Chapter 12
The confrontation happened six weeks later.
Not at the planetarium.
Not in a club.
In a law office conference room with attorneys present.
Preston had agreed because the financial investigation was closing around him.
Victoria came separately.
Elena attended only because she wanted to hear one answer herself.
Dante sat across from Preston.
“Why didn’t you just tell me about the debt?”
Preston laughed.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You would’ve cut me out.”
“Probably.”
“Exactly.”
Preston leaned forward.
“I spent fifteen years making your businesses work while everybody treated me like Victoria’s brother.”
Dante said nothing.
“You got the name. The respect. The final say.”
“You were paid.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
There it was.
Not desperation alone.
Resentment.
Preston wanted independence from Dante while depending on Dante’s empire to finance it.
Elena asked quietly, “Did you mean to hit my car?”
Preston looked at her.
“No.”
“Did you follow me?”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Did you try to scare me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know I was pregnant?”
Preston looked away.
“Yes.”
Elena nodded once.
She had her answer.
Victoria spoke next.
“You told me she’d left Chicago.”
Preston looked at his sister.
“I thought she would.”
“You told me not to ask questions.”
“You never wanted answers.”
Victoria flinched.
That was true too.
She had preferred plausible ignorance.
Dante placed the burned ultrasound photograph on the table.
The corner remained black.
“This is what you were protecting?”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“What, then?”
“My life.”
Her voice cracked.
“The wedding. The money. My brother. The version of my future I’d already built.”
Dante watched her.
“And Elena?”
Victoria looked toward her.
“I treated her like removing her would make my choices disappear.”
Elena said nothing.
Preston pushed his chair back.
“This is pointless.”
Rachel stopped him.
“One question.”
Preston looked at her.
“Who deleted the backup GPS record?”
His expression changed.
Victoria looked confused.
“I deleted the main file.”
Rachel nodded.
“We know.”
She placed a technical report on the table.
“The backup was accessed two days later.”
Preston stared at it.
Rachel continued.
“Using your personal security token.”
For the first time, Preston had no immediate answer.
May you like
The final evidence had not appeared from nowhere.
He had created it by trying to erase the first evidence twice.
