Chapter 9 - The Heiress Nobody Expected
The folder contained documents that made Bee question everything she had ever believed about power.
Michael Gallagher had not merely managed the Rossi empire's finances. He had secretly owned the controlling interests in several legitimate companies that supplied the organization with its most valuable assets: shipping terminals, warehouses, transportation networks, and commercial properties.
The companies had been placed in trusts under false names to protect them from criminals and law enforcement alike.
When Michael disappeared, the trusts remained dormant.
Their controlling beneficiary was Beatrice Gallagher.
Bee stared at the signature on the final document.
Her own name.
"That's impossible."
Dominic studied the papers.
"Your father transferred the shares before he vanished."
"Then why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Because the trusts were designed to activate only when the three pieces of the ledger were reunited."
Bee looked at him.
"What happens when that occurs?"
"You become the legal owner of the legitimate businesses that support the Rossi empire."
"And the criminal operations?"
"Those aren't yours."
For the first time, Bee understood why Lorenzo had gone to such lengths to frame her. He hadn't merely wanted Dominic's money. He wanted control of the legitimate companies, the accounts, and the evidence that could expose the Black Circle.
If Bee inherited the businesses, Lorenzo's financial empire would collapse.
If she died, the trusts would pass into a court-supervised process that could freeze everything.
Either way, Lorenzo needed her under his control.
A distant siren interrupted her thoughts.
Dominic looked toward the passage.
"We need to leave."
Bee slipped the folder into her jacket.
"Not yet."
She pointed to the wall.
Every photograph had a small number written beneath it. The numbers corresponded to dates, locations, and bank transactions in her father's notebook.
Someone had been tracking her movements for decades.
And that someone had access to Dominic's private security files.
Bee examined the newest photograph again.
It had been taken outside Isabella's house.
The timestamp was yesterday morning.
Beneath it, someone had written a name.
ARTHUR BELL.
Bee felt a wave of cold pass through her.
Arthur had been the person who taught her to trace hidden money. He had helped her build the secret archive and had vanished just before the betrayal.
She had trusted him almost as much as she had trusted Dominic.
"Arthur sold us out," she whispered.
Dominic shook his head.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
He pointed to a small reflection in the photograph's window.
A second figure stood behind Arthur.
A woman with silver hair.
Isabella Rossi.
Bee looked at Dominic in disbelief.
"Your mother was there?"
He studied the image, his expression turning grim.
May you like
Then he said something that shattered the last of Bee's certainty.
"My mother has been dead for four years."
