Chapter 10 - Diana Voss Finally Makes Her Move
Lorenzo read Samuel’s messages in silence.
When he finished, he handed the phone back.
“No.”
Evelyn sighed.
“We’ve had this discussion.”
“This time there is no discussion.”
“Samuel threatened Rita.”
“Which is precisely why you aren’t going.”
“He wants me.”
“He wants Bellweather.”
“He doesn’t know I have it.”
“He suspects.”
“Then we use that.”
Lorenzo stood across from her in the safe apartment, jacket discarded, sleeves rolled to his forearms.
Diana sat near the window.
Adrian stood by the door.
For once, all of them were listening to Evelyn.
She continued.
“Samuel thinks Margaret chose me because I know where Bellweather is. We encourage that belief.”
Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed.
“And then?”
“I meet him.”
“No.”
Diana interrupted.
“She’s right.”
Lorenzo turned a look toward her that might have frozen water.
Diana ignored it.
“Samuel has spent years controlling information. The only way to make him expose himself is to offer information he believes he can’t get anywhere else.”
“Not with Evelyn as bait.”
Evelyn folded her arms.
“I dislike that word.”
“It is accurate.”
“So is secretary, but apparently neither describes everything I do.”
Adrian cleared his throat.
“We can wire her.”
Lorenzo’s stare moved to him.
“You’ve become strangely comfortable with bad ideas.”
“She’ll go whether you approve or not.”
Silence.
Adrian shrugged.
“I’ve known her four days and even I understand that.”
Diana almost smiled.
Lorenzo looked at Evelyn.
She held his gaze.
Finally:
“Where?”
“Samuel sent an address.”
An old private club in Back Bay.
Closed for renovations.
Lorenzo read it.
“I know this building.”
“Good.”
“Three entrances.”
“Better.”
“A tunnel connecting to the building next door.”
“Excellent.”
“This isn’t enthusiasm-worthy information.”
“Depends which side of the trap you’re on.”
At 8:55 p.m., Evelyn entered the club alone.
A recording device was hidden in the clasp of her handbag.
Adrian and Diana monitored from a van two streets away.
Lorenzo refused the van.
He was somewhere closer.
Evelyn suspected much closer than anyone had agreed.
Samuel waited in the old ballroom.
No guards visible.
He poured two drinks.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
“You threatened my sister.”
“I made you understand urgency.”
“You have an irritating vocabulary.”
Samuel smiled.
“So does Lorenzo.”
“You’d know. You’ve worked beside him for years.”
“Beside is generous.”
He handed her a glass.
She did not take it.
Samuel shrugged and drank it himself.
“Where is Bellweather?”
“Why do you think I have it?”
“Because Margaret Hale spent nineteen years pretending to be an administrator when she was really protecting Giovanni Falcone’s secrets.”
“And?”
“Three months ago she began preparing for something.”
Evelyn said nothing.
“She changed emergency protocols. Copied records. Contacted your sister.”
Still nothing.
“And she gave you a box of books.”
Evelyn’s stomach tightened.
He knew.
Samuel smiled.
“You see? I’ve been watching far longer than Lorenzo realizes.”
“So why not search my apartment sooner?”
“We did.”
Evelyn froze.
“The break-in last night wasn’t the first?”
“No.”
Samuel walked closer.
“We searched three weeks ago. Before the benefit.”
“And didn’t find it.”
“No.”
“Because you were looking for documents.”
“Exactly.”
Evelyn thought of Margaret choosing an ordinary novel.
Samuel had underestimated both of them.
“Then why threaten Rita?”
“I need the password.”
“You don’t even know if I have the drive.”
“I know.”
He took out his phone.
Displayed a photograph.
Evelyn and Lorenzo leaving the apartment during the break-in.
Evelyn’s fist closed around something small.
The flash drive.
Visible.
Barely.
But visible.
Her mistake.
“Give it to me,” Samuel said.
“No.”
“You don’t understand what is at stake.”
“I understand you’ve been stealing from Falcone Global.”
“I built Falcone Global.”
“Giovanni might disagree.”
“Giovanni was an old-fashioned thug with good accountants.”
Evelyn’s expression remained neutral.
Samuel continued.
“I created the legitimate corporation. I negotiated the banks. I brought politicians to the table. And when he died, everything went to a man who wasn’t even his son.”
There it was.
Recorded.
Evelyn said, “So this is about Lorenzo.”
“This is about correcting an error.”
“He was Giovanni’s chosen heir.”
“He was a sentimental mistake.”
Evelyn’s anger surprised her.
“You spent fifteen years preparing revenge because a dead man loved a child who wasn’t biologically his?”
Samuel’s calm expression hardened.
“You know nothing about it.”
“I know enough.”
“You know what Lorenzo lets you see.”
“And you know what?”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You’ve made the same mistake every other man in this mess has made.”
Samuel frowned.
“You think information only matters when powerful people hold it.”
She watched his eyes.
“But secretaries keep copies.”
His hand moved.
Not toward a weapon.
Toward her handbag.
Evelyn stepped back.
“Don’t.”
Samuel smiled.
“Do you believe Falcone will save you?”
“No.”
That stopped him.
“I believe I gave him enough time to get here.”
The ballroom doors opened.
Lorenzo entered.
Alone.
Samuel actually laughed.
“You always were predictable.”
Lorenzo’s voice was cold.
“Move away from her.”
“Or?”
“You know the answer.”
“Do I?”
Samuel looked at Evelyn.
“This is the part he doesn’t tell you about. The part where his manners stop.”
Evelyn remained still.
“I’m familiar with Lorenzo’s manners. They aren’t that impressive.”
A small, incredulous breath escaped Lorenzo.
Even Samuel smiled.
Then Diana entered through the side door.
Samuel’s face changed.
“Diana.”
“Hello, Samuel.”
“You’ve been busy.”
“So have you.”
“You think Bellweather proves I killed your father.”
“I know it does.”
“You know nothing.”
Diana’s controlled exterior cracked for the first time.
“You sent him onto that boat.”
Samuel’s smile faded.
“He should have remained loyal.”
The room froze.
Diana stared at him.
Evelyn’s heart slammed.
A confession.
Not complete.
Enough to push.
“Daniel discovered North Harbor,” Evelyn said.
Samuel looked at her.
“He built North Harbor.”
“For Giovanni.”
“For me.”
Diana whispered, “You threatened him.”
“I warned him.”
“And when he refused?”
Samuel said nothing.
Lorenzo stepped forward.
“Finish it.”
Samuel looked at Lorenzo.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel intended to give Bellweather to your father.”
Diana’s breathing shook.
“I stopped him.”
There.
Clearer.
The recording device in Evelyn’s handbag captured every word.
Then Samuel’s face changed.
His eyes moved toward Evelyn’s clasp.
He understood.
“Take off the bag.”
Nobody moved.
Samuel repeated, “Take it off.”
Evelyn held his gaze.
“No.”
He lunged.
Lorenzo moved faster.
The confrontation lasted only seconds.
A table fell.
Glass shattered.
Adrian and two security men rushed in.
Samuel was restrained without anyone seriously injured.
Diana stood motionless.
Years of rage had nowhere to go.
Then Samuel laughed.
Still on the floor.
“You think you won?”
Lorenzo stared down at him.
Samuel smiled at Evelyn.
“You recorded me.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
That one word chilled her.
“Because now Victor knows you have Bellweather.”
A phone began ringing.
Diana’s.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Her face drained of color.
“What?”
She listened.
Then looked at Lorenzo.
“Margaret.”
Evelyn’s chest tightened.
Diana lowered the phone.
“Victor has her.”
Samuel smiled.
“And he wants the drive.”
Lorenzo looked at Evelyn.
Samuel Reyes had been exposed.
But the oldest predator in the game had just stepped out of the shadows.
And this time, he was not interested in money.
Victor Caruso wanted the one piece of Bellweather nobody had yet opened.
A folder marked:
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SUCCESSION.
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