Chapter 10 - THE ITALIAN CONNECTION
|
I threw myself into the passenger seat, pulling the door shut as Marcus slammed his foot on the accelerator. The sedan’s tires spun against the wet pavement before catching traction, roaring out of the alley just as two of Dominic’s guards burst through the garden gate behind us.
“Are you all right?” Marcus asked, his eyes darting between the rearview mirror and the dark Brooklyn streets.
“The baby is moving,” I gasped, leaning back against the headrest, trying to calm my erratic breathing. “We’re okay.”
“Good,” Marcus said, handing me a dry towel from the backseat. “Because we just received a hit on the encrypted drive you brought.”
I wiped the rainwater from my face and looked at him. “What did you find?”
“Dominic didn't work alone four years ago,” Marcus revealed, pointing to a tablet mounted on the dashboard. “The altered addendum wasn't drafted in New York. It was processed through a shell corporation in Naples registered under Vanessa Cole’s maiden name.”
My jaw tightened. Vanessa wasn't just Dominic’s communications director or his mistress; she was his financial accomplice.
“She was the one who altered the contract terms while I was translating the main agreement,” I said, the pieces assembling into a terrifying picture. “They’ve been planning to strip my family’s equity from the very beginning.”
“Exactly,” Marcus agreed. “Which means Vanessa holds the primary master key to the offshore accounts where Dominic deposited the stolen capital. If we can get her master access code, we can freeze Callahan Maritime’s liquid assets before the board meeting on Friday.”
“She won't give it up easily,” I noted.
“She will if she realizes Dominic is planning to set her up as the sole fall guy,” a cool, unfamiliar female voice spoke from the tablet’s speaker.
May you like
I stared at the tablet in surprise. “Who is that?”
“Meet Elena Rossi,” Marcus smiled faintly. “Your mother’s former legal counsel in Naples. And she’s been tracking Vanessa Cole’s Italian bank accounts for six months.”
