Chapter 9 - VICTORIA'S SECOND PLAN
Victoria had not only researched me.
She had been watching my mother.
That realization erased whatever doubt remained.
Dominic called his security team in Ohio.
Mom was safe.
Her medical appointments were immediately moved, and access to her information was locked down.
Then Dominic made a phone call I did not expect.
Not to another mobster.
Not to a lawyer.
To a federal prosecutor.
I stared at him after he hung up.
“You’re involving the government?”
“My brother may have been murdered.”
“And your empire may be built partly on fraud.”
“I know.”
“You could incriminate yourself.”
He looked directly at me.
“I know that too.”
For the first time, I understood the choice in front of him.
Dominic could protect the Russo name.
Or uncover what happened to Matteo.
He could not do both.
Back at Maison Étoile, Victoria was gone.
So was the original folder Dominic had brought to dinner.
She had taken it from his penthouse office before we returned.
But she left something behind.
A printed financial summary.
At first I thought it was accidental.
Then I saw the handwriting.
Victoria had written one sentence across the top.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT POURING WATER.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Beneath the message were transfers into a company called Argent Harbor LLC.
I recognized the name.
It appeared in Matteo’s records.
“What is Argent Harbor?”
Dominic answered slowly.
“A holding company Victoria told me belonged to her father.”
“It doesn’t?”
“My lawyers checked.”
He turned his laptop toward me.
Argent Harbor was owned through three layers of trusts.
At the final level, one beneficiary appeared.
Victoria Russo.
Over six years, nearly forty million dollars had moved into it.
Then I spotted another column.
The transfers were scheduled.
The largest one had not happened yet.
It was set for Monday.
Two hundred and twelve million dollars.
From Russo Maritime’s European division.
Dominic stared at the number.
“She’s emptying the company.”
“No.”
I looked more closely.
The transfer required a compliance trigger.
A criminal indictment against Dominic.
My blood went cold.
“She isn’t just stealing from you.”
May you like
I turned the screen.
“She’s waiting for you to be arrested first.”
