Chapter 2 - File 417
The elevator stopped on the nineteenth floor.
Marco immediately pressed the button to close the doors again.
“What happened?”
Isabelle showed him the message.
His expression hardened.
Luca read it over his shoulder.
“Unknown number?”
“Yes.”
“Give me your phone.”
Isabelle hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent that knew what you were holding within seconds.”
Enzo looked toward the security camera in the elevator.
“Which means somebody is watching.”
The brothers exchanged a look.
Isabelle knew that look.
They had used it when their father died.
When their mother's house was burglarized.
When Marco's company had faced an attempted takeover.
It meant they knew more than they were telling her.
“Enough,” Isabelle said.
Marco looked at her.
“No more protecting me by lying.”
“We weren't lying.”
“You brought a secret file with my husband's name to my anniversary gala.”
Marco exhaled.
“Fair.”
The elevator opened onto the private residential floor Damien had rented for the weekend.
Isabelle's suite was at the end of the corridor.
Luca checked behind them before they entered.
Once inside, Marco locked the door.
Isabelle placed File 417 on the table.
“Talk.”
Marco remained standing.
“Three months ago, my company was reviewing a potential acquisition.”
“What does that have to do with Damien?”
“The target company had been moving money through shell corporations.”
Isabelle frowned.
“Damien's company?”
“Not officially.”
Marco opened the folder.
Inside were bank statements, corporate filings, photographs, and transaction reports.
He placed one page in front of Isabelle.
COLE STRATEGIC HOLDINGS.
Below it were transfers totaling nearly eleven million dollars.
Isabelle stared.
“I don't understand.”
“Neither did I. Until Luca found the authorization signatures.”
Luca removed another page.
Isabelle's name appeared at the bottom.
Her signature.
Except she had never signed it.
Her stomach dropped.
“This is forged.”
“We know.”
She looked at Damien's signature beside hers.
“What was he doing?”
“Using marital assets as collateral.”
“For what?”
Marco hesitated.
Isabelle slammed her palm against the table.
“Stop deciding what I can handle.”
Marco's voice softened.
“Damien's company is collapsing.”
She stared.
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
Damien had spent two years telling everyone Cole Capital was expanding.
New offices.
New investors.
Private jets.
Magazine covers.
He had built an empire of appearances.
Apparently that was all it was.
“How bad?”
“Potentially catastrophic.”
Isabelle sat down.
Her baby kicked.
She placed a hand over her stomach.
Luca crouched beside her.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
But she wasn't.
Not emotionally.
Her husband had betrayed her with another woman.
Hit her.
Forged her signature.
And apparently risked their family's money without telling her.
She looked at the file.
“Why 417?”
Marco pulled out a photograph.
A storage locker.
Number 417.
“This is where the original documents are supposed to be.”
“Supposed to be?”
“We've never opened it.”
“Why not?”
“Because the lease is in your name.”
Isabelle looked up.
“I've never rented a storage locker.”
“Exactly.”
A knock hit the suite door.
Everyone froze.
“Isabelle!”
Damien.
Marco stood.
“Don't open it.”
Damien knocked again.
“Isabelle, please.”
His voice had changed.
No anger.
Panic.
“I need to talk to you.”
Isabelle walked toward the door.
Marco caught her arm gently.
“You don't owe him anything.”
“I know.”
She opened the door but left the security chain attached.
Damien stood outside.
Alone.
His tie was gone.
His hair was disordered.
“Are you okay?”
Isabelle almost couldn't believe the question.
“You hit me.”
“I know.”
“You hit me while I'm pregnant.”
His face twisted.
“I lost control.”
“That isn't an explanation.”
“I know.”
“Where's Vanessa?”
Damien looked away.
“Gone.”
“How convenient.”
“Isabelle, that file—”
There it was.
Not her cheek.
Not their daughter.
The file.
“You came for this.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I came because I'm worried about you.”
“Then why are you looking over my shoulder?”
Damien's eyes shifted toward Marco.
“I need five minutes alone with my wife.”
Marco laughed quietly.
“You lost that privilege.”
Damien ignored him.
“Isabelle, the documents in that folder aren't what they look like.”
“You haven't seen them.”
Damien stopped.
Again.
Another mistake.
Isabelle stepped closer to the opening.
“Why is there a storage locker rented in my name?”
Damien went pale.
Marco saw it.
So did Isabelle.
“Who told you?”
“That isn't an answer.”
Damien gripped the doorframe.
“Listen to me. Do not go there.”
“Why?”
“Because it's dangerous.”
“What's inside?”
“Nothing that matters anymore.”
“Then why are you terrified?”
Damien's voice dropped.
“Because Vanessa isn't who you think she is.”
Isabelle blinked.
“Your mistress?”
“She isn't my mistress.”
Isabelle stared.
“Don't insult me again.”
“I'm telling you the truth.”
“You gave her my necklace.”
“I didn't.”
“She was wearing it.”
“She took it.”
“From where?”
Damien looked toward the floor.
Isabelle's pulse accelerated.
“Damien.”
“From the locker.”
Silence.
Marco moved closer.
“What else is in there?”
Damien looked at him.
“You need to stay out of this.”
“Wrong answer.”
Damien turned back to Isabelle.
“Vanessa approached me eight months ago. She knew things about the company nobody should have known.”
“And you slept with her?”
Damien closed his eyes.
Isabelle had her answer.
“Wonderful.”
“It started later.”
“That makes everything better.”
“No. It doesn't.”
For the first time, he sounded ashamed.
But shame wasn't accountability.
Isabelle touched her cheek.
“You chose her.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You slapped me for her.”
Damien flinched.
“Yes.”
“Then live with them.”
She started closing the door.
“Isabelle, wait.”
She stopped.
“If you open Locker 417, you won't just destroy me.”
“Who else?”
Damien looked directly at Marco.
“Her family.”
Marco's expression changed.
“What did you say?”
Damien stepped closer.
“The Marchetti name is in those documents too.”
Isabelle looked at her brothers.
Marco went completely still.
Luca looked confused.
Enzo did not.
Isabelle noticed.
“Enzo?”
Her youngest brother looked away.
“Tell me.”
He remained silent.
Marco turned toward him.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing.”
“Don't lie to me.”
Damien smiled bitterly.
“Ask him where he was on April seventeenth.”
Isabelle's blood ran cold.
Enzo's face lost its color.
Marco stared at his brother.
“Enzo?”
Damien leaned closer to the door.
“Your brother has been lying to all of you.”
Isabelle looked at Enzo.
“What happened April seventeenth?”
Enzo finally raised his eyes.
“I was at the storage facility.”
Nobody spoke.
“Why?”
Enzo swallowed.
“Because someone called me.”
“Who?”
Before he could answer, Isabelle's phone rang.
Vanessa Hale.
Isabelle answered.
“Vanessa?”
Breathing.
Fast.
Terrified.
Then Vanessa whispered:
“Don't trust your brothers.”
A crash sounded on the other end.
“Vanessa?”
Someone screamed.
The call disconnected.
Ten seconds later, a photograph arrived.
It showed Locker 417.
May you like
The metal door was open.
And someone was standing inside...
