Chapter 62: Watch Your Back

The first morning of Joe Suarez’s retirement began at six twelve.

He woke automatically.

For several seconds, he stared at the ceiling.

Then reached toward the bedside table for the phone he normally checked before getting ready for work.

His wife opened one eye.

"Don’t."

Joe stopped.

"What?"

"You’re retired."

"I’m checking the time."

"The clock is on the wall."

He looked.

Six twelve.

Joe settled back.

"This feels wrong."

"Give it a week."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Sleep."

"I’m awake."

"Then be awake quietly."

Joe lasted four minutes.

By six twenty, he was making coffee.

Retirement, apparently, required training too.

His phone buzzed.

A message from Giovanni.

Congratulations on your retirement. Giovanni.

Joe typed back carefully.

Thank you, Sir.

What do you mean something’s bothering Elias?

Joe stared at it.

Right.

Apparently, retirement also involved explaining things he’d sent at eleven thirty at night.

He called.

Giovanni answered almost immediately.

"Joe."

"Good morning, sir."

"What did you mean?"

"Probably nothing."

"That’s not useful."

Joe smiled.

"You sound like Alex."

"I’m hanging up."

"No, wait."

Giovanni remained silent.

"I don’t know anything," Joe said. "That’s important."

"Then why message me?"

"Because you’re around Alex."

"So are several thousand Vance employees."

"Not like you."

Silence.

Joe decided that particular statement required no elaboration.

"The new man’s good," he continued. "Very good. That’s why we chose him."

"And?"

"Last night he looked worried."

"About what?"

"I don’t know."

"Did he make a mistake?"

"No."

"Say something?"

"No."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

Joe took a sip of coffee.

"Keep your eyes open."

"For Elias?"

"For Alex."

That changed the conversation.

"Did Alexander tell you something?"

"Enough to know something is going on."

"What?"

"If he wants you to know, he’ll tell you."

Giovanni was quiet.

Then:

"He told me not to send anything sensitive through Elias."

Joe smiled.

"There you go."

"That’s not reassuring."

"It wasn’t supposed to be."

Elias reported for work twenty minutes early.

Alexander noticed.

"You’re early."

"So was Mr. Suarez."

"You’re not required to imitate him."

"I’m not."

Alexander looked at him.

Elias opened the rear door.

"Mr. Vance."

Alexander got inside.

They said nothing more until they reached Vance Holdings.

Before Alexander got out, however, he paused.

"Security contacted you?"

"Yes."

"Anything else from the number?"

"Nothing."

"Maribel?"

"No contact."

"If that changes—"

"I report it."

Alexander nodded.

"Good."

Elias watched him enter the building.

Then looked toward his phone.

For the first time since receiving the photograph, no anonymous messages were waiting.

He wasn’t sure whether that made him feel better.

Inside Vance Holdings, Alexander was dealing with an entirely different emergency.

His parents had sent him three possible names for their bakery.

All terrible.

He forwarded them to Giovanni.

Choose the least offensive.

The response came quickly.

They’re all offensive.

Helpful.

You’re welcome.

Alexander smiled.

Then another message arrived.

Dinner?

He checked his calendar.

Busy for lunch.

Dinner, then.

Alexander hesitated.

No bridge, no site inspection, and no contract requiring them to be in the same place.

Just dinner.

Where?

Matteo’s. You still haven’t tried the bread.

Alexander stared at the message.

Then:

Seven.

That should’ve been all.

Yet he found himself glancing through the glass wall of his office.

Toward reception, elevators, and security personnel he’d rarely noticed before.

He disliked that.

Still, there was no evidence Elias had done anything wrong.

Quite the opposite.

When someone ordered him to hide something from Alexander, Elias reported it immediately.

So Alexander worked.

Outside, Elias waited.

Across the city, Giovanni filed away Joe’s warning.

And somewhere else, whoever had sent those photographs was apparently waiting too.

That evening, Victoria Sebastian sat across from Dominic in the private sitting room of their home.

Andrei had been permanent CEO for less than a month.

Victoria still hadn’t adjusted to hearing people refer to him that way.

"The Board will eventually reconsider," Dominic said.

Victoria looked at him.

"Boards don’t reconsider because you’re unhappy."

"I didn’t say they would."

"Then what are you planning?"

Dominic didn’t answer.

That concerned her considerably more than if he had.

"Dominic."

"I’m on sabbatical."

"You say that as though you’ve suddenly discovered discipline."

He gave her a cold look.

Victoria ignored it.

"If you’re doing something, I need to know."

"I’m not."

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"No more than I believe you when you say you’re doing nothing."

They stared at one another.

Something had changed since Dominic learned how thoroughly Victoria had manipulated Augustus.

They remained aligned where their interests overlapped.

But automatic trust was gone.

Perhaps it had never existed.

Victoria set down her tea.

"Alexander isn’t coming back."

Dominic’s jaw tightened.

"I know."

"Do you?"

"I said I know."

"Then stop reacting every time you see him with Giovanni."

Dominic laughed bitterly.

"Easy for you to say."

"It should be easy for you to do."

"Why?"

"Because every public mistake you make strengthens Andrei."

That landed.

Dominic looked away.

Victoria continued more quietly.

"If you want your position back someday, stop chasing Alexander and rebuild your credibility."

"And if I don’t want to wait?"

"Then you’ll lose permanently."

Dominic stared at the dark television screen.

His phone lit up.

Victoria’s gaze shifted toward it.

Unknown number.

Dominic frowned and opened the message.

A photograph.

Elias Navarro sat behind the wheel of Alexander Vance’s car.

Beneath it were four words.

He got the job.

Dominic stared.

"Who is that?"

Victoria didn’t answer.

Dominic looked at her.

His mother’s face had changed.

Not dramatically.

But enough.

"Mom?"

Victoria took the phone from him.

She enlarged the photograph.

The gray hair was new.

The face older.

But not unfamiliar.

"Where did you get this?"

"It just came."

"From whom?"

"I don’t know."

Victoria stared at Elias.

Dominic’s irritation disappeared.

"You know him."

A long silence.

Then Victoria whispered:

"Yes."

Dominic leaned forward.

"Who is he?"

Victoria looked at her son.

And for the first time since the anonymous messages began reaching people around them, someone actually recognized the man at the center of them.

"Elias Navarro."

Victoria’s fingers tightened around the phone.

"He’s an acquaintance."

Her gaze returned to the photograph.

"But Maribel knew him well."