Chapter 8 - The Missing Accountant)
Patrick Dorsey disappeared at eleven seventeen the night before the wedding.
His phone went offline.
His car remained in the parking garage beneath his apartment.
His wife believed he was meeting Naomi.
Naomi believed he was home.
At eleven thirty, Marco received the call.
By midnight, Giulietta was standing in her wedding venue wearing jeans and a sweater while Marco's security team reviewed Bellafonte camera feeds.
"Do we call police?" Giulietta asked.
Naomi answered over speakerphone.
"Yes."
"Will that alert Warren?"
"I no longer care."
Neither did Marco.
Giulietta did.
But Patrick's safety mattered more than the trap.
They contacted authorities.
At twelve forty three, Patrick called Giulietta himself.
His voice sounded exhausted.
"I'm fine."
"Where are you?"
"Don't ask."
"Patrick."
"I said I'm fine."
"What happened?"
A pause.
"Preston knows."
Giulietta gripped the phone.
"Knows what?"
"That I gave you something."
"How?"
"I don't know."
"Did he threaten you?"
Patrick laughed weakly.
"He didn't have to."
"What does that mean?"
"He showed me Daniel."
Giulietta's heart stopped.
"Your son?"
"Photographs."
"Of what?"
"Daniel leaving a casino."
She frowned.
"That's it?"
"No."
Patrick's breath shook.
"There are drugs in the pictures."
"His?"
"I don't know."
"Patrick, listen to me. Where are you?"
"He says he'll destroy Daniel."
"Preston?"
"Yes."
"What does he want?"
Patrick whispered.
"For me to disappear until after the wedding."
Giulietta looked at Marco.
"Don't do anything they ask."
"It's too late."
"What did you do?"
Patrick started crying.
"I told Preston about the transmitter."
The room went silent.
Giulietta looked at her bracelet lying on the table.
Marco's face changed.
"How did Patrick know about that?" he asked.
Naomi closed her eyes.
"I told him when preparing his cooperation statement."
Giulietta returned to the phone.
"What exactly did you tell Preston?"
"That you would be wired."
"Does he know where?"
"No."
"Does Warren know?"
"I don't know."
The call ended.
Giulietta immediately tried again.
No answer.
Marco took the bracelet.
"This is finished."
Giulietta stared at him.
"They know we're recording."
"Which means the room becomes unpredictable."
"Or they think they've neutralized our advantage."
"You're not going in."
"We don't know that they know everything."
"Enough."
Naomi arrived twenty minutes later.
She carried another transmitter.
Smaller.
"No bracelet."
Giulietta looked at it.
"Where?"
"Your gown."
Marco gave Naomi a furious look.
"Do not encourage her."
Naomi ignored him.
"Preston believes the known device is the bracelet. We move the transmitter."
Giulietta nodded.
Marco swore.
"You two are insane."
"No," Giulietta said. "We're adjusting."
"To a man carrying a club?"
"Security remains outside."
"They know security is outside."
"Then move them."
"What?"
Giulietta walked to the venue map.
"Warren expects Marconi security near the bridal wing."
She pointed to the service corridor.
"Put them here."
"That's farther away."
"Twelve seconds instead of four."
"Absolutely not."
"Marco, Preston needs to believe he has control."
"Why are you still assuming he'll follow the original plan?"
Giulietta looked at the map.
"Because Warren needs me frightened, not injured."
Celeste's voice came from the doorway.
"Don't assume that."
Everyone turned.
She had arrived quietly.
"Preston isn't Warren."
Giulietta frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Warren controls himself because control is the entire point."
Celeste stepped inside.
"Preston gets angry."
Giulietta remembered his grip.
"How angry?"
"When he was seventeen, he broke a boy's jaw at school."
Marco's expression darkened.
"Why?"
"The boy insulted Warren."
Celeste looked at Giulietta.
"Warren made the charges disappear."
"Anything else?"
Celeste hesitated.
"At twenty one, Preston's girlfriend filed for a protective order."
Giulietta stared.
"He told me he'd only had casual relationships before me."
"He lied."
"What happened to the order?"
"Withdrawn."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Marco looked at Giulietta.
"Still want the room?"
Her answer took longer this time.
"Yes."
Marco closed his eyes.
"But security stays four seconds away."
"Fine."
"And the second his hand touches the club, we're coming."
"No."
His eyes opened.
"Giulietta."
"If he carries it in, that's not enough."
"Enough for me."
"I need him to cross the line."
Celeste stepped forward.
"Why?"
Giulietta looked at her.
"Because Preston will someday tell himself he never would have hurt me."
Her voice became quiet.
"Warren will tell people it was a misunderstanding."
She looked at Marco.
"And part of me might wonder whether they're right."
Celeste studied her for several seconds.
Then she nodded slowly.
"I understand."
Marco looked betrayed.
Celeste continued.
"But there is one condition."
"What?"
"If you feel afraid, you do not prove anything."
Giulietta listened.
"You leave."
A long silence.
Then Giulietta nodded.
"I promise."
At three twenty in the morning, Marco received news from police.
Patrick had been found at a hotel near LaGuardia.
Alive.
Uninjured.
Terrified.
He admitted Preston had threatened to expose Daniel's addiction and frame Patrick as the mastermind behind the forged documents unless Patrick vanished.
Police took a statement.
Naomi contacted federal financial investigators who had already been quietly reviewing Hale Capital's debt disclosures.
The case suddenly grew larger.
But because Patrick had warned Preston about the transmitter, they could not assume the suite would unfold as expected.
Giulietta slept for fifty three minutes.
At seven, hair and makeup began.
At nine, flowers arrived.
At ten, guests started appearing.
At eleven thirty, Giulietta stood before the bridal suite mirror in her lace gown.
Her mother should have been there.
For the first time all morning, grief broke through.
Giulietta touched the necklace Isabella had given her.
Marco entered quietly.
"You look like her."
Giulietta smiled through tears.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because it's true."
He handed her a folded card.
"What is this?"
"Your mother wrote it years ago."
Giulietta stared.
"When?"
"After your father died."
"Why do you have it?"
"She gave it to me with instructions."
"What instructions?"
"Give it to Giulietta on the day she needs courage more than advice."
Giulietta unfolded the card.
Isabella's handwriting filled six lines.
My darling girl,
Never confuse keeping peace with surrendering yourself.
Anyone who loves you will make room for your strength.
Anyone who fears your strength will ask you to shrink and call it love.
Do not shrink.
Mom.
Giulietta pressed the card against her mouth.
Marco looked away to give her privacy.
After a moment she whispered, "She knew."
"About Preston?"
"No."
Giulietta folded the letter.
"About men like him."
At twelve fourteen, Preston entered the bridal wing.
The hallway camera showed him carrying a long garment bag.
A security guard informed Marco.
Marco watched the monitor.
"What's in the bag?"
Nobody knew.
At twelve seventeen, Preston entered an empty groomsmen's room.
When he emerged, the garment bag was folded under his arm.
And in his right hand was Warren's metal golf club.
Marco reached for his radio.
Giulietta stopped him.
"Not yet."
The wedding ceremony was scheduled for twelve forty five.
At twelve twenty six, Warren instructed venue security to clear the bridal hallway.
At twelve twenty eight, the hallway cameras went black.
Except Warren did not know the Marconis had installed a second system.
At twelve twenty nine, Preston knocked.
May you like
Giulietta looked at herself one final time in the mirror.
Then she opened the door.
