Chapter 5 - The Shadow from Midtown
Luca did not immediately move his hand from Nora’s jaw. He took a slow breath, gently smoothing his thumb over her skin one last time before turning his head toward his lieutenant.
“What is it, Marco?”
“We finished examining Arthur Thorne’s digital records,” Marco reported, holding a black tablet in his hands. “Vanessa wasn't just stealing the Meridian encryption codes for your uncle Marco. She had a second buyer lined up.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “Who?”
Marco glanced briefly at Nora, a flicker of uncomfortable hesitation crossing his scarred face.
“A private equity firm out of Midtown,” Marco said. “Whitmore & Associates.”
Nora felt the blood drain from her face. “Gregory.”
Luca slowly stood up from the sofa, his massive frame towering over the coffee table. The warm, intimate atmosphere of the room vanished instantly, replaced by a suffocating, lethal tension.
“Explain,” Luca commanded.
“Gregory Whitmore’s firm has been struggling since the divorce settlement,” Marco explained, tapping the tablet screen. “He overextended his capital reserves trying to cover up his tax irregularities. When he realized Nora had signed a domestic contract with you, he reached out to Vanessa Thorne through a mutual contact in Manhattan.”
Marco stepped forward and handed the tablet to Luca.
“Whitmore offered Vanessa three million dollars to obtain the Castellano shipping logistics ledgers,” Marco continued. “He planned to leak them to the federal maritime commission, framing Nora as the insider who leaked the data. It would have destroyed your merger, brought a federal audit down on the Castellano estate, and sent Nora to prison for corporate espionage.”
Nora gasped, her hands clutching the velvet cushions of the sofa.
Her former husband hadn't just been bitter about the twenty-five hundred dollars. He hadn't just been arrogant at the courthouse. He had been actively constructing a trap designed to completely obliterate her life, ensuring that she ended up in a federal penitentiary while he collected three million dollars from Vanessa Thorne.
“He wanted to destroy her,” Luca whispered. His voice was so quiet it was almost a hum, but the cold, absolute malice behind it made Marco take a subtle step back.
“He thought she was an easy target, boss,” Marco said. “He thought she was still the scared housewife who wouldn't fight back.”
Luca handed the tablet back to Marco. He turned around and looked down at Nora.
She was sitting upright, her jaw set, her dark eyes flashing with a sudden, fiery rage that matched his own. The fear that had briefly touched her face was gone, replaced by the sheer, unadulterated fury of a woman who had finally realized the true depth of her abuser’s sickness.
“Nora,” Luca said softly, kneeling back down in front of her. “Do you want me to handle this?”
Nora looked at her wrapped hand. She thought of seven years of cruelty. Seven years of being told she was nothing. Seven years of Gregory Whitmore treating her like a piece of garbage he could kick around whenever his fragile ego needed a boost.
She looked up into Luca’s dark eyes.
“No,” Nora said, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp register. “I want us to handle it together.”
Luca’s lips curved into a dark, terrifyingly handsome smile.
“Tell me what you want, Mrs. Castellano,” Luca murmured, taking her hands in his.
“I want him ruined,” Nora said clearly. “I want his firm bankrupt. I want his clients to see exactly what kind of pathetic, fraudulent thief he really is. And I want to be standing in his office when it happens.”
May you like
Luca kissed the back of her bandaged hand with deep, reverent affection.
“Your wish is my command, my love.”
