Chapter 12 - THE SIGNATURE THAT COST EVERYTHING
Elena stood beneath a harbor floodlight with forty feet of pavement separating her from Victoria Belandi.
Police vehicles waited beyond the terminal gates.
But Victoria had chosen her position carefully.
She stood near a service entrance with two private security guards and a black van parked behind her.
Inside the van, Elena could see a woman lying beneath a gray blanket.
A silver iris pendant rested against her chest.
"Mom," Elena whispered.
Victoria smiled.
"She's alive. For now."
Elena's hands curled into fists.
"What do you want?"
Victoria held up a document folder.
"Your signature."
"On what?"
"A voluntary transfer of your beneficial interest in the Marlo trust."
Elena understood.
The money.
The waterfront properties.
The fortune that had destroyed her childhood.
"You want me to give you everything."
"I want you to give back what never belonged to you."
Elena stared at her.
"It was stolen from a children's charity. None of it belongs to you."
For the first time, Victoria's smile disappeared.
"You think that makes you better than me?"
"No."
Elena took a step forward.
"I think it makes you afraid."
Victoria slapped the folder against her palm.
"You don't understand how much your mother cost my family."
"My mother told the truth."
"Your mother destroyed everything!"
Victoria's voice echoed across the empty dock.
Elena looked beyond her.
The woman in the van hadn't moved.
"Let me see her."
"Sign first."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
"Then you'll lose her again."
A door opened behind Elena.
Dante stepped into the floodlight.
He had arrived with the lead investigator, who remained several yards back.
"Victoria," Dante said quietly.
She turned.
"You should have stayed on your ship."
"It's not my ship."
He glanced at the documents.
"And that signature won't give you what you want."
"Of course it will."
"The assets are under court supervision. Elena can't transfer the disputed property without judicial approval."
Victoria's face tightened.
"You're lying."
Dante removed a legal notice from his coat.
"The preservation order was signed this afternoon."
Elena looked at him.
He had already protected the trust.
Not by claiming it for himself.
By ensuring nobody could steal it.
Victoria stepped backward.
Then one of her guards reached for Elena.
Dante moved immediately.
He caught the man's wrist, pulled Elena behind him, and shoved the attacker away.
The guard charged a second time.
Dante sidestepped, caught his arm, and forced him against the van until approaching officers restrained him.
The second guard surrendered.
Victoria turned to run.
A police officer blocked the service entrance.
"It's over, Ms. Belandi."
Victoria laughed bitterly.
"You think you've won?"
Elena ran to the van.
A paramedic opened the rear doors.
Inside lay a woman wearing a hospital gown.
But when Elena pulled back the blanket, she froze.
The woman wasn't Sophia.
She was a frightened patient Elena had never seen before.
"Where is my mother?"
Victoria's laughter stopped.
She stared at the open van.
Then something unexpected appeared in her expression.
Confusion.
"That's impossible."
Dante stepped closer.
"What did you do with Sophia?"
Victoria shook her head.
"I didn't move her. Caroline arranged the transfer."
Elena felt the ground disappear beneath her.
"You told me she was here!"
"Caroline told me she was!"
An officer took Victoria into custody.
But before she was led away, she grabbed Elena's sleeve.
"Listen to me. Caroline doesn't want the money anymore."
Elena stared at her.
"Then what does she want?"
May you like
Victoria's face went pale.
"She wants to make sure Sophia never tells you who your father really was."
