Chapter 6
The wedding planner’s emails produced the next clue.
Warren had been unusually involved in one part of the schedule.
Not flowers.
Not guests.
Not seating.
The final hour before the ceremony.
He asked three separate times whether Giulietta’s lawyer would be in the bridal wing.
He asked whether her security detail normally entered the suite.
He requested that Preston be allowed ten uninterrupted minutes with Giulietta.
The planner assumed he wanted privacy for an emotional exchange.
That interpretation made sense because normal people did not plan violence into wedding schedules.
Naomi highlighted the messages.
“He wanted you alone.”
“Yes.”
“Preston locked the door.”
“Yes.”
“Warren had the override.”
“Yes.”
“Then arrived seven minutes later.”
Giulietta looked at the emails.
Three clues.
Each defensible alone.
Together, they formed a shape she did not like.
Another detail came from the Hale PR firm.
Their director, Caroline Webb, agreed to preserve all communications after receiving a formal legal notice connected to the canceled joint venture.
She refused to discuss content without counsel.
But she confirmed one fact.
Warren had requested two contingency statements for the wedding day.
One concerned illness.
The other concerned “an incident involving Giulietta.”
Naomi asked when.
“Before noon.”
Giulietta leaned forward.
“What kind of incident?”
Caroline’s lawyer stopped her.
That answer would wait.
Warren’s attorneys responded aggressively.
They accused Giulietta of using her family’s power to destroy the Hale business after a private romantic dispute.
Warren also threatened a civil suit over the collapsed riverfront deal.
Giulietta’s capos wanted permission to respond their way.
She refused.
One senior man stared at her.
“He threatened you through his son.”
“And?”
“You’re letting lawyers handle it.”
“Yes.”
He almost looked disappointed.
Giulietta leaned back.
“If I use fear to answer Warren Hale, then all I prove is that his philosophy works.”
That ended the discussion.
The Marconi men left.
Naomi stayed.
“You realize,” she said, “that may be the healthiest sentence anyone with your last name has ever said.”
“Don’t repeat it.”
“I plan to frame it.”
For the first time since the wedding day, Giulietta laughed.
It lasted three seconds.
May you like
Then Daniel called.
The Hale riverfront project had a much larger financial problem than anyone had disclosed.
