Chapter 8 - THE APOLOGY
Sebastian was alive.
By the time Luca's security team reached his office, the windows had been smashed and the room had been searched.
Nothing had been taken except his laptop.
Sebastian had a concussion.
He remembered two masked men entering through the private stairwell.
He remembered one question.
WHERE IS HALE'S COPY?
Della did not sleep that night.
The hospital discharged her at seven the next morning.
Reporters were waiting outside.
Luca offered the private exit.
Della refused.
"If I hide now, Cordelia wins."
"Della."
"I'm walking out the front."
Luca studied her.
Then nodded.
The hospital doors opened.
Cameras exploded with light.
Questions came from every direction.
"Did Luca Moretti pay you?"
"Are you suing the Vance family?"
"Is your pregnancy at risk?"
"Did you deliberately confront Cordelia?"
Della stopped.
Luca stood several steps behind her.
She faced the cameras alone.
"I was doing my job."
The crowd quieted.
"Cordelia Vance shoved me into a mirror while I was five months pregnant."
"That is what happened."
"I will not apologize for surviving it."
Then she walked toward the waiting car.
By that afternoon, the clip had millions of views.
For the first time, public opinion began shifting.
That evening, someone knocked at Della's apartment.
She checked through the peephole.
Evan Vance.
Luca's security guard moved from the hallway.
Della stopped him.
"I want to hear what he says."
Evan entered carrying no briefcase.
No lawyer.
He looked exhausted.
"I'm sorry."
Della stared.
"For Cordelia?"
"For all of it."
"That's vague."
"She shouldn't have touched you."
"No."
"She panicked."
"She grabbed my hair."
Evan looked down.
"I know."
Della's voice became colder.
"Why did you meet Patrick Sloan before the reception?"
His eyes flickered.
Only once.
But Della saw it.
"I meet hotel employees constantly."
"You're lying."
Evan sighed.
"Della, take a settlement."
"No."
"Five million dollars."
"No."
"Ten."
She almost laughed.
"You think raising the number changes what happened?"
"No."
He stepped closer.
"It changes what happens next."
The security guard moved.
Della lifted one hand.
"Is that a threat?"
Evan looked genuinely miserable.
"It's a warning."
"From whom?"
"My father."
Conrad Vance.
Della's stomach tightened.
Evan lowered his voice.
"Forget Cordelia."
"Forget the hotel."
"Forget Owen."
Della froze.
Evan realized his mistake.
She stepped toward him.
"You know Owen."
"I didn't say that."
"You said his name."
"Della."
"Where is he?"
Evan backed toward the door.
"I came here because I don't want anyone else getting hurt."
"Who hurt Owen?"
Evan opened the door.
Then he turned.
"Ask Luca what his father did in 1998."
He left.
Della stared after him.
A minute later, Luca's guard stepped outside to check the hallway.
When he returned, he was holding something small.
A black magnetic box.
May you like
It had been attached beneath Della's car.
A tracking device.
