Chapter 13 - Preston's Last Bargain)
Preston's last attempt came one week later.
By then, the family story had reached the newspapers.
Caradonna Holdings announced an internal forensic audit.
Three executives resigned.
Two outside directors demanded emergency meetings.
The Hale family's voting rights were suspended under Matteo's trust provision pending court review.
Leo's eighteen-percent protected interest was formally recognized.
Sebastian did not celebrate.
Too much had been broken for celebration.
Then Preston requested a private meeting.
His lawyer claimed he wanted to negotiate surrender of offshore assets.
Sebastian agreed on one condition.
Everything would be recorded.
Preston entered the conference room looking thinner.
The arrogance remained.
"You look tired," he told Sebastian.
"You look expensive."
Preston smiled.
"Lawyers."
They sat.
Preston placed a folder on the table.
"Thirty-one million recoverable immediately."
Sebastian did not touch it.
"Where's the rest?"
"Gone."
"Where?"
"Bad investments."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one."
Sebastian looked toward the camera in the corner.
"What do you want?"
Preston leaned back.
"Lucinda gets immunity."
Sebastian almost laughed.
"I don't control prosecutors."
"You control the family's cooperation."
"No."
"Then Leo gets dragged through this."
Sebastian's expression changed.
Preston saw it.
"There it is."
"What are you threatening?"
"Nothing."
"Say it."
Preston slid another photograph across the table.
It showed Anna leaving a private clinic in Zurich.
Sebastian recognized the date.
Four months before her death.
"She traveled without telling you."
"I know."
"Do you know why?"
"Treatment consultation."
Preston smiled.
"Wrong."
Sebastian waited.
"She met someone."
"Who?"
"A banker."
Sebastian stared.
Preston continued.
"Anna set up another account."
"You would have shown investigators already."
"I didn't know where it was until recently."
"What account?"
"Two million dollars."
Sebastian realized.
The research funds.
"No."
Preston smiled.
"Not those."
He leaned closer.
"Another two million."
Sebastian said nothing.
"Pay me ten million through a civil settlement. Recommend leniency. Lucinda gets the same. I tell you where Anna's money went."
Sebastian almost admired the desperation.
Almost.
"You still don't understand."
Preston frowned.
"You think this is about Anna's reputation."
"It is."
"No."
Sebastian leaned forward.
"It's about whether I keep teaching Leo that secrets are more important than truth."
Preston's smile disappeared.
"So your answer is no."
"My answer is tell investigators everything."
Sebastian stood.
Preston said, "Then you'll never know."
Sebastian walked out.
That afternoon, Thomas found the account in forty minutes.
Preston had underestimated how completely Lucinda had surrendered her records.
The second two million dollars had not gone to Anna.
The account used her initials.
A.C.
Preston had assumed Anna Caradonna.
It belonged to Alden Children's Foundation.
Another charity.
Matteo had directed the payment.
Preston's final weapon was nothing.
When investigators confronted him, something inside Preston finally broke.
He began talking.
Not out of remorse.
Out of exhaustion.
He identified accounts.
He admitted forging Sebastian's signature.
He admitted paying Martin.
He admitted delaying the ambulance.
"I thought Matteo would wake up," he said.
The investigator asked, "Why didn't you call immediately?"
Preston stared at the table.
"Because if he woke up, I was finished."
That statement ended any remaining illusion about the man.
Sebastian never spoke to Preston privately again.
Lucinda requested one final conversation.
They met in the north gallery.
The empty pedestal remained.
The shattered vase pieces had been collected in padded boxes.
Lucinda stood in front of the space where it once sat.
"I hated that vase."
Sebastian almost smiled.
"You fought pretty hard for it."
"I hated what was inside."
"You mean the truth."
"Yes."
She turned toward him.
"I kept thinking there would be a point where covering one lie would make the original lie disappear."
"It doesn't."
"I know."
Sebastian looked at her.
"Why did you wait three minutes before calling the ambulance?"
Lucinda cried quietly.
"Because Preston told me if Matteo survived, we'd both go to prison."
Sebastian felt the old anger.
She continued.
"For three minutes, I believed losing my life was worse than your father losing his."
Sebastian said nothing.
"I can't ask you to forgive that."
"No."
"I won't."
She nodded.
"But I am sorry."
Sebastian looked toward the empty pedestal.
"I believe you're sorry."
Lucinda raised her eyes.
It was not forgiveness.
May you like
They both understood.
But it was more truth than their family had managed in years.
