Chapter 5 - The Day the Mafia Boss Lost His Empire
At nine the next morning, Victor Romano walked into Romano Holdings headquarters knowing half the people at the board table might already have betrayed him.
Martha did not belong there.
She knew that.
Evelyn knew it.
Victor knew it most of all.
Yet Martha went anyway.
Because MRC Consulting appeared on invoices connected to the company.
Because Richard had used her name to manufacture evidence.
And because she was done allowing decisions about her life to happen in rooms she was told she did not belong in.
Victor gave her one instruction before they entered.
“Say only what Evelyn tells you to say.”
Martha looked at him.
“You really enjoy giving instructions.”
“When people follow them.”
“That must be difficult for you lately.”
He almost smiled.
Then the elevator doors opened.
The boardroom occupied the forty-second floor.
Chicago spread behind the glass in cold gray layers.
Carlo Romano sat near the head of the table.
He was in his early sixties, handsome in the polished way of men who had spent decades expecting people to move when they entered.
His eyes settled on Martha.
“So this is Richard’s wife.”
Martha sat beside Evelyn.
“Soon to be ex-wife.”
Carlo’s smile thinned.
Victor took the head chair.
“This meeting was called without my authorization.”
Carlo leaned back.
“Your authorization is no longer required for an emergency review.”
“Emergency created by whom?”
“Federal investigators are examining transfers from Romano subsidiaries into fraudulent consulting companies.”
He glanced toward Martha.
“Companies linked to people inside this room.”
Martha felt every eye turn.
Victor said, “Careful.”
Carlo lifted his hands.
“I’m stating facts.”
“No. You’re introducing the narrative you bought.”
Silence.
Carlo’s expression hardened.
Victor continued.
“You’ve been working with Thomas Vale.”
Several directors shifted.
Carlo laughed.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“No.”
“Then prove it.”
Victor placed documents on the table.
Bank statements.
Communications.
Records from Carlo’s gambling debts.
Carlo barely looked.
“Fabricated.”
Victor said, “So are you denying the transfers?”
“I’m saying you are compromised.”
“By my wife?”
“By your marriage. Your private life is now a liability affecting the company.”
Martha understood.
This was rehearsed.
Carlo wanted Victor defensive.
Emotional.
He wanted the board to see a man distracted by scandal.
Then Carlo looked at Martha.
“And now you’ve brought the wife of the attorney implicated in the same transactions into a confidential corporate meeting.”
Evelyn said, “Mrs. Crowe is represented counsel and a documented victim of identity fraud.”
Carlo smiled.
“According to her.”
Martha felt Richard’s influence even in his absence.
The unstable wife.
The confused wife.
The woman whose memory could not be trusted.
She opened her bag.
Evelyn touched her arm.
Not yet.
Victor said, “The vote.”
Carlo nodded.
“Temporary suspension of Victor Romano as chief executive pending independent investigation.”
Several board members avoided Victor’s eyes.
The vote began.
One by one.
Yes.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
Martha counted.
Victor did not move.
Carlo already knew the outcome.
That was obvious by the fourth vote.
When the final director spoke, the motion passed.
Victor Romano had lost operational control of the company carrying his family name.
Carlo exhaled like a man who had been waiting years.
“Effective immediately.”
Victor folded his hands.
“Finished?”
Carlo frowned.
“You’re suspended.”
“I heard you.”
“You’re required to surrender building access.”
Victor stood.
Martha had expected anger.
Instead, he looked almost relaxed.
That frightened Carlo more.
Victor turned toward the board.
“Anyone who voted yes because you genuinely believed an investigation was necessary, you’ll have the opportunity to explain that later.”
Then his gaze settled on three directors.
“Anyone who voted yes because Vale purchased your loyalty, spend the afternoon deciding which attorney you want when the bank records become public.”
Carlo stood.
“Threatening directors confirms exactly why—”
Victor ignored him.
“Come on, Martha.”
They left.
Inside the elevator, Martha finally spoke.
“You knew you were going to lose.”
“Yes.”
“Then why go?”
“To see who raised their hands.”
She stared at him.
“That was the point?”
“One of them.”
“What was the other?”
Victor looked at Evelyn.
She smiled.
Martha narrowed her eyes.
“What?”
Evelyn opened her laptop.
“When Carlo called the emergency meeting, Victor’s independent auditors simultaneously delivered a preservation notice to every major financial institution connected to Romano Holdings.”
Martha blinked.
Victor explained.
“Carlo thinks he controls the company.”
“For how long?”
“Until he attempts to move money.”
Martha slowly smiled.
“That’s cruel.”
“Yes.”
“You’re pleased.”
“A little.”
They reached the lobby.
Reporters waited outside.
Someone had leaked the board vote before it ended.
Victor looked toward the cameras.
“Vale.”
Martha saw headlines appearing on phones.
ROMANO SUSPENDED AMID FINANCIAL SCANDAL.
MAFIA-LINKED BUSINESS EMPIRE IN CRISIS.
MYSTERY COMPANY CONNECTED TO CEO’S FAMILY.
Then one reporter shouted through the doors.
“Mrs. Crowe! Did you and your husband steal from Romano Holdings?”
Martha froze.
Her photograph was already online.
Richard had made her the story.
Victor stepped in front of her.
She moved around him.
“No.”
“Martha.”
She ignored him and walked outside.
Evelyn swore.
Cameras turned.
Questions exploded.
Martha raised her voice.
“My identity was used without my knowledge by my husband, Richard Crowe.”
The crowd surged.
She continued.
“I am cooperating through counsel, and I have provided evidence showing forged signatures, deceptive transactions, and financial records I did not create.”
“Where is your husband?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you working with Victor Romano?”
“I am working with my attorney.”
“Did Romano threaten you?”
Martha looked toward Victor standing behind the glass.
“No.”
“Did your husband have an affair with Sofia Romano?”
Every camera waited.
Martha paused.
“Yes.”
Chaos.
Victor came outside.
Security created space around them.
As they reached the car, a reporter shouted, “Mrs. Crowe, do you still love your husband?”
Martha stopped.
Victor quietly said, “Don’t.”
But she turned.
For years Richard had controlled the story by making her ashamed to speak.
Not anymore.
“I loved the man I believed I married.”
The crowd quieted.
“That man does not exist.”
Then she got into the car.
Victor joined her seconds later.
“You enjoy instructions less than anyone I’ve ever met.”
Martha stared out the window.
“I said the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Was it bad?”
“No.”
“Then stop looking annoyed.”
“I’m not annoyed.”
“You have a specific face.”
“So do you.”
“What face?”
“The one that appears before you do something reckless.”
She looked at him.
“You’ve known me three days.”
“It’s a memorable face.”
Martha laughed.
It surprised both of them.
For one second the fear loosened.
Then Daniel, sitting in front, turned.
“We found Richard.”
Martha’s laughter disappeared.
“Where?”
“A hotel in Milwaukee.”
Victor leaned forward.
“Confirmed?”
“Facial recognition from lobby security.”
“Alone?”
Daniel hesitated.
“No.”
Martha expected Sofia.
But Sofia was at the Romano estate under guard.
“Who?”
Daniel handed Victor a photograph.
Martha leaned closer.
Richard stood in a hotel lobby beside a young woman with dark hair.
Martha did not recognize her.
Victor did.
His face changed.
“No.”
“Who is she?” Martha asked.
Victor stared at the image.
“My sister.”
Martha’s blood went cold.
“You have a sister?”
“Isabella.”
“Why is she with Richard?”
Victor was already dialing.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Daniel spoke.
“Her security detail lost contact two hours ago.”
Victor looked up.
“You’re telling me now?”
“They thought her phone was malfunctioning.”
Victor’s anger filled the car.
Martha had seen men angry before.
Richard’s anger was loud because he wanted witnesses to fear it.
Victor’s was quiet because he did not need witnesses at all.
“Turn around,” he said.
Daniel asked, “Milwaukee?”
“Yes.”
Martha said, “I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Richard is my husband.”
“Isabella is my sister.”
“And Richard knows things about me you don’t.”
Victor looked at her.
“That makes you leverage.”
“It also makes me useful.”
“You’re not walking into a hotel where he may have kidnapped someone.”
Martha leaned closer.
“If Isabella went willingly, you’ll need someone Richard underestimates.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“He doesn’t underestimate you anymore.”
“He still thinks I love him.”
A pause.
Victor understood.
Martha continued.
“He thinks he can talk me back into doubting myself. Men like Richard always think the door stays open if they were the ones who left.”
Victor looked at the road ahead.
“You’re not meeting him alone.”
“I didn’t say alone.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
She almost argued.
Then Victor’s phone buzzed.
A message from Isabella.
Except Victor’s face told Martha immediately that Isabella had not written it.
The message read:
Bring Martha Crowe to Milwaukee.
Come without police.
Or your sister learns what Richard has been capable of all along.
Victor turned the screen toward Martha.
Beneath the words was a photograph.
May you like
Isabella sat tied to a chair.
Richard stood behind her wearing the blue tie Martha had bought him.
