Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Tower
At 8:02 a.m., I walked through Sterling Harbor’s front lobby wearing my purple cleaning uniform.
Raphael walked beside me in a fresh black suit.
His arm was secured in a sling.
Every conversation stopped.
Dwight was standing beside reception.
His face drained of color.
“You.”
I smiled.
“Good morning.”
Raphael said, “Conference room.”
Inside waited two detectives, a federal investigator, Tomas Caruso, and Sterling Harbor’s owner.
Dwight looked around.
“What is this?”
Raphael placed Aaron’s drive on the table.
“The end of your employment.”
A detective corrected him.
“Potentially the beginning of your incarceration.”
Dwight sat.
The drive contained everything.
Financial records.
Security footage.
Shipping manifests.
Payments to officials.
And video from the night Aaron died.
Victor Caruso had not personally driven the vehicle.
Calvin Reed had.
Dwight had disabled Sterling Harbor’s cameras afterward.
My husband had been murdered because he refused to surrender the drive.
Then the conference room door opened.
Victor Caruso walked in.
Sixty-two.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
He looked more like a senator than a criminal.
“Raphael.”
Raphael’s expression hardened.
“Uncle.”
Victor looked at me.
“So this is Mercer’s widow.”
My skin crawled.
Raphael stepped between us.
“Don’t look at her.”
Victor smiled.
“You think that drive changes anything?”
A federal investigator answered.
“It changes quite a lot.”
Victor glanced around the room.
Then he laughed.
“You believe the Caruso organization survives because of evidence?”
Raphael’s voice was cold.
“No.”
Victor looked at him.
“It survives because people fear us.”
Raphael stepped closer.
“That’s why you lost.”
Victor’s smile faded.
Raphael continued.
“Aaron Mercer wasn’t afraid enough.”
Victor looked at me.
“Your husband had opportunities to walk away.”
I stood.
“So did you.”
The detectives moved toward Victor.
He didn’t resist.
But before leaving, he stopped beside Raphael.
“You destroy me, you destroy this family.”
Raphael answered:
“Then maybe it needed destroying.”
Victor was taken away.
Dwight followed.
Then Calvin.
By noon, reporters surrounded Sterling Harbor.
I sat alone in the basement break room.
Raphael found me there.
“You disappeared.”
“I’m eating crackers.”
“Apparently organized crime makes you hungry.”
“Pregnancy makes me hungry.”
He sat across from me.
“Aaron’s evidence may dismantle half of Victor’s network.”
“Good.”
“There’s something else.”
I stopped chewing.
“What now?”
Raphael placed a folder on the table.
Inside was a document.
A property deed.
I stared at it.
“What is this?”
“Sterling Harbor Tower.”
“What about it?”
“My family owns forty-one percent.”
I slowly looked up.
Raphael continued.
“I’m transferring that interest.”
“To whom?”
“A trust.”
“What trust?”
“The Aaron Mercer Foundation.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Delia—”
“No.”
“It will fund legal assistance for victims of Victor’s operation.”
That stopped me.
“And scholarships for families of workers killed exposing corporate crimes.”
I looked at Aaron’s name.
“You planned this overnight?”
“I don’t sleep much.”
“That’s obvious.”
He leaned back.
“There is one more condition.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“What?”
“You run it.”
I laughed.
He didn’t.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“I mop floors.”
“You walked toward a bleeding stranger while everyone else walked away.”
“That doesn’t qualify me to run a foundation.”
“No.”
He looked directly at me.
May you like
“But refusing to abandon people might.”
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