Chapter 5 - The Woman Vincent Was Afraid Of
I pulled Isabella to the floor.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Marcus's men surrounded us.
The shooter escaped before we could reach him.
But something had been left behind.
A small black case.
Inside was a photograph of Isabella.
Taken ten years earlier.
She was standing beside a younger version of Vincent.
I stared at it.
“Explain.”
She looked terrified.
“I can't.”
“Isabella.”
“I didn't know who he was.”
“When was this?”
“Ten years ago.”
“You've known Vincent for ten years?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I met him once.”
“Why?”
She began crying.
“My father worked for him.”
I said nothing.
“My father was an accountant.”
She wiped her face.
“He discovered the money transfers.”
I stared at her.
“Did Vincent kill him?”
“I don't know.”
She looked at the photograph.
“He disappeared.”
Everything became more complicated.
Isabella hadn't been randomly chosen.
Vincent had selected her because of her family.
She was connected to the evidence.
Maybe she was the reason Vincent had been afraid.
“What did your father know?”
She hesitated.
“He told me something before he disappeared.”
“What?”
“He said the Vale family wasn't the only family Vincent had stolen from.”
“How many?”
“Seven.”
I frowned.
“Seven families?”
“Yes.”
“Why seven?”
She looked at me.
“Because each family had a controlling stake in companies Vincent wanted.”
I understood.
He had been building an empire beneath someone else's.
My father's death had only been one part of it.
“Where is your father's evidence?”
“I don't know.”
She reached into her purse.
“My father left me something.”
She pulled out an old key.
“This.”
A number was engraved on it.
17.
Marcus recognized it.
“Chicago Union Station.”
We went there immediately.
The key opened a locker.
Inside was a metal box.
There were seven folders.
Each contained financial records.
And each folder contained a photograph of a woman.
I stared at them.
“Who are they?”
Isabella whispered,
“The seven women.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“The seven women Vincent paid.”
My heart stopped.
Each woman had been connected to one of the seven families.
He hadn't chosen them randomly.
He had used them to manipulate me.
Then I saw the final folder.
My name.
Inside was a medical report.
The conclusion was unmistakable.
I had no condition.
The diagnosis had been completely fabricated.
For eleven months, seven women had been paid to reject me.
But the deception had started seventeen years earlier.
I looked at Isabella.
“He ruined my entire life.”
She shook her head.
“He tried.”
I stared at her.
She smiled gently.
“He didn't succeed.”
For the first time, I allowed myself to believe that.
Then Marcus entered.
“Luca.”
“What?”
“Vincent is gone.”
“Where?”
“Airport.”
I stood.
“Which flight?”
“Private jet.”
“Destination?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Switzerland.”
I smiled.
“Then we go to Switzerland.”
Isabella grabbed my arm.
“Luca.”
I looked at her.
“You don't have to come.”
She shook her head.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to see the man who spent years convincing you nobody could love you.”
May you like
She squeezed my hand.
“And I want him to watch you prove him wrong.”
