Chapter 6 - THE WARNING HIS FATHER LEFT BEHIND
“Gabriel Rourke.”
Evelyn said the name as though it tasted bitter.
Dante stared at her.
“Dad knew him?”
“Your father refused to do business with him. Twice.”
Evelyn looked toward the gold-framed photograph above the fireplace.
Vittorio Marchetti stood in that picture beside his wife and two children.
Dante had been younger then.
Nina had barely reached his shoulder.
“For years, Gabriel tried to buy the waterfront properties,” Evelyn continued. “Your father believed he wanted control of the pier more than the buildings themselves.”
“Why?”
“Because Pier Nine has a special commercial designation. A new owner could operate freight facilities there without applying for an entirely new waterfront site.”
Dante's expression darkened.
Rourke had repeatedly sought expansion rights along the Hudson.
Pier Nine offered something money alone couldn't easily buy.
An established operating location.
And access to the adjoining property.
St. Agnes House.
“Dad refused to sell,” Nina whispered.
Evelyn nodded.
“He said the residents weren't obstacles to development. They were the reason the property mattered.”
Dante looked down.
For years, he'd considered his father's refusal sentimental.
He had never fully understood it.
Evelyn continued.
“Vittorio also warned me that Rourke collected personal information about people he wanted to pressure.”
Her gaze moved toward the empty velvet case.
“Photographs. Signatures. Family correspondence.”
“Why didn't you tell me?” Dante asked.
“Because after your father died, you stopped wanting to hear about his old disputes.”
The words hurt him.
I could see it.
But Evelyn wasn't finished.
“You worked harder. You trusted fewer people. And whenever I tried to discuss the foundation, you told me your managers were handling it.”
Dante looked toward the window.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then he said, “You're right.”
Nina seemed surprised.
He turned toward her.
“I should have answered your calls.”
“You blocked my number.”
“No. Somebody blocked it on my phone.”
Sabrina's expression changed.
Dante noticed.
“Do you know anything about that?”
She hesitated.
“Your phone was in the bedroom yesterday. Aaron borrowed it to retrieve a photograph for the engagement display.”
Dante stared at her.
“You let Aaron use my private phone?”
“He said you had given him permission.”
Nina let out a bitter laugh.
“You believed everything he told you.”
Sabrina's tears returned.
“No, Nina. I believed the things I desperately needed to be true.”
For the first time, I understood something about her.
Sabrina wasn't simply cruel because she enjoyed having power.
She had spent years protecting her older brother.
She had watched her mother's health deteriorate.
She had convinced herself that saving Aaron's business meant saving her family.
And somewhere along the way, she'd stopped asking what his decisions were costing other people.
That didn't excuse what she had done.
But it explained why she had kept doing it.
Dante turned toward Frank.
“Contact the foundation's finance office. Freeze all discretionary payments connected to Vale Freight and Crosscurrent Holdings. Preserve every transaction record.”
Frank nodded.
Then Dante looked at the empty velvet case.
“Lucy, did you see anyone near my mother's bedroom after you delivered it?”
I thought carefully.
“There was a florist in the hallway.”
“A florist?”
“Yes. She carried white roses and a silver tray.”
“Did you recognize her?”
“No. But the roses were wrapped in dark-green paper.”
Marisol, who had entered with fresh tea, immediately looked up.
“All our arrangements arrived in cream wrapping.”
Dante turned.
“Are you certain?”
“I checked every delivery myself.”
Frank was already reviewing the vendor credentials.
Within minutes, he located a woman who had entered using a temporary florist badge.
Teresa Bell.
The same woman who had impersonated Evelyn.
She had approached Evelyn's bedroom shortly after I delivered the velvet case.
Dante looked toward Sabrina.
“Did Aaron give Teresa access to the upstairs rooms?”
Sabrina nodded slowly.
“He said she was helping prepare a surprise for Mom.”
Nina crossed her arms.
“Another surprise?”
Sabrina lowered her head.
“I know how it sounds.”
Dante's voice hardened.
“It's worse than how it sounds.”
Then Frank's tablet chimed with a new security update.
Rourke had left the ballroom.
Aaron was with him.
The two men were heading toward the estate's private conference room.
Frank checked the camera.
Rourke placed a leather portfolio on the table.
Aaron removed a sheaf of papers.
Then Rourke pointed to a page displaying the St. Agnes House property description.
Dante recognized it immediately.
“That isn't a wedding agreement.”
He enlarged the footage.
It was a property enforcement notice.
Rourke had already prepared instructions to take possession of the commercial collateral the following morning.
Nina leaned forward.
“But he still needs my consent to transfer the foundation property.”
Dante nodded.
“Which is why he wanted a public wedding and a signed release.”
Frank studied the second page.
His expression changed.
“Boss, there's something else.”
“What?”
“The enforcement notice lists your mother as having resigned from the foundation board yesterday.”
Evelyn stood so suddenly that her chair scraped against the floor.
“Resigned?”
Her voice shook.
“I have served that foundation for forty-one years.”
May you like
She looked directly at Dante.
“I would never resign.”
