Chapter 5 - The Dinner That Destroyed a King
The next evening, Victor invited Salvatore Maren back to the Costa estate.
Norah thought it was insane.
“You're inviting him to dinner?”
“Yes.”
“He knows we found the evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And he'll just come?”
Victor buttoned his black suit jacket.
“Men like Salvatore always come when they think they're smarter than everyone else.”
Norah stood near the doorway.
She was not wearing her maid uniform.
Victor had arranged for every member of the household staff to receive the night off.
Except Norah.
She wore a simple dark-blue dress borrowed from one of the younger housekeepers.
Victor looked at her.
“You don't have to be here.”
“Yes, I do.”
“He'll provoke you.”
“Then he'll be disappointed.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“That's my girl.”
Norah's eyebrow rose.
Victor immediately corrected himself.
“That's the Norah I remember.”
“Better.”
Tommy entered.
“They're here.”
Three rival bosses walked into the dining room.
Salvatore arrived last.
His smile disappeared when he saw Norah sitting to Victor's right.
“A maid at the table?”
Victor poured himself water.
“She's my guest.”
Salvatore sat.
“How progressive.”
Norah smiled.
“Thank you.”
Victor almost laughed.
Dinner lasted eleven uncomfortable minutes.
Then Victor placed copies of the old records on the table.
Salvatore's expression barely changed.
“Interesting.”
“Isn't it?” Victor asked.
“Ancient paperwork.”
“Connected to twelve shell companies.”
“Coincidence.”
“And seventeen altered placement records.”
Salvatore shrugged.
“Administrative mistakes.”
Norah spoke.
“And millions stolen from St. Jude’s.”
Salvatore looked at her.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
Victor's chair moved slightly.
Norah touched his wrist beneath the table.
He stopped.
She answered Salvatore herself.
“I was invisible for twenty years.”
Salvatore smiled.
“And?”
“I heard everything.”
His smile faded.
Norah continued.
“People talk in front of cleaners. They talk in front of waitresses. They talk in front of women they think don't matter.”
Victor watched her.
Norah placed another folder on the table.
“You should've remembered that.”
Salvatore opened it.
His face finally changed.
Mrs. Gable's records.
Payments.
Instructions.
Recorded calls.
Dates.
Everything.
Salvatore looked at Victor.
“You think this destroys me?”
“No,” Victor replied.
Norah leaned forward.
“This does.”
She placed a phone on the table.
A lawyer appeared on the screen.
Behind him were representatives from the charitable trust and investigators who had spent the previous twenty-four hours verifying the documents.
Salvatore slowly stood.
Victor remained seated.
“You set me up.”
“No,” Norah said. “You set yourself up twenty years ago.”
Salvatore looked at Victor.
“You're going to let a maid embarrass me?”
Victor's eyes turned cold.
“Her name is Norah Hayes.”
Salvatore laughed bitterly.
“This is what you've become? You built the Costa empire, and now you're risking it for some childhood crush?”
Victor stood.
The room fell silent.
His tattoos showed slightly above his collar and at his wrist as he adjusted his cuff.
“I built everything because I was a scared kid who never wanted anyone controlling him again.”
Salvatore smiled.
“Exactly.”
Victor shook his head.
“No. The difference is I finally remembered the kid.”
Salvatore's expression darkened.
Victor stepped around the table.
Twenty years earlier, Vic would have attacked.
Ten years earlier, Victor Costa would have ordered someone else to do it.
Tonight, he simply opened the dining-room doors.
Two investigators waited outside with attorneys.
Victor gestured toward them.
“Your evening continues with them.”
Salvatore stared.
“You think you're clean enough to stand in daylight?”
Victor didn't answer.
That question mattered.
Norah saw it.
Salvatore was escorted away.
The other bosses quietly left.
When the doors closed, Tommy exhaled.
“Well.”
Victor looked at him.
“Well what?”
“We had a summit and nobody broke anything.”
Norah raised her hand.
“I'd like to remind everyone about the vase.”
Tommy laughed.
Even Victor did.
But Norah wasn't finished.
She turned toward him.
“Salvatore asked you an important question.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Which one?”
“Whether you can stand in daylight.”
Victor looked away.
Norah stepped closer.
“I found Vic.”
He looked back at her.
“But I also found Victor Costa.”
“I know.”
“I don't know that man.”
“You shouldn't.”
“And I'm not going to pretend everything you've done disappears because you made me a ring when you were twelve.”
“I wouldn't ask you to.”
“Good.”
Victor nodded.
“What are you asking me, Norah?”
She looked at the copper ring.
“I'm not asking.”
She placed it in his palm.
Victor froze.
“I'm giving this back.”
His face fell.
“Why?”
“Because that promise belonged to two children.”
Norah closed his fingers around it.
“If you want a place in my life now, you don't get it because of something you promised twenty years ago.”
Victor's voice was quiet.
“How do I get it?”
May you like
“You earn it.”
---
