Chapter 5 - The Bait
Lorenzo, Matteo, and Chloe stood around the black stone desk.
“Explain,” Lorenzo said.
“Costa wants to buy our company out from under us,” Chloe started, pacing. “He’s using lawyers and fake fronts. We invite him to a board meeting. We tell him we’re bleeding cash, our union contracts are failing, and we want to negotiate a surrender.”
Matteo frowned. “He’ll smell a trap.”
“Not if the bait is good enough,” Chloe countered. “I will doctor our internal ledgers to make it look like we are on the verge of total collapse. If Costa thinks he can buy the Rossy Corporation legally today, he’ll jump at it. He wants the humiliation of making you sign the papers.”
“And the files?” Lorenzo asked.
“To finalize a corporate acquisition of this size, his accountants have to provide proof of funds to our legal team. They’ll have to bring their encrypted hard drives to the meeting to verify the transfer. Once the drives are in this building...” Chloe adjusted her glasses. “I clone them.”
Lorenzo stared at her. He had spent his life surviving through violence, intimidation, and fear. Now, the woman he loved was proposing to take down his greatest enemy using corporate due diligence.
“It’s dangerous,” Lorenzo said. “If Costa realizes what you’re doing, he won’t wait for lawyers. He’ll draw weapons in the boardroom.”
“Then we make sure he can’t,” Matteo interjected, a slow smile spreading across his face. “We control the building. We control the security. We strip them of their guns before they reach the fortieth floor.”
Lorenzo looked at Chloe. She was trembling slightly, but her chin was raised. She was terrified, but she was not running.
“You will be in the server room during the meeting,” Lorenzo ordered. “Locked behind reinforced steel. You do not step foot in the boardroom.”
“But I need to connect the cloning device to their drive—”
“I will plug it in,” Lorenzo said smoothly. “You just press the buttons. Deal?”
May you like
Chloe exhaled. “Deal.”
Lorenzo pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair. “If this works, you are getting a massive raise.”
