Chapter 7 - My Mother’s Last Warning
My mother had never trusted Luca completely.
I knew that now.
Evelyn showed me a sealed letter Margaret Mercer had left with instructions that it be opened only if a dispute ever arose over my founder shares.
The letter was twelve years old.
Jessica,
Love can make intelligent people generous. Generosity is beautiful until someone begins treating it as entitlement.
I stopped reading.
My mother had seen something I hadn’t.
Not a criminal.
Not a monster.
Something simpler.
A man who gradually confused access with ownership.
The letter documented an early dispute involving my mother’s former partner, Richard Hale.
Richard had wanted to invest heavily in Vance Capital.
My mother refused.
Luca apparently continued speaking with him anyway.
Northstar was connected to Richard.
The discovery complicated everything.
Was Luca moving money for himself?
Was Richard using Luca?
Were the questionable transfers hiding losses rather than theft?
We didn’t know.
And I refused to pretend we did.
That evening, Chloe called.
“Someone broke into the penthouse.”
The metal case was gone.
Nothing else had been taken.
But Chloe had made one mistake that saved us.
Before leaving that morning, she had photographed what was inside.
She sent me the images.
One photograph showed a ledger.
Another showed correspondence.
The third showed a contract.
I enlarged it.
At the bottom were two signatures.
Luca Vance.
And Richard Hale.
May you like
The contract was dated eighteen months earlier.
Exactly the period Luca had wanted me to waive my right to challenge.
