Chapter 6 - THE REAL REASON HE HIRED HER
Nora moved away from Victor as soon as they reached his penthouse.
The apartment overlooked Lake Michigan, its enormous windows reflecting a city filled with secrets.
“You knew who I was.”
Victor removed his coat.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Before your interview.”
Nora laughed once, bitterly.
“So the job, the salary, the private medical insurance for my father—”
“You earned your position.”
“But you knew.”
Victor stood still.
“I knew Thomas Hastings had worked for my father. I knew your mother's name appeared in documents my family tried to bury.”
“And you never thought I deserved to know?”
“I didn't know what those documents meant.”
Nora's eyes burned.
“You should have told me.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
The simple admission surprised her.
Victor didn't offer an excuse.
He walked toward the desk.
“When your application arrived, I recognized the surname. I asked for a background check. Your qualifications were exceptional, so I hired you. I hoped the old files might explain themselves without dragging you into danger.”
“And the dress?”
He hesitated.
“I ordered it because I wanted you beside me at the meeting.”
“To expose Camilla?”
“To hear the truth from someone I trusted.”
Nora looked away.
“I don't know if I can trust you.”
Victor accepted the words without protest.
“Then don't trust my promises. Judge what I do next.”
Before she could respond, Leo entered.
“We found the medical administrator. Stephen Bell.”
“Where?”
“Dead in his office.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Leo continued.
“Someone removed his computer and destroyed the security recordings.”
Victor's phone rang.
His legal counsel.
Victor answered, listened, and slowly straightened.
“Send me everything.”
When he ended the call, he looked at Nora.
“Your father wasn't merely a witness.”
“What do you mean?”
“He filed a sealed affidavit eighteen years ago.”
“Against whom?”
“My father. Senator Davenport. Matteo Capotosti.”
Nora stared.
“Why didn't anyone prosecute them?”
“Because the affidavit disappeared before the hearing.”
Leo handed Victor a document.
It was a photocopy recovered from an archived court file.
Nora leaned closer.
At the top appeared her father's name.
Below it was a sworn statement describing a secret network of fraudulent construction contracts and medical charities.
But the last paragraph made her gasp.
Thomas Hastings had testified that Evelyn possessed evidence of a planned murder.
The intended victim was a young boy named Adrian Romano.
And the man who supposedly ordered the killing was not a rival crime boss.
It was Adrian's own father.
Victor read the name at the bottom.
ANTHONY ROMANO.
May you like
His father.
The man he'd spent twelve years mourning.
