Chapter 3 - CAMILA'S MESSAGE
Elena was not in labor.
Not yet.
The contractions slowed after twenty minutes, but her blood pressure was high enough that Dante refused to take chances.
The person at the door turned out to be Dr. Maya Chen, an obstetrician who entered carrying a medical bag instead of questions.
Julian recognized her name from Boston Medical Center.
“How does a former family security officer have an obstetrician making house calls at two in the morning?”
Dr. Chen looked at Dante.
“He neglected to mention he was former security.”
Dante ignored Julian.
Maya examined Elena.
“You’ve been on your feet too much.”
Elena almost smiled.
“I work housekeeping.”
“Yes. I noticed the uniform.”
Maya looked at Julian.
“She needs rest. Real rest.”
Julian nodded immediately.
“Anything.”
Elena looked away.
The doctor continued.
“Baby’s heart rate is strong. No cervical change that concerns me right now. But another episode like this and you go to the hospital.”
Dante said:
“Which hospital?”
Maya’s expression changed.
“Not one connected to Rossi Medical.”
Julian absorbed that insult in silence.
Apparently even his family’s hospitals were considered unsafe.
After Maya left, Julian sat beside the window.
Elena slept on the couch.
Dante remained near the door.
At 3:36 a.m., Julian’s phone buzzed.
Camila.
Dante looked at the screen.
“Don’t.”
Julian answered.
“Where are you?”
Camila’s voice trembled.
Not the polished tone from dinner.
“Are you with Elena?”
Julian said nothing.
“That means yes.”
“You were paid by Marco.”
Silence.
Then:
“Julian, listen to me.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
The admission landed almost gently because everything inside Julian had already been shattered.
“What was the job?”
“Originally?”
“Don’t play with me.”
“To get close to you.”
“Why?”
“To keep you distracted.”
“From Elena?”
“No. I didn’t know she was alive.”
Julian looked at Dante.
Dante’s expression remained unreadable.
Camila continued.
“Marco told me your wife had left and you were spiraling. He wanted someone you would trust.”
“Trust enough to do what?”
“Sign things.”
Julian’s stomach tightened.
“The merger.”
“Yes.”
The billion-dollar merger with Halcyon Capital.
The deal Julian had spent six months negotiating.
The deal scheduled for board approval in forty-eight hours.
“What did I sign?”
“Preliminary authority documents.”
“Nothing unusual.”
“Julian…”
“What?”
“One of them wasn’t what you were told.”
Dante moved closer.
“What document?”
Camila heard him.
“Who is that?”
“Answer me.”
She exhaled.
“The Family Continuity Waiver.”
Julian frowned.
“There is no Family Continuity Waiver.”
“There is now.”
“What does it do?”
“I only saw one page.”
“Camila.”
“It waives automatic succession review triggered by the birth of a direct Rossi heir.”
Julian stopped breathing.
He looked toward Elena.
She had awakened.
Her eyes were open.
Dante’s face darkened.
“When did he sign?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Julian remembered.
Marco had placed a stack of merger documents in front of him during dinner.
Routine approvals.
Board consents.
Confidentiality schedules.
Julian had signed dozens.
“You slipped it into merger paperwork.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who?”
“Marco.”
“You watched.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
Camila began crying.
“Yes.”
Elena looked away.
Julian felt disgust.
At Camila.
At Marco.
At himself.
“What happens if the waiver stands?”
“I don’t know everything.”
Dante spoke.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at him.
Dante crossed the room.
“Antonio Rossi created a succession clause before his death.”
Julian frowned.
“My father’s trust was settled years ago.”
“Not the final schedule.”
“What final schedule?”
“The birth of your first legitimate child triggers an independent review of all Rossi Family Trust transactions executed since Antonio died.”
Julian went still.
“What?”
Dante continued.
“The review automatically suspends Stefano’s proxy control until auditors certify the trust.”
Elena whispered:
“So if the baby is born…”
“Stefano temporarily loses control.”
Julian understood the merger instantly.
Halcyon.
If the merger closed before the child’s birth, several family assets would transfer into a new corporate structure outside the old trust.
Billions in assets.
And whatever Stefano had hidden during the past eleven years might become nearly impossible to trace.
Camila’s voice came through the phone.
“There’s more.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“Of course there is.”
“Marco called me after you left the hotel.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me to keep you there until morning.”
“Why?”
“I asked.”
Camila hesitated.
“He said Elena wasn’t supposed to leave the twenty-third floor.”
Julian looked at her abandoned housekeeping uniform.
“What was on twenty-three?”
Dante answered before Camila could.
“The presidential residence.”
“So?”
“It has a private service balcony.”
Elena went pale.
Julian stared.
Twenty-three floors above Boylston Street.
No public cameras on the service balcony.
“What were they planning?”
Camila whispered:
“Marco told me not to ask.”
Julian’s voice changed.
“What exactly did he say?”
Another silence.
Then Camila repeated it.
“If she falls, the baby dies with her.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Julian rose so suddenly the chair hit the wall.
“Where is Marco?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Camila’s breathing became ragged.
“Because I’m not at the hotel anymore.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in my car.”
“Where?”
“I think someone is following me.”
Dante took the phone.
“Camila, listen carefully. Do not drive home.”
“Who is this?”
“Dante Moretti.”
Silence.
Then Camila whispered:
“Oh God.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“You know me?”
“Marco showed me your photograph.”
“Why?”
“He said if I ever saw you, I should run.”
Headlights swept across the safe-house windows.
Dante stepped back.
Another vehicle stopped outside.
Camila suddenly screamed through the phone.
Metal crashed.
The call exploded into static.
Then nothing.
Julian shouted her name.
No answer.
Dante looked at the dark window.
Elena gripped Julian’s hand.
May you like
And for the first time since he found her, Julian understood that Camila was not merely part of the trap anymore.
She might have just become another target.
