Chapter 2 - THE MEN AT THE DOORThe front door shook under another blow.
“Mrs. Carter!”
Lucy buried her face against Elena.
Victor didn’t move.
He had spent twenty years sitting across conference tables from men who believed wealth made them untouchable. He knew intimidation when he saw it.
The only difference was that these men were using a crowbar instead of lawyers.
Victor opened the door.
Two men stood on the porch.
The larger one blinked when he saw Victor’s suit.
“Who are you?”
“Someone asking why you’re breaking into this woman’s home.”
The man lifted a document.
“Court-authorized property recovery.”
Victor held out his hand.
“Give me that.”
“You the husband?”
“No.”
“Then mind your business.”
Victor smiled faintly.
That was the first mistake.
The man pushed the door.
Victor blocked it.
“That would be trespassing.”
“We’ve got authorization.”
“Then you won’t mind if my attorneys read it.”
The second man laughed.
“Your attorneys?”
Three black SUVs turned onto the street.
The laughter stopped.
They parked behind Victor’s vehicle.
Six members of Romano Global security stepped out, followed by Victor’s general counsel, Rebecca Sloan, carrying a leather portfolio.
Rebecca climbed the porch.
“You called?”
Victor handed her the document.
“Tell me what this is.”
She scanned it.
Her eyebrows rose.
“This isn’t a repossession order.”
The two men shifted uneasily.
“What is it?” Victor asked.
“A private collection notice dressed up to look judicial.”
She pointed at the seal.
“Fake case number. No judge’s signature.”
Victor looked at the men.
“Interesting.”
The larger man backed toward the steps.
“We just deliver paperwork.”
“With a crowbar?”
Neither answered.
Rebecca photographed the document.
“Who hired you?”
“Call the number.”
Victor glanced down.
Sterling Asset Recovery.
Of course.
The men left quickly.
Victor didn’t stop them.
He wanted them talking.
Inside, Elena watched through the window.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
Victor entered.
“Why?”
“They’ll retaliate.”
“They already have.”
“You don’t know these people.”
Victor removed his wet jacket.
“Mrs. Carter, I know exactly these people.”
He looked at Rebecca.
“Food first. Doctor second. Investigation third.”
Elena immediately protested.
“I don’t need charity.”
“This isn’t charity.”
“What is it?”
Victor looked at the hollow rooms.
“Due diligence.”
Lucy tugged on his sleeve.
“What’s that?”
“It means grown-ups ask questions they should’ve asked earlier.”
Within an hour, groceries filled the kitchen.
A physician examined Elena and found severe anemia, dehydration, and an untreated infection that could have become dangerous.
She needed hospitalization.
Elena refused.
“I can’t leave Lucy.”
Victor looked at Rebecca.
“Arrange a private room. Lucy stays nearby.”
“No.”
Elena struggled upright.
“I can’t afford—”
“You’re not paying.”
“I don’t even know you.”
Victor’s voice softened.
“My mother raised me in an apartment where the electricity was shut off twice. I remember what it feels like when someone knocks on the door and your mother goes quiet.”
Elena studied him differently.
“You grew up poor?”
“Very.”
Lucy looked astonished.
“But you have a giant car.”
Victor almost smiled.
“Life changed.”
By sunset, Elena finally agreed to go.
But before leaving, she knelt beside one loose floorboard.
Victor helped lift it.
Beneath was a waterproof folder.
Inside were handwritten notes, payroll spreadsheets, copies of wire transfers and several USB drives.
Rebecca examined them.
“Where did you get these?”
“I was Sterling’s senior payroll supervisor.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“You had access to everything.”
“More than he realized.”
She pulled out one spreadsheet.
“These names were employees on paper, but they didn’t exist. Sterling paid them wages, then transferred the money into LLCs.”
“How much?”
“I found eleven million before he caught me.”
Rebecca exchanged a look with Victor.
Eleven million was not bookkeeping fraud.
It was organized theft.
Elena produced another document.
“This is worse.”
Victor read it.
It involved municipal redevelopment grants.
Taxpayer money.
Government contracts.
Sterling had apparently billed Chicago-area housing projects for materials never purchased.
Victor’s own company had been preparing to partner with him.
“He nearly got inside Romano Global,” Victor said.
Elena nodded.
“That’s why I tried warning someone.”
“Who?”
“Your company.”
Victor went still.
“I emailed your compliance office five months ago.”
Rebecca looked stunned.
“We never received anything.”
“Yes, you did.”
She pulled out a printed confirmation.
Victor read the address.
It was correct.
His anger sharpened.
If Elena’s warning had entered his company and disappeared, Sterling had help inside Romano Global.
“Who handled outside compliance complaints five months ago?” Victor asked.
Rebecca answered carefully.
“Martin Keller.”
Victor knew the name well.
Senior vice president.
Trusted executive.
Twenty-one years with the company.
Godfather to Victor’s nephew.
Victor looked again at the records.
His world had suddenly become much more complicated.
At the hospital, Elena was admitted immediately.
Lucy sat beside her bed eating a grilled cheese sandwich as though it were a banquet.
Victor watched from the doorway.
He found himself staring at the girl’s small feet.
One shoe.
One bare foot.
He sent his assistant a message.
Children’s clothing. Size seven. Shoes. Everything.
Then another message arrived.
David Sterling requesting urgent call.
Victor accepted.
“Victor!” Sterling sounded cheerful. “There’s obviously been some misunderstanding about the bid.”
“No misunderstanding.”
“I hear you froze everything.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Victor looked through the glass at Lucy.
“Do you know Elena Carter?”
Silence.
Only half a second.
But enough.
“Name doesn’t ring a bell.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Nine-year employee.”
“Victor, I have thousands.”
“She claims your company stole from her.”
Sterling laughed.
“Disgruntled former worker. Happens every day.”
“You took her furniture.”
“Collections are outsourced.”
“You took her dead infant’s crib.”
The line went silent.
Victor continued.
“You also submitted forged repossession paperwork this afternoon.”
Sterling’s tone changed.
“Be careful.”
“With what?”
“People make allegations when they’re desperate.”
Victor stepped away from the hospital room.
“Then tomorrow should be easy.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
“You explain your accounting.”
“I don’t owe you—”
“You do if you want the six-hundred-million-dollar Riverside project.”
Silence.
Victor ended the call.
Across the city, David Sterling hurled his whiskey glass against a wall.
“Find out what Carter gave him,” he ordered.
One of his men hesitated.
“And if Romano already has everything?”
Sterling looked toward the skyline.
“Then we find out who inside Romano Global can make it disappear.”
At 11:43 that night, Martin Keller’s private phone rang.
He looked at the caller ID and shut his office door.
“David.”
Sterling’s voice came low and urgent.
“We have a problem.”
Martin glanced through the glass wall toward Victor Romano’s office.
“How bad?”
“Carter found Romano.”
Martin turned pale.
May you like
Then Sterling said the words that changed everything.
“She still has the files.”
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