Chapter 7 - THE BILLIONAIRE'S WILL
Elena’s words hung in the sterile air of the hospital hallway, cutting through the crushing defeat they all felt.
“An insurance policy?” Sophia repeated, stepping closer to Elena, her dark eyes flashing with a desperate, dangerous glimmer. “My father was a paranoid man. He recorded everything. Calls, meetings, payoffs. But if he knew Adrian was making a move tonight, he wouldn't have kept the proof here in the hospital. Adrian’s men have already swept this room.”
“He didn't know it was Adrian,” Elena corrected, her mind racing back to the moment in the room. “When I gave him the note about the heparin, he suspected Marco and Patricia. But when the fake doctor arrived and asked about the 6:00 A.M. surgery time—the lie Victor told to flush out the traitor—Adrian was the only one who reacted. Victor looked at Adrian and said, ‘You don't get to explain yet.’”
Vance frowned, crossing her arms. “So Victor figured out his son was the ultimate traitor moments before the attack. He didn't have time to create an insurance policy, Elena. The room descended into chaos seconds later.”
“No,” Elena insisted, her medical training and her desperate survival instincts merging. “You’re thinking like cops. Think like a patient.”
She walked past the yellow crime scene tape, ignoring the protests of the uniform officers, and stood beside Victor’s bed. The white sheet was draped over his lifeless body.
Answer One, Open Two.
“When I shocked him with the defibrillator,” Elena explained rapidly, her hands hovering over the bed, “he flatlined. Then he came back. He was awake for exactly three minutes before the SWAT team breached the room. Three minutes while Adrian was calling Sophia.”
Sophia’s breath caught. “I remember. Adrian was on the phone with me, pacing in the hallway. Victor was alone in the bed.”
“And what does a billionaire with failing health and a traitorous heir do when he knows he has three minutes left to secure his legacy?” Elena looked at Sophia.
Sophia’s eyes widened. She lunged for the bedside table.
She ripped open the drawer where Victor had kept the silver lighter. It was empty. She threw the water pitcher, scattered the remaining medication cups, and tore the blankets off the bed.
Nothing.
“It’s not here,” Sophia cursed, slamming her hands against the mattress. “If he wrote something down, Adrian found it.”
Elena looked at Victor’s body. She looked at the IV lines, the EKG pads still stuck to his chest, and the small, blue plastic hospital bracelet strapped around his wrist.
Then she remembered the water glass.
When Elena had first entered the room to leave the warning note, she had deliberately spilled water to distract the bodyguards. She had wiped beneath Victor’s phone.
But Victor’s phone wasn't on the table anymore.
“Where is his cell phone?” Elena asked.
Vance immediately pulled out her evidence log. “The crime scene techs bagged all electronics. Adrian Marcone requested his father’s personal effects, but we retained the phone for the homicide investigation. It’s in the evidence lockup downstairs.”
“Get it,” Sophia demanded, her voice a low growl. “Now.”
Ten minutes later, they stood in a secure room in the hospital’s basement. Vance handed over a sealed plastic evidence bag containing Victor’s sleek, black smartphone.
“It’s locked,” Vance said. “It requires biometric access. Face ID or a thumbprint. The techs couldn't open it, and we can't compel a dead man’s fingerprint without a judge’s order.”
Sophia didn't care about a judge’s order.
“Bring me to his body,” Sophia ordered.
Vance hesitated, the federal agent in her warring with the woman who wanted to nail Adrian Marcone. She looked at Elena, then nodded. “Follow me.”
They returned to Room 1208. Vance dismissed the uniform officers, citing federal jurisdiction.
Sophia walked up to her father’s body. Her hands trembled slightly as she pulled the sheet back, exposing Victor’s pale, peaceful face. She took a ragged breath, reached into the evidence bag, and pulled out the phone.
She pressed Victor’s cold, lifeless thumb against the home button.
The screen glowed green. Unlocked.
Sophia quickly opened the voice memo app.
There was a new recording. Saved at 3:12 A.M.
Exactly the time Adrian had been in the hallway calling Sophia.
Sophia hit play.
The audio was crackling, filled with the sounds of the shrieking medical monitors and Victor’s wet, ragged breathing. But his voice, though weak, was absolutely unmistakable.
“Sophia,” Victor’s voice rasped through the phone’s tiny speaker. “If you are hearing this, Adrian has won. Marco betrayed me, but Adrian... Adrian let him do it. I saw it in his eyes when the surgeon arrived. My own son.”
A wet, hacking cough echoed on the recording.
“I am rewriting my will. Audio addendum, authorized under my corporate bylaws. I leave nothing to Adrian. I leave the business, the accounts, and the estate to you, Sophia. Clean it up. Burn it down. I don't care. But do not let him have it.”
Another pause, filled with struggling breath.
“And the cleaner. Elena. She saved my life when my own blood tried to take it. The offshore account in Zurich. Account number 774-892. The passcode is 'Lion'. Give it to her. She earned her freedom.”
The recording clicked off.
The room was completely silent.
Elena stared at the phone, tears streaming down her face. Victor had left her an offshore account. He had secured her future in his dying moments.
Sophia clutched the phone so tightly her knuckles were white. A fierce, terrifying smile spread across her face.
“He didn't just disinherit him,” Sophia whispered, looking at Vance. “My father’s corporate bylaws are ironclad. This audio recording legally transfers the entire Marcone empire to me. Adrian isn't the boss. He’s a trespasser in my house.”
“And it gives us motive,” Vance said, her eyes lighting up. “Adrian knew about the bylaws. If we can prove he knew Victor was recording this, we can tie him to the murder. We can tear his new empire apart.”
“We don't need to tear it apart,” Sophia said softly, turning her cold gaze toward the door. “I own it now. And I’m going to use it to crush him.”
Suddenly, the lights in the hospital room flickered and died.
The hallway plunged into darkness. The emergency backup generators didn't kick in. The entire cardiac floor was pitch black.
Elena’s heart leaped into her throat.
“Vance!” Sophia shouted in the dark.
Before Vance could draw her weapon, the sound of shattered glass echoed from the stairwell doors.
Adrian hadn't left the hospital.
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He had realized his father’s phone was missing from the personal effects. He knew exactly what Victor was capable of. And he had come back to silence the last three women who could destroy him.
The red laser sight of a sniper rifle cut through the darkness, settling directly on Elena’s chest.
