Chapter 10 - The Dinner Where Everyone Lied
We couldn't reach my mother without crossing three states of compromised surveillance.
So I did something Victor Sloane would never expect.
I arranged a dinner.
The invitation went to twelve people. Corporate attorneys, two retired judges, several wealthy investors, and the men who had managed my father's legitimate businesses before his death.
The venue was the grand ballroom of the Bellweather Hotel, a building my family had owned for forty years.
The guest list included one name I especially wanted to see.
Vincent Hale.
My former operations chief accepted within twenty minutes.
That told me everything I needed to know.
He believed I was cornered.
He believed I would negotiate.
He believed I had no idea how deeply he'd betrayed me.
He was wrong about one thing.
I wasn't hosting a negotiation.
I was hosting a reckoning.
Clara remained with Elena in a secure apartment while Michael and Marco prepared the recording equipment. Every guest would pass through the hotel entrance beneath cameras I controlled.
At precisely eight o'clock, the ballroom doors opened.
Vincent arrived wearing a black suit and a silver tie. He approached me with the confidence of a man who believed himself indispensable.
"Dominic."
"Vincent."
He glanced around the room.
"Interesting guest list."
"I thought we should discuss the future."
He smiled.
"Good. Because the federal authorities have frozen several of your accounts. You're in a difficult position."
"Then it's fortunate I brought my paperwork."
I handed him a glass of water.
He didn't drink it.
We took our seats at the center of the table.
The dinner began with polite conversation, expensive wine, and the kind of laughter people use when they suspect everyone else knows something they don't.
Then I stood.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. My father built this empire on a principle he repeated to me throughout my childhood."
I paused.
"He believed fear was the most reliable form of loyalty."
No one spoke.
"For nineteen years, I followed that principle. I made enemies. I made money. I made people afraid to cross me."
I looked around the table.
"Tonight, I'd like to discuss the cost."
I nodded toward the screen behind me.
The first video showed Victor Sloane meeting with Captain Elias Reed three years before the captain's murder.
The second showed Sloane receiving payments from Asterion.
The third showed Vincent entering my private residence on the afternoon Clara arrived.
His face went pale.
"Where did you get these?"
I ignored him.
A fourth video appeared.
Mercer stood outside a warehouse, handing a folder to Sloane.
Then came the document connecting Project Lantern to the disappearances of forty-seven witnesses.
Several guests began whispering.
One of the retired judges stood abruptly.
"These recordings may be fabricated."
"Then you'll welcome an independent forensic examination."
I distributed copies of the original financial records.
Vincent pushed his chair backward.
"This is a mistake, Dominic."
"Sit down."
He laughed nervously.
"You think you can expose us and walk away? Your name appears on the agreement. Your signature is on the document authorizing Clara's guardianship."
I held his gaze.
"Yes."
The room went silent.
"I signed it."
Vincent's smile returned.
"And you expect them to believe you're innocent?"
"No."
I leaned forward.
"I expect them to believe the truth."
I placed my own handwritten statement on the table.
It explained how my father had disguised the document as an insurance agreement, how I had signed it without reading the final pages, and how I'd discovered its true purpose only after Clara arrived.
It wasn't a defense.
It was an admission.
For the first time in nineteen years, I wasn't trying to make myself look untouchable.
I was making the truth impossible to ignore.
Vincent stood.
"You're destroying everything your father built."
I looked at him.
"That's the point."
Security moved toward him.
He didn't resist.
Instead, he leaned close enough for only me to hear.
"You think Sloane is worried about the estate? He doesn't care about the money anymore."
My stomach tightened.
"What does he want?"
Vincent smiled without warmth.
"He wants the person your father kept beneath the old courthouse."
Before I could question him, the ballroom lights flickered.
Every screen went black.
A message appeared.
THANK YOU FOR GATHERING THE WITNESSES IN ONE ROOM.
My phone rang.
Michael.
I answered immediately.
"What's happening?"
His voice sounded desperate.
"Dom, where's Clara?"
"With Elena."
"No, she isn't."
I went completely still.
"What do you mean?"
"The apartment is empty. Elena's phone is on the floor, and Clara's backpack is gone."
A second message appeared on the screen.
It contained a live video.
Clara sat inside a dark room, holding a small silver key.
Victor Sloane stood behind her.
He looked directly into the camera.
"Dominic, you wanted to tell the truth."
He smiled.
"Come to the courthouse. Bring the contract. And come without your brother."
The screen changed.
May you like
A final sentence appeared.
OR THE GIRL DISCOVERS WHY HER FATHER WAS NEVER ALLOWED TO RAISE HER.
