Chapter 6 - ELEVEN MINUTES BEFORE THE VOTE
Tomas Varga wasn't merely Viktor's lawyer.
He had grown up inside the Kovacs family.
Viktor explained while our SUV cut through Manhattan traffic.
Tomas's father had served Andor Kovacs for thirty years. After his father died, Tomas became almost another son to Viktor's family.
“He handled my father's estate,” Viktor said.
“My acquisitions. Contracts. Trusts. Everything.”
“And you trusted him.”
“With my life.”
The way he said it told me the answer hurt more than he would admit.
My phone buzzed.
Daniel.
MARA, THE POLICE CAME LOOKING FOR YOU. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
I typed that I was safe.
Then Viktor's security chief interrupted.
“Five minutes to the council building.”
Viktor looked at me.
“You do not have to come inside.”
“Stop saying that.”
“This is not your fight.”
“My grandmother put my name on the agreement.”
“That doesn't mean—”
“And someone photographed my apartment.”
He went silent.
“This became my fight around the time strangers started following me through a storage garage.”
We entered a private conference center overlooking the East River.
Seven men and two women sat around a long table.
Adrian Pierce stood at the far end.
He was polished, silver-haired, and smiling.
Tomas stood beside him.
When he saw me, that smile vanished.
Interesting.
Pierce held up a yellowed document.
“The authorization is clear.”
“No,” I said.
Every face turned.
Tomas immediately spoke.
“She is a waitress.”
I placed Grandma's notebook on the table.
“And apparently that frightens you.”
Viktor almost smiled again.
Pierce's document contained Ilona's signature.
It contained the council seal.
But when I compared the imprint to Grandma's medallion, one detail was wrong.
A crown above the letter K had five points.
The real seal had seven.
Pierce's document was forged.
The room erupted.
Tomas tried to leave.
Security blocked the door.
Then one council member asked the question I hadn't considered.
“If the original agreement requires confirmation from Ilona Nagy's lawful descendant, who is that descendant?”
Every eye moved toward me.
Viktor looked at the notebook.
Then at the document.
May you like
Then at me.
“You are.”
