Chapter 7: The Vote Behind Closed Doors
Gabriel entered the Valenti boardroom with Claire and Luca beside him.
Marco occupied the chair at the head of the table.
“You are trespassing,” Marco said.
Gabriel placed the old cassette recorder before him.
“This company bears my family’s name.”
“A name does not grant authority.
The board removed you by seven votes to two.”
Luca pulled out a chair.
Marco stared at him.
“You always were difficult to bury.”
“And you always confused paperwork with truth.”
Marco addressed the board.
“This man is an impostor.
Luca Valenti was declared de@d six years ago.”
Claire laid Luca’s photograph beside the hospital visitor record.
“Then explain why your clinic kept an impostor locked in a private room.”
“An employee acted without my knowledge.”
Bianca entered with her mother and Deputy Mercer.
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“Bianca, sit down.”
“No.”
“I am your father.”
“You used my mother’s trust to pay Dr.
Hale.”
“Everything I built was meant for you.”
Bianca connected her laptop to the boardroom screen.
“You built it with money taken from employees.”
Account transfers filled the wall.
One board member removed his glasses.
“These payments total forty-two million dollars.”
Marco turned on Gabriel.
“Those records came from your server.
You could have created them.”
“I expected you to say that,” Bianca replied.
She played a security recording from Marco’s office.
His voice filled the room: “Erase the pension backups before Gabriel finds them.
Move the balance after tomorrow’s vote.”
Marco lunged for the laptop.
Luca caught him across the table.
“Not this time.”
Marco shoved him away and reached beneath the table.
Daniel entered and took a metal paperweight from Marco’s hand before he could throw it.
Mercer stepped forward.
“Keep your hands visible.”
Marco looked around the room.
“You are all willing to destroy this company over an old recording and a frightened child?”
The door opened.
Elena walked in.
Her hair had turned silver at the temples, but Gabriel recognized the way she lifted her chin.
Marco’s chair scraped backward.
“You’re de@d.”
Elena placed a thick ledger on the table.
“That was your first accounting error.”
Gabriel crossed the room but stopped inches from her.
“Elena?”
She touched his face.
“You still frown exactly like Dad.”
He pulled her into his arms.
Luca joined them, and for several seconds none of them could speak.
Marco moved toward the side door.
Ruth blocked it.
“You forgot the hospital clerk who copied Elena’s admission records.”
“You helped her disappear,” Marco said.
“I helped her survive.”
Elena opened the ledger.
“These are the original pension transfers, with your handwritten approvals.”
Marco looked toward his attorney.
“Say something.”
The attorney stood.
“I gave Deputy Mercer copies of every false d3ath petition your office prepared.”
“You worked for me for thirty years.”
“I mistook obedience for honor.”
Two financial investigators entered with a warrant.
Marco backed against the window.
“Gabriel, make them leave.
I can restore your position.
You can have the company and the house.
We divide the overseas accounts.”
Gabriel looked at the board members.
“Did everyone hear that offer?”
Seven phones were already recording.
Marco’s voice shook.
“Without me, the company collapses.”
Elena closed the ledger.
“Then we rebuild it without you.”
Mercer placed restraints around Marco’s wrists.
He looked at Bianca.
“After everything I gave you, this is how you repay me?”
Bianca wiped her cheek.
“You gave me your fear and called it loyalty.”
As Mercer led him away, Marco twisted toward Mia’s photograph on the table.
“That child will tear this family apart.”
Gabriel picked up the photograph.
“No, Marco.
She brought it back together.”
The elevator doors closed on Marco’s final glare.
Then one investigator turned to Gabriel.
May you like
“We still have a problem.
Forty-two million dollars left the country this morning—and the transfer carries your electronic signature.”
