Chapter 13 - No More Private Conversations
Ortiz arranged for officers to meet Nina at her building.
Her lock had scratches near the cylinder, but nobody could say from a photograph when they had been made.
They documented it.
Her attorney found her somewhere else to stay.
This time, Nina didn’t apologize for needing help.
By the end of the week, investigators had obtained warrants for Shaw’s business records and devices.
Keller stopped answering calls.
Valerie’s attorney called Elise six times.
The first offer included payment for my dress.
The second included a public statement about a misunderstanding.
The third came with money large enough to clear our mortgage.
All three required confidentiality.
Elise placed the terms in front of me.
“You decide. My job is to explain what they mean.”
Anton sat beside me without speaking.
I read every page.
Then I pushed them back.
“I won’t call what happened a misunderstanding.”
Elise nodded.
“Then we decline these terms.”
That afternoon, Valerie came to Anton’s office.
He called me from the reception area.
“She says she needs ten minutes.”
“Do you want me there?”
“Yes.”
Elise agreed to join by phone.
Valerie didn’t like that.
“This is personal.”
Anton looked at her.
“You made it public.”
She sat across from us in a room with glass walls.
No red gown.
No audience she could command.
Just an expensive handbag held too tightly in her lap.
“Victor used me,” she said.
“Yes,” I answered.
Relief flashed across her face.
Then I continued.
“You still used your hands.”
She looked away.
“I didn’t know the dress would tear that badly.”
“You knew about the scar.”
“I wanted Anton to ask questions.”
“He could have asked them with my clothes on.”
Her jaw tightened.
For a moment, I saw the woman from the terrace again.
The one who believed money made her intentions irrelevant.
“I can fix the business damage,” she told Anton. “My father can make calls.”
“No.”
“You’re going to throw away years of work?”
“I’m going to keep working.”
She stared at him.
Then at me.
“You took him from me.”
Anton leaned forward.
“I left you before I met Maya.”
Valerie’s eyes filled.
“You never even gave me another chance.”
“You kept proving I was right.”
Her phone rang inside her bag.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
Then mine rang.
Ortiz.
“They found Keller,” she said.
I stood.
May you like
“Where?”
“At Shaw’s office. And Maya—there’s a recording you need to hear.”
