Chapter 6 - What They Wanted
“What am I supposed to give back?”
Alessandro stared at Emma’s photograph.
Maria covered her mouth.
The child looked frightened but unharmed.
That was the only thing keeping Alessandro in control.
Another message appeared.
THE SHARES.
Alessandro understood immediately.
Vittorio had left sixty-two percent of Romano Holdings to Alessandro.
If Enzo had been publicly recognized as Vittorio’s son before his death, the inheritance might have been very different.
“What shares?” Maria asked.
“My controlling shares.”
“You can’t just transfer them.”
“I can.”
Maria grabbed his arm.
“Alessandro, this could destroy everything your father built.”
He looked at her.
“They have a six-year-old girl.”
Maria went silent.
“The company can be rebuilt.”
He showed her the photo.
“She can’t.”
Nathan called.
“We traced the picture.”
“Where?”
“Metadata was stripped, but we caught a background detail. That clock came from one of the old Romano properties.”
“Which property?”
“We’re checking.”
Alessandro headed toward the door.
Maria followed.
“Wait.”
He turned.
“There were three properties your father transferred out of the company before he died.”
“Why?”
“I never knew.”
She handed him an old folder.
Addresses.
A cabin in Connecticut.
A warehouse in Newark.
And an abandoned summer house near Lake Hopatcong.
Nathan compared the clock photo to old real-estate records.
“The lake house.”
“Send police.”
“Careful,” Nathan said. “If Enzo sees them coming—”
“I’m not waiting.”
Alessandro drove.
Nathan followed with two security vehicles.
Halfway there, Isabella called.
“You have forty minutes.”
“I’ll transfer the shares.”
“Good.”
“But I speak to Emma first.”
“No.”
“No Emma, no shares.”
Silence.
Then a child’s frightened voice came through the phone.
“Mr. Alessandro?”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I lost Rosie.”
His throat tightened.
“Rosie’s safe.”
“She is?”
“She’s sitting on my desk.”
Emma began crying softly.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Listen to me. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I told them I won’t lie.”
Alessandro looked ahead.
“That’s my brave girl.”
A man grabbed the phone.
Enzo.
“Touching.”
Alessandro’s jaw clenched.
“You want the shares? You get them after I see her.”
“No negotiations.”
“You know me better than that.”
Enzo laughed.
“I used to think I did.”
“What happened to you?”
“What happened?”
The laughter vanished.
“I spent forty years watching you receive everything that should have been half mine.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You never had to know.”
“I was a child, Enzo.”
“So was I.”
For the first time, Alessandro heard something beneath the anger.
Pain.
But whatever sympathy he might have felt disappeared when he remembered Emma tied to a chair.
“You want to punish me for Dad’s sins?”
“I want what belongs to me.”
“Then why poison me?”
“Because you would never give it willingly.”
“You could have told me the truth.”
“And watched you call your lawyers?”
“I would have listened.”
“No, Alessandro. People like you only listen when someone takes away something you love.”
The call ended.
Nathan called seconds later.
“Bad news.”
“What?”
“We pulled property records.”
“And?”
“The lake house has an underground storm shelter.”
“So?”
“One entrance.”
Alessandro understood.
If Enzo saw them coming, he could lock Emma underground.
Or worse.
Nathan continued.
“And there’s another problem.”
May you like
“What?”
“Someone activated the old propane system twenty minutes ago.”
