Chapter 9 - THE ROOM WITH TWELVE CHAIRS
The final confrontation did not happen with guns blazing.
Dad had prepared something smarter.
The journal's last cipher contained authentication keys linking the Twelve Chairs to decades of financial crimes.
We copied everything.
Federal prosecutors received one copy.
Investigative journalists received another.
Attorneys in three countries received sealed packages.
Then Dominic agreed to meet Victoria.
The location was an old private club beneath Lower Manhattan.
Inside was a circular table.
Twelve chairs.
And Victoria Russo.
Alive.
Seventy.
Beautiful.
Cold.
Dominic stared at her.
“You let me bury you.”
“I gave you freedom.”
“You gave me grief.”
“Grief made you strong.”
“No.”
His voice remained calm.
“Grief made me angry. Other people taught me strength.”
Victoria looked at me.
“Daniel's little prodigy.”
“I'm Lena.”
“Do you have the page?”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Victor stepped from behind her.
The man whose actions had killed my father.
My entire body shook.
He smiled.
“You remember me?”
“No.”
That bothered him.
Good.
“I remember your jacket,” I said.
His smile disappeared.
“You came to The Sterling before that night. Three weeks earlier.”
Dominic looked at me.
I had finally placed him.
Victor had visited the restaurant to confirm I worked there.
He had brought the journal knowing there was a chance Daniel's daughter might see it.
The entire ten-million-dollar challenge had been bait.
Victor wanted to identify whether Dad had taught me enough to finish the cipher.
Dominic turned toward him.
“You used me.”
Victor shrugged.
“Everyone uses everyone.”
“No,” I said.
He looked at me.
“My dad didn't.”
Victor laughed.
“He used you from childhood.”
I thought about the codes.
The games.
The birthday card.
For months I had wondered the same thing.
Then I understood.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“He taught me.”
There was a difference.
Sirens sounded above us.
Victoria's expression changed.
Dominic placed the journal on the table.
“You wanted the book?”
He pushed it toward her.
“Keep it.”
She stared.
“The information is already gone.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
Federal agents entered minutes later.
Victor ran.
He did not get far.
Victoria remained seated.
For the first time, the woman who had controlled powerful people for decades had nothing left to control.
As agents approached, she looked at Dominic.
“You destroyed your inheritance.”
Dominic looked around the room.
“No.”
He removed the Russo ring from his finger.
“You confused inheritance with obligation.”
He left it on the table.
May you like
Then walked away.
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