Chapter 10: The Last Conversation
Marcus called Alessandro at eleven-seventeen that night.
Alessandro put it on speaker.
Grace Chen sat across the desk with a legal pad.
Liam and I stood near the window.
"I heard you've been busy," Marcus said.
His voice had lost none of its smoothness.
"I want to give you a chance to think carefully before this goes any further.
Family is complicated, Alessandro.
Whatever that woman told you—"
"Her name is Elizabeth Hargrove," Alessandro said.
"Her father was Daniel Hargrove.
You know exactly who she is."
A brief pause.
"Daniel was a troubled man who developed some very distorted ideas near the end of his—"
"I have the recordings, Marcus."
Silence.
"I have three USB drives with your voice on them, discussing specific account transfers by name, date, and amount.
I have eight years of documentation in my father's former security chief's handwriting." Alessandro's voice remained even.
"I have Grace Chen sitting across from me, and she has already made one phone call tonight."
"Alessandro." The smoothness was still there, but something underneath it had shifted.
"You don't understand what you're doing to this family.
To your father's legacy.
If this becomes public—"
"It becomes public because you made it public.
The moment you had Daniel Hargrove kjlled, you made it public.
You just didn't know it yet."
"I did not—"
"Don't." Alessandro's voice didn't rise.
It went quieter.
"Don't insult either of us."
A long pause.
When Marcus spoke again, the smoothness was gone entirely.
"I built half of what that company is," he said.
"Your father would have had nothing without me.
You would have had nothing."
"And Daniel Hargrove would still be alive," Alessandro replied.
"His daughter would still have her father.
That is what you traded it for."
Another silence.
"I'll fight this," Marcus said.
"Every step.
I have attorneys who—"
"You have attorneys who work for the Vitali organization," Alessandro said.
"Which means they work for the board.
Which means they work for me." He paused.
"Goodnight, Marcus."
He ended the call.
Grace made a note on her legal pad.
The room was quiet.
Liam let out a slow breath from beside me.
Then Alessandro looked across the room at me, and for the first time since Winnetka, the controlled precision in his face softened slightly.
"It's done," he said.
May you like
"Not yet," Grace said crisply, still writing.
"But by morning, it will be."
