Chapter 5 - The Man Inside Marchetti Security
The man in the hospital was not Javier Ruiz.
Alina knew before anyone told her.
Hope had risen too quickly.
It hurt coming down.
The patient was forty-six, unconscious, admitted under Javier’s name using forged identification.
He had been beaten badly.
No wallet.
No phone.
Raymond Vale visited for eleven minutes.
Then left.
Hospital cameras captured him clearly.
Vincent's people followed.
Vale went directly to Marchetti corporate headquarters.
He was either fearless or believed Vincent still knew nothing.
That arrogance helped.
The unconscious patient woke six hours later.
His real name was Owen Price.
Former accountant.
Northern Prairie Medical Transport.
Vincent sat beside the hospital bed.
Alina remained outside with Mia.
Owen’s first words were:
“You’re too late.”
Vincent leaned back.
“For what?”
“Vale knows.”
“That you survived?”
“That Javier left evidence.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“You knew Javier?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We worked together.”
“At Marchetti Logistics?”
“No.”
Owen swallowed painfully.
“Northern Prairie.”
Vincent waited.
“I gave Javier the first manifests.”
That made him the source.
“Why?”
“Because I was scared.”
“Of Vale?”
“Of all of you.”
Reasonable.
“What did you discover?”
“That Northern Prairie wasn’t only trafficking illegal pharmaceuticals.”
Vincent’s patience thinned.
“What else?”
“Money.”
“Money laundering.”
“Not exactly.”
Owen looked toward the door.
“Insurance.”
Vincent frowned.
Northern Prairie billed transport for nonexistent medical shipments.
Fake invoices.
Insurance reimbursements.
Government contracts.
But deeper than that, Vale created life-insurance policies on selected employees working in high-risk divisions.
Vincent listened carefully.
“What kind of policies?”
“Corporate-owned life insurance.”
“Beneficiary?”
“Shell companies.”
“Controlled by Vale?”
“Yes.”
Javier Ruiz had one.
Amount:
$2.5 million.
Vincent went cold.
“Vale profited from Javier’s death.”
“Yes.”
That created direct motive.
“How many others?”
Owen closed his eyes.
“At least fourteen.”
Some deaths were legitimate.
Cancer.
Accidents.
But five were suspicious.
Workplace incidents.
Vehicle crashes.
One drowning.
Vincent’s family companies had unknowingly become a machine where certain employees were worth more dead than alive.
He felt physically ill.
“How did nobody see this?”
“Vale controlled legal review.”
Of course.
“And security?”
“Elias Grant.”
“After Grant died?”
Owen opened his eyes.
“Frank.”
Vincent paused.
Frank had claimed he was investigating Vale.
Perhaps both could be true.
Men rarely belonged entirely to one side.
Owen continued.
“Frank found out two years ago.”
“Why didn’t he come to me?”
“He tried.”
“When?”
“Through Dominic.”
Vincent stared.
That changed everything.
He stood.
Dominic waited in the corridor.
Vincent motioned him into an empty consultation room.
“Frank contacted you about Northern Prairie.”
Dominic’s expression shifted.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Dominic exhaled.
“Yes.”
Vincent stared.
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the information came through Elias Grant.”
“Grant was dead.”
“Before he died.”
Vincent felt anger rise.
“Explain.”
Grant had approached Dominic after his cancer diagnosis.
He confessed there was a hidden network.
He gave Dominic partial records.
Dominic investigated quietly.
Then evidence disappeared.
One investigator died in a car crash.
Another received threats against his family.
Dominic shut the investigation down.
“You made that decision for me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Vincent laughed without humor.
“Everybody betrays me for my own benefit.”
Dominic didn't flinch.
“You were in the middle of negotiations to separate the legal companies from the family syndicate. If I told you then, you would’ve gone after Vale.”
“Yes.”
“And Vale had your travel routes, legal access, half your security structure, and probably people inside law enforcement.”
“So you did nothing.”
“I protected you.”
“At whose expense?”
Dominic looked away.
Javier.
Owen.
Others.
That was the answer.
Vincent stepped closer.
“Protection that requires innocent people to die isn’t protection.”
“I know that now.”
“Convenient timing.”
Dominic accepted it.
Vincent looked through the glass toward Alina.
She sat with Mia on her lap.
The toddler was drawing.
Three stick figures.
One in black.
One woman.
One tiny.
He wondered which was him.
“Did you know Javier?”
“Not personally.”
“Did you know he was threatened?”
“After he died.”
“And Alina?”
“No.”
“Her hiring?”
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
“Frank says her placement here was engineered.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“I didn't approve that.”
“Who did?”
“Human resources.”
“Who controls executive HR legal clearance?”
Both men said it together.
“Vale.”
Vincent returned to the hospital room.
Alina stood.
“What did you find?”
He told her.
Not everything.
But enough.
Javier had been insured.
Vale’s network collected after his death.
Her face changed.
“My husband was worth more dead.”
Vincent hated the sentence.
“To them.”
She stared through the glass.
“Did your company receive money?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
Again, honesty.
She appreciated it less this time.
“Everything you say is ‘I didn’t know.’”
Vincent said nothing.
“Your company. Your security. Your lawyer. Your buildings. Your name.”
“Yes.”
“You keep saying you didn’t know.”
“I know.”
“Maybe you should have.”
There it was.
The accusation Vincent had begun making against himself.
“Yes.”
Alina looked surprised.
He continued.
“You’re right.”
She had prepared for resistance.
Apology disarmed her.
Vincent looked at Mia.
“What is she drawing?”
Mia held up the paper.
A black car.
A man.
Rain.
And another figure near the trees.
Vincent crouched.
“Who’s that?”
Mia pointed.
“Lady.”
Alina frowned.
“What lady?”
“Rain lady.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You saw a woman too?”
Mia nodded.
“Where?”
“Tree.”
Dominic approached.
“Describe her.”
Mia frowned.
“Red.”
“Red coat?”
She nodded.
“Hair?”
“Yellow.”
Blonde.
Vincent thought through staff.
Several.
Then Mia added:
“She give bird man bag.”
Matteo had received something from a blonde woman near the drive.
“Can you draw her face?”
Mia tried.
Childish circle.
Long hair.
Then she drew something at the neck.
A triangle.
“What's that?”
“Shiny.”
Pendant.
Alina looked at Vincent.
“Does anyone here wear something like that?”
Vincent knew one immediately.
Celeste Vale.
Raymond’s wife.
His own younger cousin.
Family by blood.
Married to Raymond for fifteen years.
Always wore a triangular diamond pendant inherited from Vincent’s grandmother.
Vincent stood.
“Dominic.”
“I know.”
They searched security logs.
Celeste had entered the estate three nights ago at 12:58 a.m.
Official reason:
Deliver paperwork to Vincent’s office.
She left at 2:31.
The device had been installed at approximately 1:50.
Another betrayal.
But something didn't fit.
If Celeste worked with Raymond, why meet Matteo?
Matteo claimed he was fighting Vale.
Maybe he lied.
Or Celeste was playing both sides.
Vincent called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a message arrived from her number.
Not text.
A photograph.
Mia.
Taken ten minutes earlier in the hospital corridor.
Vincent's blood stopped.
He turned.
Alina was standing beside him.
But Mia—
The chair where the child had been drawing was empty.
Alina screamed.
“Mia?”
They searched the hall.
Bathroom.
Nurses’ station.
Elevators.
Gone.
Vincent’s phone buzzed.
Another photo.
Mia sitting in the back seat of a car.
Frightened.
Bunny clutched to her chest.
Message beneath:
BRING JAVIER’S DRIVE.
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR THIS TIME THE CHILD DOESN’T GET TO WARN YOU.
