Chapter 17 - Kyle’s Last Chance
I never thought I would willingly sit across a table from Kyle Bradley again.
Life has a sense of humor.
Kyle connected his hard drive to one of Gideon's isolated computers.
Folders appeared.
Spreadsheets.
Wire transfers.
Internal Vantage emails.
Corporate structures.
“I copied these before they fired me,” Kyle said.
Lucian stood behind him.
“Why?”
Kyle gave a bitter laugh.
“Because after Romano collapsed, Vantage needed someone to blame. Guess who had recently become famous for getting kidnapped by a mafia rival?”
“You weren't kidnapped,” I said.
“I was zip-tied to a concrete pillar.”
“After attempting to trade my security plans.”
Kyle looked down.
“Fair.”
He opened a spreadsheet.
“Mason created six shell companies over eight years. All connected to Moretti Logistics vendors.”
Lucian leaned closer.
“Those vendors are legitimate.”
“The vendors are. These aren't.”
Kyle highlighted payments.
“Every time Moretti Logistics paid a real invoice, someone duplicated a smaller payment to a nearly identical company.”
Gideon whistled softly.
“How much?”
Kyle clicked a total.
$186,400,000.
I nearly choked.
“One hundred eighty-six million?”
Lucian stared at the figure.
His expression was unreadable.
Kyle nodded.
“Mason stole from you slowly enough that nobody noticed.”
“Someone would notice,” Lucian said.
“They did.”
Kyle opened another folder.
A photograph appeared.
An older man leaving a courthouse.
Daniel Mercer.
The retired prosecutor Salvatore had named.
“Mercer helped structure the companies.”
Salvatore stepped forward.
“I knew that snake was involved.”
Kyle looked nervous seeing him.
Understandable.
“What does this have to do with the federal raid?” I asked.
Kyle opened another email.
FROM: MHALE
TO: D.MERCER
If L.M. refuses transition, activate archive package.
I read it twice.
“Transition?”
Lucian looked toward Salvatore.
“The trust.”
Salvatore nodded.
“Mason wants control transferred to the council.”
“But why?” I asked. “He isn't a Moretti.”
Kyle opened another document.
A family governance chart.
At the bottom was a name.
MASON ANTHONY HALE.
Formerly:
MASON ANTHONY MORETTI.
Lucian stepped back.
For the first time since I had met him, he looked genuinely shocked.
Salvatore whispered one word.
“No.”
I looked between them.
“Someone explain.”
Salvatore sank into a chair.
“My older brother.”
Lucian stared at him.
“Father had a brother?”
“Half brother. Antonio Moretti.”
“What happened?”
“He was expelled from the family before you were born. Gambling debts. Violence. He tried to sell information to rivals.”
“And Mason?”
“Antonio had a son.”
My skin prickled.
“Mason.”
Salvatore nodded slowly.
“Alessandro paid for the boy's education under his mother's name. Mason Hale.”
Lucian's face changed.
Not anger.
Recognition.
“All these years.”
Gideon nodded.
“He was inside from the beginning.”
Kyle swallowed.
“Mason doesn't want money.”
Lucian looked at him.
“No.”
“He wants inheritance.”
Salvatore's voice was bitter.
“He thinks Alessandro stole his father's birthright.”
A federal agent appeared at the kitchen entrance.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Lucian turned.
The agent held out a document.
“You are being asked to accompany us downtown for questioning.”
Rebecca Shaw immediately stepped forward.
“Is my client under arrest?”
“Not at this time.”
Lucian looked at me.
I knew exactly what he was thinking.
Run.
Protect.
Control.
Instead, something different happened.
He handed Gideon his phone.
Then he walked to me.
“I'll go.”
I touched his chest.
“You don't have to say anything.”
“I know.”
“They're going to put cameras in your face.”
“I know.”
“And if they try to blame you for Mason's theft—”
He kissed my forehead.
“Harper.”
I stopped.
His eyes softened.
“You told me to stop hiding behind walls.”
My throat tightened.
“So I'm going through the front door.”
Outside Halcyon Tower, hundreds of reporters screamed Lucian's name.
He walked directly into the crowd beside his attorney.
No armored convoy.
No dark alley.
No threats.
For the first time in his adult life, Lucian Moretti trusted the law more than fear.
Then Kyle stepped beside me at the window.
“I really did love you, you know.”
I turned.
“Don't.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
After a moment, he added, “For whatever it's worth, he loves you better.”
I watched Lucian enter the federal vehicle.
May you like
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“He does.”
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