“Last night I stayed late.”

Victor’s expression went still.

“I was leaving the underground garage,” Elena said. “Someone came behind me.”

Luca’s hands tightened at his sides.

“He pushed me against my car.”

Victor leaned forward.

“Did you see him?”

Elena ignored him.

“He told me to stop looking into the accounts.”

Luca’s voice turned softer.

“Did you see his face?”

“No.”

“Then why are you afraid of Victor?”

Her silence returned.

Luca waited.

He understood now that forcing her would only repeat what had already been done to her.

So he did something Victor clearly did not expect.

He stepped back.

“Elena chooses what happens next.”

Victor frowned.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you don’t leave this floor until she decides whether she wants security, police, lawyers, or all three.”

Victor’s mouth tightened.

“You can’t imprison a corporate officer because your secretary is frightened.”

“My executive secretary,” Luca corrected. “And I haven't imprisoned anyone.”

He looked toward the glass doors.

Two security guards now stood outside.

Victor followed his gaze.

Luca returned his attention to Elena.

“What do you need?”

The question seemed to disarm her more than anger would have.

She stared at him.

For years, Luca had given orders.

People rarely heard him ask that question.

Elena looked toward the USB.

“I need you to see everything before he has time to erase it.”

Victor stood.

“This meeting is over.”

Luca didn’t move.

Victor reached for his phone.

Elena suddenly spoke.

“Don’t.”

Victor froze.

Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.

“Don’t call anyone.”

Luca looked between them.

Then Elena revealed the final document she had hidden inside the folder.

A photograph.

Grainy.

Taken from a parking garage surveillance feed.

Victor stood near Elena’s car.

The timestamp was from the previous night.

Twenty-seven minutes before she was attacked.

Victor stared at the image.

“That proves nothing.”

“No,” Elena said.

Then she removed another photograph.

This one showed Victor speaking to a man beside a black sedan.

The attacker’s face was partially visible.

Luca knew him.

His name was Adrian Keller.

Former military.

Former employee of Moretti Security.

Fired six months earlier after allegations that he had asNextlted a subcontractor.

Victor’s complexion changed.

Luca leaned closer to the photograph.

“Why is Keller meeting you?”

Victor said nothing.

Elena continued.

“I found more.”

Luca looked up.

She appeared terrified to say the next words.

“What?”

“The stolen money isn’t the worst part.”

Victor closed his eyes.

Just for a moment.

Elena inserted the USB into the conference computer.

Folders appeared across the enormous wall screen.

Accounts.

Messages.

Transfer records.

And one directory labeled:

MORETTI SUCCESSION.

Luca stared at it.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know,” Elena whispered. “It’s encrypted.”

Victor suddenly lunged for the computer.

Luca caught him by the wrist before he reached it.

The room changed instantly.

Victor stopped pretending.

His eyes burned with panic.

“Delete that folder.”

Luca tightened his grip.

“Why?”

Victor stared at the screen.

Then at Elena.

And for the first time, Elena saw something more frightening than the man who had threatened her.

She saw a man terrified of what Luca was about to discover.

Luca released Victor slowly.

“Open it.”

Elena typed.

A password prompt appeared.

She entered the code she had recovered from Victor’s archived communications.

The folder unlocked.

Inside were dozens of files.

Photographs.

Payments.

Private correspondence.

And one scanned document bearing Luca Moretti’s name.

Elena clicked it.

Her face drained of color.

Luca stepped closer.

It was a death certificate.

His own.

Dated eleven months in the future.

At the bottom was a draft signature authorization transferring control of every Moretti company after his death.

The beneficiary was not Victor.

It was someone Luca trusted even more.

Someone who had stood beside his family for twenty years.

Luca read the name twice.

Then his phone rang.

The caller ID showed the same person.

And suddenly Victor smiled.

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