Chapter 12 - Riley Walks Into the Mercer Grand
At 6:03 a.m., Riley’s phone began ringing.
It did not stop.
Reporters.
Customers.
Unknown numbers.
Two television vans arrived outside Morgan Towing before seven.
By eight, the headline appeared online:
FAMILY TOWING BUSINESS LINKED TO HISTORIC PROPERTY FRAUD.
Riley read the article once.
Then shut her laptop.
Connor paced.
“This is garbage.”
“Parts are real,” Thomas said.
Connor turned.
“What?”
“The invoices. Morgan Towing did transport materials for shell companies.”
“We didn’t know what they were!”
“The article does not say you did.”
“It implies it.”
“Yes.”
Patrick sat silently.
Riley understood Daniel’s strategy.
He did not need to prove they were criminals.
He only needed to make them look questionable.
Matteo entered.
Every reporter outside surged toward the gate.
He ignored them.
Inside, Riley looked at him.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I disagree.”
“They’re going to make this about you.”
“They already have.”
He showed her his phone.
A photograph of him entering the yard the previous night had been published.
Headline:
DUCA HEIR AT CENTER OF SECRET PROPERTY DISPUTE.
Riley sighed.
“Congratulations.”
“I prefer the tow-truck video.”
“So do I.”
Matteo sat beside her.
“What’s the plan?”
“Work.”
He blinked.
“Work?”
“We still have customers.”
“Riley.”
“What?”
“Your property is surrounded by news vans.”
“And three people called for roadside assistance.”
Connor grinned.
“She’s serious.”
Matteo stared.
Then smiled.
“Of course she is.”
For the next three hours, Riley towed cars.
She changed a tire for an elderly teacher.
Recovered a delivery truck with a failed transmission.
Jump-started a minivan outside a daycare center.
Reporters followed one of the trucks.
Riley ignored them.
At noon she returned.
Matteo was still there.
“You stayed?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see whether you actually went to work.”
“And?”
“You’re clinically incapable of behaving normally.”
“Says the man who climbed into a tow truck with his own impounded Lamborghini.”
“Fair.”
Thomas approached.
“We have another issue.”
Riley sighed.
“Surprise me.”
“Duca Holdings board called an emergency meeting.”
Matteo’s expression hardened.
“When?”
“Three.”
“Agenda?”
“Your removal as CEO.”
Riley looked at Matteo.
“Because of Victor?”
“Because the press now claims I’m helping hide evidence implicating the company.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It doesn’t need to be true.”
Riley felt anger rise.
Daniel was attacking both of them simultaneously.
Morgan Towing’s reputation.
Matteo’s leadership.
Divide them.
Pressure them.
Force one to break.
Matteo looked at his watch.
“I should go.”
Riley grabbed her jacket.
“I’m coming.”
He looked surprised.
“No.”
Her eyebrows rose.
He corrected himself.
“That sounded wrong.”
“Very.”
“This is a corporate board meeting.”
“I know.”
“You have no reason to be there.”
“Yes, I do.”
“What?”
Riley smiled.
“You’re acquainted with me.”
Matteo laughed despite everything.
At 2:50, Riley Morgan walked into the Mercer Grand.
The same hotel where the entire mess had begun.
Only this time there was no tow truck.
Reporters packed the sidewalk.
Security opened a path.
Riley hated every second.
Inside, executives gathered in a ballroom converted into a conference room.
Matteo’s mother, Isabella Duca, sat at one end.
Riley had never met her.
She was elegant, silver-haired, and carried herself with the same quiet authority as her son.
Sofia sat beside her.
When Riley entered, Sofia smiled.
Isabella stood.
“You’re Riley.”
“Yes.”
Isabella took her hands.
“You towed my son’s car.”
Riley waited.
Then Isabella smiled.
“Salvatore would have adored you.”
Matteo looked upward.
“Why is this the defining event of my life?”
Sofia replied, “Because it’s funny.”
The meeting began.
Board members accused Matteo of mishandling the scandal.
Others defended him.
One older director demanded distance from the Morgan family.
Riley stayed silent.
Until he said, “The towing company may itself be involved.”
Riley stood.
Every head turned.
Matteo whispered, “Riley.”
“No.”
She looked at the director.
“My mother documented wrongdoing by people connected to this company twenty-five years ago. My father spent decades protecting records your executives were too afraid or too compromised to expose.”
The man stiffened.
“You are not a board member.”
“No. I’m the person your former executive tried to cheat.”
“Allegedly.”
Riley smiled.
“Good word.”
Matteo watched her.
Riley continued.
“You want to remove Matteo because he investigated his own company?”
Silence.
“That’s your decision.”
She looked around.
“But if you replace the man trying to expose fraud with somebody willing to ignore it because newspapers are uncomfortable, then Daniel Whitmore doesn’t need to destroy Duca Holdings.”
Her eyes moved around the room.
“You’ll do it for him.”
Nobody spoke.
Riley sat.
Matteo leaned toward her.
“Remind me never to invite you to shareholder meetings.”
“You didn’t invite me.”
“Exactly.”
The vote happened twenty minutes later.
Matteo remained CEO.
Barely.
Outside the ballroom, he caught Riley’s hand.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
She looked at him.
“Because you helped my family when walking away would have been easier.”
His grip tightened slightly.
“Riley.”
“What?”
He stepped closer.
The hotel corridor seemed to disappear.
For the first time, there was no joke ready.
No argument.
No interruption.
Matteo leaned in slowly.
Giving her time to step away.
Riley did not.
Their first kiss was quiet.
Brief.
Almost cautious.
Which surprised Riley more than anything.
When they separated, Matteo looked at her.
“Was that a mistake?”
Riley considered.
“Probably.”
He smiled.
“Again?”
She kissed him this time.
Longer.
Then a voice behind them said, “Finally.”
They turned.
Sofia stood twenty feet away.
Matteo closed his eyes.
“Do you ever go home?”
“No.”
Riley laughed.
Then Thomas emerged from the ballroom.
His expression erased the moment.
“We found something.”
“What?” Matteo asked.
“The reporters’ anonymous package.”
“What about it?”
“It was printed at the Mercer Grand business center.”
Riley stared.
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“Camera?”
Thomas nodded.
“We have footage.”
They entered a security office.
The video showed a man wearing a cap printing documents at 3:12 a.m.
He looked toward the camera.
Matteo froze.
Riley recognized him too.
The laughing security man from the first day.
Luca.
Matteo’s employee.
The guard Riley had joked was her favorite.
Matteo stared at the screen.
“No.”
Adrian stood behind him.
His face had gone gray.
“Luca has worked for us eight years.”
Riley remembered something.
The first day.
Luca had been present when Matteo decided to ride with her.
He knew where Riley lived.
Where the tow yard was.
He knew security procedures.
He knew when Matteo was moving.
Matteo whispered, “Where is he now?”
Adrian checked his phone.
Then looked up.
“He signed out forty minutes ago.”
Riley’s phone vibrated.
A message from Connor.
WHERE’S DAD?
Riley immediately called.
Connor answered.
“Riley?”
“What happened?”
“He said he was going to the pharmacy an hour ago.”
“And?”
“He never came back.”
Riley’s heart stopped.
Matteo took the phone.
“Check his car.”
“I did.”
“Location?”
Connor hesitated.
“The tracker says it’s downtown.”
“Where?”
Another pause.
Then Connor gave the address.
Matteo went completely still.
Riley looked at him.
“What?”
Matteo lowered the phone.
“Patrick’s car is inside Whitmore Tower.”
And suddenly Luca’s betrayal was no longer about documents.
May you like
Daniel Whitmore had taken Riley’s father.
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