Chapter 14: Victor Hale

Victor Hale did not look like a monster. That bothered Scarlett most.

The photograph Alexander showed her displayed a silver-haired man in an expensive suit, smiling at a charity dinner beside senators and judges. His eyes were pale, his expression refined, his hands clean.

'He used to work with my father,' Alexander said.

Scarlett studied the photo. 'Moretti business?'

'Before I inherited it. Hale handled negotiations, money movement, pressure campaigns. Then he betrayed my family and disappeared into legitimate circles.'

'And now he is connected to mine.'

'Yes.'

Scarlett leaned back, cold with thought. 'If he helped arrange my accident, why?'

Alexander placed another photograph on the desk. This one showed Victor Hale with Evelyn Whitmore outside a private club three weeks before Scarlett's crash.

Scarlett's stomach turned. 'Evelyn knew him.'

'More than knew him.'

The door opened, and Luca Moretti entered. Alexander's younger cousin had a charming smile and dangerous eyes. He placed a tablet on the desk.

'We found the mechanic's widow,' Luca said. 'She is alive, hiding in Queens. Her husband left her a recording before he died.'

Scarlett's pulse quickened. 'What recording?'

Luca looked at Alexander before answering. 'A confession. He was paid to damage your car. He named the middleman, but not the person who gave the final order.'

Scarlett felt the room close around her. The accident had always lived in her memory as rain, headlights, and screaming metal. Now it had names. Hands. Money.

'I want to hear it,' she said.

Alexander's jaw tightened. 'It will hurt.'

'Everything hurts. At least this pain has a purpose.'

They played the recording.

A frightened man's voice filled the room, shaking as he admitted to cutting the brake line under threat. He said Victor Hale's man had paid him. He said a woman wanted Scarlett removed before her twenty-eighth birthday.

A woman.

Scarlett closed her eyes.

Evelyn. Victoria. Or both.

When the recording ended, Alexander turned it off gently.

Scarlett opened her eyes. 'Find Victor Hale.'

Alexander's expression went cold.

'Already done.'