where is Noah?”
Victor smiled.
“Still thinking about Celeste’s brother?”
Celeste stepped forward.
“You promised he would be released.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Your brother was never useful enough to keep.”
Celeste went white.
Lorenzo moved before she could collapse.
He caught her arm and kept his eyes on Victor.
“Is he alive?”
Victor shrugged.
“For now.”
Adrian stood so abruptly his chair fell backward.
“You told me nobody would get hurt.”
Victor looked at him almost fondly.
“And there it is.”
Lorenzo turned toward his brother.
The room seemed to contract around them.
Adrian realized what he had said.
“No.”
Lorenzo’s voice was quiet.
“How long?”
Adrian shook his head.
“It wasn’t supposed to become this.”
“How long have you been working with him?”
“Years.”
Celeste stared at Adrian with disgust.
Victor laughed softly.
“Your brother was always terrible under pressure.”
Lorenzo’s hands curled into fists.
“Isabelle knew.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“She found the transfers.”
“And then she died.”
“I did not kill her.”
Victor’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.
Lorenzo saw it.
Adrian saw it too.
The brothers turned toward Victor.
Adrian whispered, “You said the crash was an accident.”
Victor raised the gun higher.
“Everything is an accident when the paperwork is correct.”
Lorenzo felt rage rush through him, but he forced it down.
He needed Victor talking.
He needed time for Marcus and the deputies to move into position.
“Why tonight?”
Victor nodded toward the wine.
“Tomorrow you were going to remove Adrian.”
“You were going to audit the European accounts.”
“You were going to discover my companies.”
“And after I was unconscious?”
“Your biometric key would open the vault.”
“Then what?”
Victor smiled.
“A medical emergency.”
“A grieving fiancée.”
“A loyal brother temporarily assuming control.”
Adrian looked sick.
“You told me Lorenzo would recover.”
“I told you what you needed to hear.”
A soft voice suddenly came through the dining room speakers.
“If Lorenzo is watching this, then I failed to stop them.”
Victor’s face changed.
Isabelle’s recording was playing again.
Marcus had activated it remotely.
Victor glanced toward the ceiling.
That one second of distraction was enough for Celeste to knock the wine glass toward him.
Victor fired.
The shot shattered the chandelier crystal above the table.
Lorenzo tackled Celeste to the floor as glass rained down.
Adrian lunged at Victor.
The pistol skidded across the marble.
Marcus burst from the service passage.
Two deputies entered from the foyer.
Victor was pinned against the table within seconds.
Then another gunshot sounded from the hallway.
Everyone froze.
Marcus turned.
One of the deputies fell backward.
May you like
A second armed man stood in the doorway.
It was Daniel Cross.
