Chapter 12 - Eleanor Walks Into Hudson Tower
Eleanor Vale did not request a meeting.
She arrived.
At eleven-thirteen Monday morning, the security desk called Marcus.
“She’s in the lobby.”
Marcus nearly dropped his coffee.
Victor stood from his desk.
“How?”
“She walked through the front doors.”
“No appointment?”
“No.”
Hannah looked up from Matthew’s spelling worksheet.
“That sounds less like an attack and more like someone making a point.”
Victor gave her a look.
“You’re staying upstairs.”
Hannah slowly placed down her pencil.
Victor exhaled.
“Fine. Bad choice of words.”
“Very bad.”
Eleanor reached the sixtieth floor six minutes later.
Two security guards accompanied her.
She carried no purse.
No briefcase.
No phone.
Only a slim leather folder.
Victor stood near the windows.
Hannah remained beside the dining table.
Matthew had been moved to the library with his tutor, but not before demanding a complete explanation later.
Eleanor entered.
Her eyes went first to Victor.
Then Hannah.
“You must be the waitress.”
Hannah smiled.
“You must be the woman who likes dramatic stationery.”
Something flickered in Eleanor’s face.
Approval, perhaps.
Victor did not smile.
“Why are you here?”
“To see whether Anthony ruined you.”
“He failed.”
“I noticed.”
Eleanor walked to the center of the room.
Her gaze swept across Matthew’s paintings.
“This place used to look like your father.”
“It doesn’t anymore.”
“No.”
She looked at Hannah again.
“That appears obvious.”
Victor’s voice hardened.
“You accused my company of stealing one hundred twenty million dollars.”
“I accused your father’s estate.”
“The filing names me personally.”
“Because you inherited his voting interests.”
“Not his crimes.”
Eleanor’s expression changed.
“Are you sure?”
Hannah watched Victor.
His shoulders became rigid.
Eleanor opened the folder.
She removed an old photograph.
Victor at twenty-two.
Beside him stood his father, Dominic Davis.
Behind them, a cargo vessel.
“What is this supposed to prove?” Victor asked.
“Nothing.”
She placed down a second document.
A wire authorization.
Victor’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Hannah stepped closer.
The amount read $42,800,000.
Destination: Vale Strategic Holdings.
Victor stared.
“I never signed this.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“You were twenty-two.”
“I remember being twenty-two.”
“You were drinking heavily after Sofia’s first miscarriage.”
Victor’s face went white.
Hannah’s heart squeezed.
That was history he had never shared.
Eleanor continued.
“Your father came to your apartment. You signed six documents without reading them.”
Victor’s breathing changed.
He remembered something.
Not the document.
The night.
“My father said they were restructuring papers.”
“They transferred liability.”
“From him?”
“To you.”
Silence.
Eleanor tapped the page.
“Three days later, forty-two million disappeared from one of Dominic’s private funds. He told everyone I stole it.”
“You controlled the account.”
“I controlled access. Your signature authorized the movement.”
“To where?”
Eleanor smiled without humor.
“Back into companies Dominic secretly owned.”
Hannah understood first.
“He framed you.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked sick.
“Why disappear?”
“Because two men tried to force my car off the road outside White Plains.”
“Who?”
“Ask your father.”
“He’s dead.”
“I know.”
Victor’s temper flashed.
“Then why come after me?”
“Because when Dominic died, you inherited everything.”
“Not the offshore entities.”
Eleanor tilted her head.
“Are you certain?”
Marcus entered carrying a tablet.
“Boss.”
Victor looked over.
Marcus turned the screen.
A Cayman Islands registry.
Three dormant holding companies.
All newly transferred after Dominic’s death.
Beneficial owner:
Victor Davis.
Hannah felt the atmosphere collapse.
Victor stared.
“I’ve never seen those names.”
Eleanor gave him a long look.
“I believed that once too.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“You think I’m lying.”
“I think men raised by Dominic Davis learn to survive by not asking where the blood came from.”
Hannah stepped between them verbally before Victor could explode.
“What do you actually want?”
Eleanor turned.
“The truth.”
“No. The lawsuit asks for money.”
“The lawsuit forces discovery.”
That landed.
Hannah glanced at Victor.
Exactly as she had done with Anthony’s manifests, she began looking beneath the story.
“You filed because you want access to records Victor doesn’t know exist.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Now I understand why Anthony lost.”
Victor looked between them.
“What records?”
Eleanor closed the folder.
“Your father kept a second ledger.”
Marcus swore under his breath.
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“There was no second ledger.”
“Yes, there was.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I created it.”
She walked toward the elevator.
Victor blocked her path.
“Where is it?”
Eleanor’s gaze became cold.
“If I knew, I would not have spent nine years hiding.”
The elevator doors opened.
Before stepping inside, she turned to Hannah.
“Your engagement party is Saturday, correct?”
Hannah stiffened.
“How do you know that?”
Eleanor ignored the question.
“Ask Victor why Dominic’s last words were about a red key.”
Victor froze.
Eleanor saw it.
“So he remembers.”
The doors closed.
Hannah turned.
“What red key?”
Victor stared at the empty elevator.
“My father said something before he died.”
“What?”
May you like
Victor’s voice was barely audible.
“Burn the red key before they find it.”
