Chapter 5 - The Deadman's Switch
The next morning, Elena walked gingerly into Gabriel’s sprawling study. It looked like a war room masquerading as a library. Monitors glowed with security feeds, and Dante, the massive enforcer from the penthouse, stood by the window.
Gabriel sat behind a mahogany desk. He turned a laptop toward her. On the screen were offshore bank records and a heavily encrypted audio file.
Elena listened to the recording. It was Julian’s voice, frantic and cold. “Thomas is pulling the Cayman files. If he goes to the grand jury, we all go down. Tell the mechanic to make it look like a winter slip. I want it done before the weekend.”
Elena’s heart shattered all over again, but the jagged edges hardened into steel. She stared at the screen for a long time.
"Julian’s lawyers are already spinning a narrative in the city," Gabriel said, leaning back in his leather chair. "He is claiming you had a mental breakdown, attacked him, and fled. He’s using his media contacts to paint you as an unstable, grieving woman. He wants to discredit you before you can speak."
"He doesn't know you have this recording," Elena noted.
"The recording was obtained illegally. It won't hold up in court without corroborating physical evidence," Gabriel explained. "Which is why I need to ask you a question. Did your father give you anything before he died? A file? A key?"
Elena frowned, her mind racing. "No... nothing legal. Just personal items. Books. A painting."
"A painting?"
Elena froze. "A week before he died, he brought me a small, obscure 19th-century landscape to restore. He told me it was 'the most important piece in his collection.' I thought he meant sentimentally. I restored it and hung it in my private studio."
May you like
Gabriel and Dante exchanged a look.
"Your father was building a RICO case against Julian’s partners," Gabriel said. "He must have hidden the physical evidence. A flash drive, a ledger. Inside the painting."
