Chapter 16 - The Man Who Wasn’t There
Leon became chief executive without appearing in public.
The Romano Holdings board announced that Victor would temporarily step aside while authorities investigated “serious governance concerns.”
News outlets exploded.
Some reported Victor had been poisoned.
Others suggested the poisoning had been staged.
A tabloid published Lena’s old employee photograph beneath the headline:
MAID, MOBSTER, MURDER PLOT.
Leon had seized the story again.
Victor read the article without expression.
Lena wanted to throw the tablet through a window.
“Don’t.”
She looked at him.
“You say that like you can read my mind.”
“You look violent.”
“I wonder why.”
Victor had technically lost control of his legitimate companies.
Worse, Leon now controlled the internal servers containing evidence.
Naomi called.
“We need bank records immediately. Leon’s people are closing vendor accounts.”
“Can they destroy everything?” Lena asked.
“Not bank records. But they can make tracing harder.”
Victor turned to Dmitri.
“Can we enter headquarters?”
“It’s company property. Security has orders denying you access.”
Victor almost smiled.
“They’re denying Victor Romano entry to his own building.”
“That appears to be the situation.”
Lena said, “Good.”
Both men looked at her.
“Good?”
“Leon expects Victor Romano to break down the door.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“And?”
“Then don’t.”
She pulled Thomas’s ledger closer.
“Use auditors. Courts. Records requests.”
Dmitri looked horrified.
Victor considered her.
“You want me to file paperwork.”
“Yes.”
“I have people.”
“That sentence is why four directors just voted you out.”
Silence.
Dmitri turned away again, pretending not to enjoy this.
Victor’s attorney obtained an emergency preservation order preventing Romano Holdings from deleting financial records related to Meridian.
Ruiz served it personally.
Leon’s people had to comply.
The old Victor would have sent armed men.
The new strategy was slower.
It was also harder for Leon to manipulate.
Meanwhile, Clara identified the four compromised board members.
One owed Leon $3 million.
Another had accepted kickbacks.
A third had hidden tax liabilities.
The fourth, Daniel Price, surprised everyone.
He had no obvious scandal.
Naomi searched his finances.
Nothing.
Then Lena noticed something in Thomas’s ledger.
A recurring payment to a pediatric research foundation.
She frowned.
“Why would Leon fund this?”
Naomi checked.
The foundation had paid for experimental cancer treatment for Daniel Price’s son six years earlier.
Victor’s expression changed.
“He saved the boy.”
“Through stolen money,” Naomi said.
Dmitri shook his head.
“Price isn’t blackmailed.”
Lena understood.
“He’s loyal.”
That was more dangerous.
Daniel Price had voted for Leon because he believed Leon saved his child’s life.
Not everyone in the conspiracy had been bought through fear.
Some had been purchased with gratitude.
Victor called Daniel.
He answered.
“You should not contact me.”
Victor said, “Leon paid for Ethan’s treatment.”
Silence.
“How do you know?”
“Thomas Hart’s records.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Leon helped my son when you wouldn’t even return my call.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Lena realized another debt had surfaced.
Victor asked quietly, “When?”
“Six years ago.”
Victor remembered.
“I was in Sicily.”
“You were always somewhere.”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“My boy was dying. Leon found a clinic.”
Victor said nothing.
“You want me to betray him now?”
“I want you to look at where the money came from.”
“I don’t care.”
“Thomas Hart was destroyed so Leon could obtain that money.”
Silence.
Victor continued.
“Leon saved your son by stealing from another man and burying him.”
Daniel whispered, “That doesn’t change what he did for Ethan.”
“No.”
Victor surprised Lena.
“It doesn’t.”
He did not ask Daniel to vote differently.
He only sent the records.
An hour later, Daniel Price resigned from the board.
Not because he had stopped loving Leon.
Because he could no longer pretend the cost of his miracle belonged to nobody.
The board now lacked enough votes to maintain Leon’s appointment.
An emergency meeting was scheduled for the next morning.
Then Naomi discovered Leon had transferred the remaining seven million dollars.
Not to Whitmore Holdings.
Not overseas.
To a company called Hart Legacy LLC.
Registered forty-eight hours earlier.
Owner of record:
Lena Hart.
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Leon was framing her again.
This time for forty-two million dollars.
