Chapter 9 - Midnight
I reached headquarters at 11:16 p.m.
Luca was already there.
For the first time since this began, he looked exhausted.
“I was trying to save the company,” he said.
“By hiding its problems?”
“By buying time.”
“With my signature?”
His eyes dropped.
That was enough.
“Did you forge it?”
“I never personally signed your name.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
He didn’t answer.
We had forty-four minutes.
The transfer involved collateral rights attached to our largest development.
If completed, Northstar would gain enormous leverage.
The board authorized an emergency challenge.
I exercised my founder rights.
The transfer was suspended.
At 11:58 p.m., confirmation arrived.
We had stopped it.
Luca sat alone in the conference room.
“You saved it,” he whispered.
“For tonight.”
He looked at me.
“I did love you.”
That hurt more than I expected.
“I know.”
“Does that make any difference?”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
Maybe that was the moment Luca finally understood what he had destroyed.
Not the villa.
Not his title.
Us.
The next morning, he resigned as chief executive pending the investigation.
But our crisis was not over.
Vance Capital still needed money.
Projects still needed rescuing.
And every bank knew something was wrong.
May you like
To save the company, I would have to become what I had spent fourteen years refusing to be.
Visible.
