Chapter 6: Valletta
The holding company was called Meridian Alcazar S.A.
Renata found the registration within two hours.
Incorporated in Malta nine months ago — one month before Elena left, four months before the proxy letter was supposedly signed.
Three directors listed.
One of them was a name Julian recognized immediately: Stefano Bruni, the same board member whose vote had appeared on the fraudulent resolution.
The second director was a Maltese attorney Julian had never heard of.
The third was Marco Rossi.
Julian sat across from his lawyer, a sharp-eyed woman named Grace Alderton, in a private meeting room on the hotel's executive floor.
He had requested the room through the front desk, not through Dario.
"They started building this a full month before Elena left," Julian said.
Grace had the documents spread across the table.
She didn't look up.
"Which means the threat to Elena wasn't about protecting you.
It was about removing her so she couldn't witness what came next."
"Or so I'd be distracted."
"Both." Grace tapped the registration date.
"Nine months ago you were in the middle of the Lisbon acquisition.
Biggest deal of the year.
Your attention was elsewhere and they knew it." She looked up.
"Julian, this isn't opportunistic.
Someone planned this carefully over a long period of time."
"Marco."
"Marco, at minimum.
But he needed Bruni's vote and a Maltese attorney willing to put his name on the paperwork.
That's a network, not a solo operation."
Julian's phone buzzed on the table.
Marco.
Finally.
He let it ring twice, then answered and put it on speaker.
"You've been calling," Marco said.
His voice was easy.
Relaxed.
The voice of a man who had decided on his approach before dialing.
"Sorry, I was traveling.
What's going on?"
"I found Elena."
A pause.
Short but real.
"That's — Julian, that's wonderful.
Where is she?
Is she all right?"
"She's well.
She told me about your visit to the house.
September, last year."
Another pause.
Longer.
"I don't know what she told you, but she was in a very fragile state.
I was worried about her."
"She told me you threatened her.
That you told her to leave or I'd be hurt."
"That's not — Julian, she misunderstood.
I was trying to warn her about a situation that—"
"Meridian Alcazar S.A.," Julian said.
Silence.
"You incorporated it nine months ago," Julian continued.
"Your name is on the registration.
So is Bruni's.
The proxy letter that transferred my stake was signed on a day I was in Lisbon.
I have the hotel receipts." He paused.
"Would you like to keep talking, or would you like to call your lawyer first?"
"You're making accusations you don't understand." Marco's voice had changed.
The ease was gone.
What replaced it was something colder and more careful.
"There are things going on in this company that you have never been equipped to handle.
I have been protecting this family's assets for years while you chased deals in cities you don't even live in."
"By forging my signature."
"By making decisions that needed to be made."
"And sending your man Dario to keep watch over my pregnant wife while she scrubbed floors."
"Elena was taken care of.
She had a job, a salary, a safe place—"
"She was a prisoner with a cleaning cart, Marco."
"Don't be dramatic."
"Resign from the Meridian board by end of business today," Julian said.
"Return the stake.
And tell Bruni to do the same.
If you do that, we handle this inside the family."
Marco laughed.
It was a short, ugly sound.
"You don't have the leverage to make that demand."
"I have the forged letter.
I have the registration documents.
I have Elena's testimony.
And I have the photograph you gave her — the one you said would keep her away." Julian let that sit for a moment.
"I had the restaurant identified this morning.
It's in Valletta.
The man across the table from whoever you paid to impersonate me is a known associate of a Maltese financial crjme investigation that's been running for fourteen months." He paused.
"You didn't forge that photograph to scare Elena.
You forged it to create a paper trail that pointed at me.
In case you ever needed it."
The silence on the line was different now.
Heavier.
"Resign by end of business," Julian said.
"Or I send everything to the financial crimes unit by morning."
May you like
He ended the call.
Grace was already writing.
