Chapter 14 - The Phone She Never Destroyed
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Marcella took one step toward the evidence bag.
Whitmore blocked her.
“Sit down.”
“That phone is mine.”
“It belonged to your husband.”
“I inherited his property.”
“Not if it contains evidence related to financial fraud.”
Marcella’s face hardened.
“You have no idea what’s on it.”
Whitmore looked at her.
“That sentence really makes me want to find out.”
Dominic remained beside Evelyn.
He didn’t need to threaten Marcella.
She was doing more damage to herself every time she opened her mouth.
The phone had been powered off for eighteen months.
Julian had kept an old six-digit code.
Dominic knew it.
Their father’s birthday.
Whitmore asked permission from the appropriate estate representative.
Harold explained that Julian’s company device had remained property of the Vercetti corporation.
The phone was examined.
Messages loaded.
Hundreds.
Most ordinary.
Business.
Family.
Arguments.
Then Whitmore found a thread from seven weeks before Julian’s death.
MARCELLA:
We need Evelyn’s votes before the restructuring.
JULIAN:
No.
MARCELLA:
Your brother treats you like an employee.
JULIAN:
This isn’t about Dominic.
MARCELLA:
It’s about our future.
JULIAN:
Not if it requires lying to Mom.
Marcella looked away.
The next messages were worse.
MARCELLA:
She won’t hold those shares forever.
JULIAN:
Stop talking like that.
MARCELLA:
I mean she’s old.
JULIAN:
Then wait. We’re not taking them.
No murder plot.
No dark conspiracy behind Julian’s death.
Just greed.
Cold, patient greed.
In some ways, that hurt more.
Marcella had spent years resenting a woman who had welcomed her into the family.
Whitmore scrolled farther.
Then stopped.
A message sent by Julian two days before his fatal heart attack.
JULIAN:
I moved the founder duplicate. You won’t find it.
Marcella’s head snapped up.
Dominic saw understanding hit her.
She had never found the document.
The envelope recovered tonight had been hidden in Julian’s locked safe behind a removable panel.
Marcella had searched for eighteen months.
That was why she needed the key.
That was why she needed Evelyn removed.
She still didn’t know exactly what evidence existed.
She was gambling.
And tonight, she lost.
Whitmore found another thread.
This one from three weeks earlier.
Marcella and Thomas.
MARCELLA:
I need Evelyn out before midnight.
THOMAS:
She won’t leave willingly.
MARCELLA:
Then make it look like she chose to.
Thomas covered his face.
Marcella stared at him with pure hatred.
Whitmore read one final message.
MARCELLA:
Once the documents clear, nobody can undo it.
Dominic spoke for the first time.
“You really believed that?”
Marcella looked at him.
“I believed your mother should have stepped aside years ago.”
Evelyn answered.
“You could have asked.”
Marcella laughed bitterly.
“And you would have given me control?”
“No.”
Marcella’s smile turned cruel.
“Exactly.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Because you never wanted responsibility.”
She looked at the room.
“You wanted possession.”
Marcella’s expression broke.
She swept a wineglass from the table.
It shattered on the floor.
“Everything in this family went to Dominic!”
Dominic remained still.
Marcella pointed at him.
“The company. The respect. The name. Even after Julian died, everybody looked at him!”
Evelyn whispered—
“And there it is.”
May you like
👉 Marcella had spent the whole night pretending she was protecting the family, but jealousy had finally forced her to admit what she had really wanted all along.
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