Chapter 5 - The Night Alessandro Chose Her Over His Empire
The sound of Michael's apartment door breaking echoed through Natalie's phone.
She screamed his name.
For one unbearable second, there was only crashing furniture and hurried footsteps.
Then Michael shouted.
“Get away from me!”
Alessandro seized the phone.
“Michael! Get to the fire escape!”
A gunshot sounded.
Natalie felt the blood drain from her face.
“No!”
Then the connection disappeared.
She tried calling back.
Nothing.
Again.
Voicemail.
Her hands shook so violently that she could barely hold the phone.
Alessandro was already moving.
“Marco, car. Now.”
Natalie followed him.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
She stopped.
He turned.
“Natalie, the people involved may still be there.”
“My brother is inside!”
“I know.”
“Then don't tell me to stay behind.”
Alessandro looked at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
“Stay with me.”
They reached Michael's building nineteen minutes later.
Two police cruisers stood outside.
A third arrived as their SUV stopped.
Natalie barely waited for the vehicle to park.
She ran toward the entrance.
Alessandro caught up beside her.
The building hallway smelled of dust and burnt gunpowder.
An officer stopped them near the stairs.
“Ma'am, you can't go up.”
“My brother lives here!”
The officer looked toward Alessandro.
“Mr. Vitale?”
Alessandro spoke briefly with him.
Then they waited in the lobby while officers cleared the upper floors.
Every second felt unbearable.
Natalie called Michael again.
No answer.
She stared at the elevator.
At the stairs.
At the police officers speaking into radios.
Then someone shouted from above.
“We found him!”
Natalie rose.
A paramedic emerged from the stairwell.
Behind him was Michael.
Alive.
Blood marked his shirt.
Natalie ran toward him.
“Michael!”
He caught her in his arms.
She held him so tightly that he winced.
“Careful,” he whispered.
She pulled back.
“Are you hurt?”
“Just my arm.”
His right sleeve was torn.
A white bandage covered a shallow wound near his shoulder.
Natalie started crying.
Michael hugged her again.
“I'm okay, Nat.”
She could barely speak.
“I heard a gunshot.”
“I know.”
“Your phone went dead.”
“They smashed it.”
He looked past her.
Alessandro stood several feet away, watching them with an expression Natalie could not read.
Michael swallowed.
“Thank you,” he said.
Alessandro nodded.
“Tell us what happened.”
Michael sat on a bench while a paramedic checked his wound.
“Two men came inside. One had a gun. They asked for Dad's book.”
“Did you give it to them?” Natalie asked.
Michael shook his head.
“I told them I didn't know where it was.”
“Where was it?”
He glanced at Alessandro.
“In my hospital locker.”
Natalie frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I was reading it again.”
He looked embarrassed.
“I know I'm too old for it. But when I get stressed, I sometimes read Dad's notes in the margins.”
Natalie's tears returned.
“You could never be too old for that.”
Michael smiled weakly.
“The men got angry. One of them hit me. I managed to get to the back stairs while they were searching the bedroom.”
“And the gunshot?”
“They fired at the stairwell door. I got outside before they followed.”
Alessandro looked toward Marco.
“Did the police catch them?”
“One was arrested two blocks away. The other escaped.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Good.”
His tone was cold enough to make Natalie look at him.
She suddenly understood something.
For Alessandro, the attack was not merely an intrusion.
It was personal.
The people responsible had threatened Natalie.
Now they had attacked Michael.
And Alessandro had begun treating both of them as though they belonged to his own family.
Later that night, Michael joined Natalie at the Hudson River estate.
He refused to remain in his apartment.
Natalie did not blame him.
The siblings sat together in the guest suite, drinking tea while Michael explained what he remembered about Richard Vale.
The man had approached him outside the hospital library.
He claimed to be reviewing old scholarship records.
He asked whether Michael possessed documents belonging to Daniel Collins.
Michael said no.
Then Richard mentioned Treasure Island.
“He said Dad once used books to keep records,” Michael explained.
Natalie looked toward the window.
“He knew about the cipher.”
Michael nodded.
“And he asked whether I'd ever found a blue notebook.”
Alessandro entered carrying a slim leather folder.
“Richard is missing,” he said.
Natalie looked up.
“What?”
“He hasn't returned to his apartment. His office is empty. His personal phone is off.”
“Does that mean he's running?”
“Possibly.”
Alessandro placed the folder on the table.
“My attorney has obtained the foundation's original financial reports. Richard controlled the accounts for nearly twenty years.”
Michael frowned.
“Why did you trust him?”
The question was blunt.
Alessandro did not seem offended.
“Because he was my father's closest adviser.”
Natalie looked at him.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“Is he still alive?”
Alessandro nodded.
“Vittorio Vitale. Seventy-six. He retired from active business leadership after a stroke.”
Michael shifted uncomfortably.
“Does he know about any of this?”
“I don't know.”
Natalie noticed the answer.
Not no.
Not of course not.
I don't know.
“Do you think your father could be involved?” she asked.
Alessandro looked at the folder.
“I think there are things he never told me.”
Before Natalie could respond, Evelyn Price entered.
Her expression was tense.
“We have a problem.”
Alessandro looked up.
“What?”
“The foundation's board has called an emergency meeting for tomorrow morning.”
“Without my approval?”
“They're claiming you've acted recklessly by freezing the transfer.”
Alessandro's face hardened.
“Richard arranged this?”
“Possibly. But the motion was signed by three trustees, including your father's personal representative.”
Michael looked between them.
“What happens at the meeting?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“They're proposing to remove Alessandro as chairman pending an investigation.”
Natalie stared at him.
“Can they do that?”
“If enough trustees support the motion,” Evelyn replied, “yes.”
Alessandro said nothing.
Evelyn continued.
“They're also threatening to release allegations about your private business operations.”
The room fell silent.
Natalie knew what those words meant.
She had heard the rumors about Alessandro Vitale.
Everyone in New York had.
His family's legitimate companies owned restaurants, warehouses, real estate, and transportation businesses.
But there were darker stories.
Stories involving illegal gambling.
Protection schemes.
Smuggling routes.
Deals made in rooms without witnesses.
Natalie had tried not to think about them.
Now she could no longer pretend they did not exist.
“What allegations?” she asked.
Alessandro looked at her.
“Some are true.”
The honesty stunned her.
He continued.
“My family has operated outside the law. I inherited parts of that organization when my father stepped down.”
Michael stared at him.
“You're admitting that?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro turned toward Natalie.
“And if you decide you don't want anything more to do with me, I'll understand.”
She felt the weight of his words.
Part of her wanted to leave immediately.
Another part remembered him kneeling beside her in the hallway, asking permission before touching her injured wrist.
She remembered him rushing to Michael's apartment.
She remembered the way he had listened when she told him she was afraid.
But kindness did not erase wrongdoing.
“You can't expect me to ignore that,” she said.
“I don't.”
“People may have been hurt because of your business.”
“Yes.”
“And the foundation?”
“That's the part I believed was clean.”
Natalie studied him.
“Then prove it.”
Alessandro looked up.
“What?”
“If you want to protect the scholarships, prove you care about the people receiving them. Don't just fight Richard because he stole from you.”
Alessandro was silent.
Natalie continued.
“Michael received one of those awards. There are hundreds of other students like him. They deserve to know the money is real and the people running the foundation are honest.”
Evelyn looked at Alessandro.
For the first time since entering the room, she seemed cautiously hopeful.
“We could commission an external audit,” she said.
“Publicly,” Natalie added.
Alessandro looked at both women.
Then he nodded.
“Do it.”
Evelyn hesitated.
“It will expose a great deal.”
“Then let it.”
“And the board?”
Alessandro stood.
“I'll attend.”
After Evelyn left, Natalie remained beside the fireplace.
Michael had gone upstairs.
The house was quiet.
Alessandro approached.
“You should get some rest.”
She shook her head.
“I'm not tired.”
“That isn't what your face says.”
She gave a weak smile.
He stopped a few feet away.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For telling me something nobody else would.”
“That you need an audit?”
“That power doesn't excuse dishonesty.”
Natalie looked at him.
“Do you believe that?”
He considered the question.
“I want to.”
“That's not the same thing.”
“No.”
He met her eyes.
“But perhaps it's where I begin.”
For a moment, the distance between them seemed smaller.
Then Alessandro's phone rang.
Marco's name appeared.
He answered.
Listened.
And his expression turned lethal.
“What do you mean, she was taken?”
Natalie froze.
“Who?”
Alessandro looked at her.
May you like
His voice was almost unrecognizable.
“Mrs. Bell.”
