Chapter 3 - The First Meeting That Never Happened

Nico did not call Valeria.

He drove back to the estate.

That was worse.

The charity gala was over.

Staff were clearing crystal glasses from the ballroom.

Valeria sat alone near the fireplace.

Still wearing the dark red gown.

When Nico entered, she stood.

He placed the photograph on the table.

Her face changed.

“Where did you get that?”

“Wrong question.”

“Nico—”

“Did you know who I was before the charity auction?”

She looked at Henry.

Then at me.

Then back at Nico.

“Yes.”

One word.

Three years of history collapsed inside it.

Nico nodded once.

“So Daniel was telling the truth.”

“About that.”

“About that?”

Valeria’s eyes filled.

“My father told me you were dangerous.”

Nico almost smiled.

“Your father is Arthur Stone.”

“I know.”

“He told my biological father that I was dead.”

“I know that now.”

“When did you know?”

“Yesterday.”

“Not good enough.”

She flinched.

Nico pointed to the photograph.

“When did you know about me?”

“Three years ago.”

“Why were you in that car?”

Valeria sat down slowly.

“My father asked me to learn your schedule.”

Henry’s expression hardened.

Nico remained very still.

“You followed me.”

“For six weeks.”

“Then you arranged to meet me.”

“Yes.”

“At the Saint Vincent charity auction.”

“Yes.”

“And you pretended we had never seen each other.”

“I had never spoken to you.”

Nico’s voice sharpened.

“That is not what I asked.”

Valeria looked at the floor.

“No.”

I had worked in Nico’s house long enough to know what silence meant with him.

It meant he was angrier than shouting could explain.

He removed his jacket.

The black rose tattoo rose higher along his neck as his collar shifted.

“What did Arthur want?”

Valeria whispered:

“Information.”

“About what?”

“Your mother’s papers.”

Nico frowned.

“My mother had been dead eight years.”

“My father believed she left something behind.”

Henry suddenly looked up.

“What?”

Valeria turned to him.

“A ledger.”

Henry went pale.

Nico noticed.

“You know about it.”

Henry nodded.

“Your mother kept private records.”

“Of what?”

“People who came to the house. Payments. Meetings. Names your father did not want written in company books.”

Nico looked at Valeria.

“And Arthur wanted it.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t know then.”

“But you know now.”

She reached into her clutch.

Slowly.

Then placed a small silver key on the table.

Henry stared at it.

“Where did you get that?”

“My father’s study.”

Nico’s eyes narrowed.

“What does it open?”

“A deposit box.”

“At which bank?”

“First Continental.”

Henry looked at Nico.

“Your mother used that bank.”

Valeria nodded.

“My father went there every month. Same date. Same time. Yesterday, after I met Daniel, I searched his desk.”

Nico stared at her.

“You stole from him.”

“Yes.”

“For me?”

“No.”

That answer surprised everyone.

Valeria wiped a tear from her cheek.

“For myself.”

Nico said nothing.

She continued.

“I spent three years telling myself my father had a reason. That you were dangerous. That Daniel was dangerous. That Henry was confused. Every time something didn’t fit, I let him explain it.”

Her voice cracked.

“Yesterday Daniel showed me a photograph of my uncle.”

Nico looked at her.

“What photograph?”

“Daniel with my grandmother.”

Henry frowned.

Valeria turned to him.

“My father told me Daniel hated our family.”

“He hated Arthur,” Henry said.

“Apparently there was a difference.”

Nico looked at the key.

“What is in the box?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then why take it?”

“Because my father threatened me.”

Nico’s eyes lifted.

Valeria took a breath.

“He said if Daniel reached you, I had to get you out of the city for forty-eight hours.”

“Why forty-eight?”

“I don’t know.”

Henry’s face tightened.

“Arthur is moving something.”

Nico looked at him.

“What?”

Henry hesitated.

“Control.”

“Of what?”

“Everything Sofia left you.”

Nico frowned.

“My mother left everything to me.”

“Not everything.”

Henry walked to the fireplace.

“There was one asset your mother never transferred into the D’Amato estate.”

“What asset?”

“A holding company in Switzerland.”

Nico stared.

“What does it own?”

Henry turned.

“Twenty-eight percent of Stone Meridian.”

Valeria stopped breathing.

“My father’s company?”

Henry nodded.

Nico looked from him to Valeria.

“Why would my mother own part of Arthur’s company?”

“She didn’t.”

Henry’s voice was quiet.

“Daniel did.”

The room went silent.

Daniel had disappeared.

Arthur had taken control.

But the shares had never legally become Arthur’s.

Nico understood before I did.

“If Daniel is alive…”

Henry nodded.

“Arthur may lose control of the company.”

Valeria whispered:

“And if Daniel has a son…”

Henry looked at Nico.

“Then Arthur has a second problem.”

Nico picked up the silver key.

“First Continental opens at nine.”

Valeria stood.

“Nico, my father will know.”

He looked at her.

“Good.”

“Nico—”

“For three years, he watched me through you.”

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He slid the key into his pocket.

“Tomorrow he gets to watch me come for the truth.”