Chapter 16 - stitches across time
Nathan reached into his coat and pulled out a single sheet of paper—a certified copy of the bank ledger he had decoded the previous night. He tossed it onto the concrete floor at Vance's feet.
"That is the paper trail showing twelve million dollars transferred from Domenico's personal accounts in Zurich directly into your private law firm's shell corporation in Panama," Nathan said quietly. "You didn't just help Domenico hide my mother's pension trust, Vance. You stole half of it for yourself while Domenico was lying in his sickbed."
Vance's face went completely grey. His eyes darted down to the paper on the floor, his hands visibly beginning to shake. "That... those records were purged twenty years ago."
"My mother was smarter than all of you," Nathan said, taking three slow steps forward until he was standing inches from the terrified counselor. "She didn't just keep paper receipts. She hid the microfilm inside the iron base of her sewing machine—the very machine Sarah carried with her from apartment to apartment for seven years."
Vance opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. One of his guards reached for his shoulder holster, but before his hand could touch the leather grip, Marco stepped out from the shadow of loom six, placing the cold barrel of a suppressed pistol directly behind the guard's ear.
"Tell Domenico that his tenure as senior advisor is officially terminated," Nathan whispered into Vance's ear, his voice soft as silk and hard as iron. "If I see you or any of his men within five miles of my estate, I won't send you to Florida. I will drop you into the river right behind this loom."
Vance backed away slowly, his hands raised in surrender, his teeth chattering in terror. "You're starting a war within the council, Nathan! The elders will never accept a former seamstress's child as the heir to the Moretti estate!"
"The council will do what I tell them to do," Nathan said, turning his back on the counselor as Vance and his men scrambled out into the rain. "Because if they don't, I will publish the remaining three ledgers on the front page of every newspaper in Chicago."
May you like
Nathan walked back toward the rear loading bay, pulling his satellite phone from his pocket. He dialed the direct extension to his estate's private security desk.
"Marco, clear the cars," Nathan said as he stepped out into the freezing drizzle. "We are moving Sarah and Lily to the lakeside compound tonight. The city is about to get very noisy."
