Chapter 14 - THE LAST NAME ON THE RECORDING
The recording began with Elaine's voice.
Then another man's.
Older.
Calm.
Familiar.
I recognized him before my attorney identified him.
Senator Michael Bellini.
Arya's father.
The man who had toasted our engagement.
The man who called me son.
The harbor property Dominic had tried to move was strategically located beside a planned federal shipping expansion.
Worth forty-two million on paper.
Potentially worth hundreds of millions after approval.
Bellini wanted it.
Elaine wanted control.
Arya wanted my fortune.
Everyone wanted something.
Except Tessa.
The irony nearly made me laugh.
The recording documented Bellini instructing Elaine to “solve the Corvino problem before the wedding complicates inheritance.”
That sentence collapsed the final wall.
Federal investigators arrested him two days later.
The scandal exploded across every news station in the state.
I stayed home.
For once, I didn't care what the city thought of Vincent Corvino.
I cared about standing.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Six weeks later, my therapist placed braces on my legs and positioned me between parallel bars.
“Arms do most of the work,” he warned.
“I know.”
“You may get nothing.”
“I know.”
Tessa stood ten feet away.
Not touching me.
Not rescuing me.
Exactly what I needed.
I pushed upward.
My shoulders screamed.
My arms shook.
My legs remained weak and unreliable.
But I stood.
Four seconds.
Then seven.
Then eleven.
I collapsed back into the chair.
Everyone in the room was silent.
I looked at Tessa.
She was crying.
“That was ugly,” I said.
She laughed through tears.
“Extremely.”
I smiled.
“You're fired.”
“You don't employ me anymore.”
“Then you're rehired.”
“No.”
The answer surprised me.
“Why?”
She walked closer.
“Because I don't want to be your aide.”
Something shifted between us.
All those months.
All those baths.
All those humiliating moments she'd turned ordinary.
I understood.
Neither of us said anything more.
Not yet.
That evening, Dominic visited.
His sentencing agreement required prison time.
He accepted it.
Before leaving, he placed one final envelope on my desk.
“I found this in my father's things.”
Inside was a letter from my father.
Written shortly before his death.
Vincent,
Power will teach you who fears you. Loss will teach you who loves you.
Below that was one more sentence.
If the day comes when you cannot stand alone, pay attention to the person who helps without trying to own you.
May you like
I looked toward the hallway where Tessa had disappeared.
And suddenly I knew exactly what I wanted to do next.
