The Maid Who Was Supposed to Disappear
Chapter 09 - The Maid Who Was Supposed to Disappear
The fake account was opened at Lakeshore Commercial Bank.
Olivia knew because Daniel printed the application.
Her name.
Her Social Security number.
Her old Rogers Park address.
Even a copy of her driver’s license.
Somebody had built a financial version of her convincing enough to survive a casual audit.
She stared at the signature.
It looked like hers.
Almost.
The O was too round.
“My mother used to say my handwriting looked angry.”
Luca stood on the other side of the study.
“This looks neat.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel looked at the account history.
“No deposits yet.”
“Midnight,” Vanessa said.
She sat near the window with a bandage around her palm.
No diamonds now.
No red silk.
She looked less like Luca’s fiancée than a witness waiting to be believed.
Luca turned to Olivia.
“You should leave the city.”
She laughed.
“No.”
“Olivia.”
“No.”
“There is a half-million-dollar frame being built around you.”
“I can read.”
“And Voss was paid to resolve you.”
“I saw that too.”
His jaw tightened.
“Then why are we arguing?”
“Because your solution is still to move me.”
“It is to keep you alive.”
“Those are not the same sentence.”
Silence.
Vanessa looked down.
She had learned enough not to interrupt.
Olivia continued.
“If I disappear now, their story improves.”
Daniel nodded.
“She’s right.”
Luca looked at him.
Daniel did not retreat.
“If Olivia leaves immediately after the transfer hits, Carlo can say she took the money.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“So what do you suggest?”
Olivia answered.
“Let them think the plan is working.”
His eyes moved to her.
“No.”
“You asked.”
“I regret it.”
“That is not consent.”
Vanessa almost smiled.
Luca noticed.
“Something funny?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa looked at Olivia.
“He hates when women use his own words correctly.”
Luca ignored her.
Olivia sat.
“Canceling the wire warns them.”
“Yes,” Daniel said.
“So let it hit.”
Luca frowned.
“It puts stolen money in her name.”
“Freeze the account after.”
Daniel thought.
“Federal financial crimes can monitor it.”
Luca looked at Olivia.
“You are proposing becoming bait.”
“No.”
She held his gaze.
“I am proposing letting the money become bait.”
“Difference?”
“I am not going anywhere alone.”
He breathed.
Good.
“Fine.”
Not an order.
Agreement.
They contacted federal agents through Luca’s outside counsel.
The bank flagged the account quietly.
The wire arrived at 12:03 a.m.
Five hundred thousand dollars.
Origin:
Bellini Consulting LLC.
Memo:
SETTLEMENT — O. HAYES.
At 12:11, someone attempted to transfer eighty thousand to an account in Curaçao.
Federal agents stopped it.
At 12:16, Olivia’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Daniel recorded from the study.
Olivia answered.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice.
Smooth.
“Ms. Hayes, this is Lakeshore Commercial fraud services.”
Daniel wrote:
VOSS?
Olivia nodded.
“What can I do for you?”
“We detected unusual activity in a new account under your name.”
“I didn’t open an account.”
A pause.
Exactly what the caller wanted.
“That is concerning. We need you to verify identity in person.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes. Our private office is open for high-risk clients.”
Olivia almost admired the nerve.
“Where?”
He gave an address.
A closed bank branch in West Loop.
Daniel shook his head.
Olivia continued.
“I can be there in forty minutes.”
Luca stared at her.
She held up one hand.
The caller said:
“Come alone. It protects confidentiality.”
“Of course.”
The line ended.
Luca stood.
“No.”
Olivia sighed.
“We discussed this.”
“Not you physically entering a dark bank branch.”
“Mara’s people can cover.”
“We have not met Mara.”
“Federal counsel called her.”
“That does not make her competent.”
Daniel looked offended on behalf of federal law enforcement.
Olivia leaned toward Luca.
“You cannot promise to let me choose only when I choose what you like.”
The sentence hit.
His hands curled.
Then relaxed.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“What do you need?”
That was better.
“A wire under my blouse.”
“No.”
She stared.
He corrected himself.
“Sorry.”
Vanessa covered a laugh.
Olivia smiled despite the room.
“Wire in my handbag.”
“Why not on you?”
“Because I do not want a federal agent taping electronics to me at one in the morning.”
“Reasonable.”
“And you stay out of sight.”
Luca looked deeply offended.
“Less reasonable.”
“It is my condition.”
He breathed out.
“Fine.”
At 1:02, Olivia entered the abandoned bank branch.
Lights were on inside.
One desk.
One chair.
Graham Voss stood near the vault corridor.
Older than the photograph Daniel had shown.
Heavy shoulders.
Gray at the temples.
A pale burn scar at his jaw.
He smiled.
“Diane’s daughter.”
Olivia’s skin went cold.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Did you burn the warehouse?”
Voss almost laughed.
“Straight to it.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Clean.
No shame.
Olivia felt fear settle into something manageable.
“What happened to Paul Rizzi?”
“He stayed too long.”
“You killed him.”
Voss looked toward the glass doors.
“Your mother knew when to run.”
“She didn’t run.”
“No.”
His smile thinned.
“She made a deal.”
“With Sofia.”
“With everybody.”
Olivia’s jaw tightened.
“What do you want?”
“The flash card Vanessa took.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then Luca does.”
“Maybe.”
Voss studied her.
“You’re braver than Diane.”
Olivia felt anger.
“No.”
“What?”
“You just remember her afraid because that was convenient for you.”
His expression changed.
Good.
She continued.
“My mother kept investigating you after she lost her career.”
Voss’s eyes narrowed.
“You found Daniel’s pictures.”
“Among other things.”
He moved closer.
“Where are the originals?”
“What originals?”
“Warehouse photographs.”
“I don’t know.”
He believed her.
That annoyed him.
“Then you are less useful than Carlo hoped.”
Olivia’s heart jumped.
“Carlo hired you.”
Voss smiled.
“Carlo pays.”
“Who orders?”
Silence.
There.
Different answer.
“Adrian.”
Voss’s smile disappeared.
Olivia heard Daniel’s voice faintly through the bag transmitter:
Keep him talking.
“Adrian ordered the warehouse fire?”
Voss said nothing.
“Adrian blocked my mother’s trust?”
No answer.
“Adrian opened the account in my name?”
His eyes sharpened.
“Enough.”
Olivia knew she had hit it.
“Carlo is not in charge.”
Voss stepped forward.
“Your mother asked too many questions too.”
The branch doors opened.
Federal agents entered.
Voss turned.
No gun.
No chase.
Just resignation.
He looked at Olivia once.
“Adrian will bury Luca before morning.”
Agents cuffed him.
Outside, Luca waited behind an unmarked car.
Olivia walked toward him.
His face held anger.
Fear.
Relief.
He did not touch her.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Adrian gives the orders.”
Luca went still.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Adrian just filed an emergency board resolution.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“For what?”
“To suspend you as chief executive pending allegations of financial misconduct.”
Olivia looked at the fake account.
The dirty transfers.
The blue envelope.
Adrian had spent years stealing from Luca.
May you like
Now he intended to make Luca wear every missing dollar.
And while they had been watching the maid, the lawyer had moved to take the empire.
