Chapter 66: Keep Driving

Alexander didn’t dismiss Elias.

There was no reason to.

Quite the opposite.

The man had reported every suspicious contact exactly as instructed, and whoever was sending those messages apparently believed his silence meant cooperation.

Alexander saw no reason to correct that misunderstanding.

"You keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing."

Elias looked at him.

"Driving."

"Driving."

"And if they message again?"

"You forward it to Security."

"Immediately."

Giovanni added the word from beside him.

Elias gave him a rueful look.

"I’ve been doing that."

"Continue."

Under different circumstances, Alexander might’ve smiled.

Instead, he said:

"And don’t change your routine unless you’re told to."

Elias nodded.

"What about Maribel?"

"Security is locating her discreetly."

"I don’t want people showing up at her house."

"Neither do I."

Giovanni leaned forward.

"What about his children?"

Elias stiffened.

Alexander had already considered it.

"We verify they’re safe."

"My children have nothing to do with this."

"Exactly."

"I’m not asking you to drag them into it."

"I’m making sure somebody else doesn’t."

That silenced him.

No obvious guards.

No dramatic changes.

Just enough attention to make certain that if the unknown sender decided photographs were no longer sufficient, somebody would notice.

Alexander folded his arms.

"One more thing."

Elias waited.

"Watch your own back."

His expression changed.

Alexander gestured toward the accumulated messages.

"You’ve been treating this as though the biggest thing at stake is your job."

A pause.

"It isn’t."

That was enough.

Elias understood.

They left Matteo’s later than expected.

Elias drove.

Alexander sat in the rear beside Giovanni because he’d offered to drop him at Mercer Group before heading home.

For the first several minutes, neither discussed the case.

That was deliberate.

They still didn’t know how the sender knew where Alexander’s vehicle traveled, whether Elias’s phone had been compromised, or how closely they were being watched.

Eventually, Alexander said:

"Tomorrow. My office."

Giovanni understood.

"Nine?"

"Nine."

When they reached Mercer Group, Giovanni opened the door, then paused.

"Alex."

"What?"

"Don’t decide anything tonight."

Alexander frowned.

"About?"

"My father."

That immediately irritated him.

"I wasn’t planning to."

Giovanni studied him.

"You were."

"I was thinking about security."

"You were thinking about how much of this I should be involved in."

Alexander said nothing.

Apparently, that was enough.

"Don’t."

"Don’t what?"

"Protect me out of my own father’s case."

The words were quiet.

Alexander’s expression cooled.

"We don’t even know whether there is a case."

"Then let me be there when we find out."

"This could involve people willing to hurt someone and conceal it for years."

"If Matteo was murdered, the person who died was my father."

"Exactly."

"No."

Giovanni’s tone remained level.

"That isn’t an argument for excluding me."

"I’m not excluding you."

"Not yet."

Alexander looked at him.

Giovanni didn’t sound angry.

That would’ve been easier.

Instead, he sounded as though he’d simply recognized Alexander’s instinct before Alexander had even decided to act on it.

"Tomorrow," Alexander repeated.

"Nine."

Giovanni nodded.

Then shut the door.

Elias waited until they’d pulled away.

"Mr. Mercer seemed upset."

Alexander looked toward the front.

"I don’t remember asking."

"No, sir."

A brief silence.

Then Elias added:

"Mr. Suarez would’ve said it."

Alexander stared at the back of his head.

"You’ve known Joe for approximately five minutes."

"He talks a lot."

Unfortunately, that was true.

The following morning, Alexander and Giovanni were together at Vance Holdings when Andrei joined them on a secure conference call.

"Victoria contacted me first," Andrei said.

"Why?" Alexander asked.

"She thought I was having Dominic watched."

Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

"They both received a photograph of Navarro driving your car. The message simply said, He got the job."

"And she thought you sent it?"

"Apparently, becoming permanent CEO has made me the family villain."

"Congratulations," Giovanni said.

Andrei gave him a dry look through the screen.

"Thank you."

"What did Dominic think?"

"Same general theory."

Alexander leaned back.

"And initially, you suspected them."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I received my photograph first. When Victoria called, I wondered whether she was creating distance."

Giovanni looked unimpressed.

"Very trusting family."

"You should attend Christmas."

"I’d rather not."

Even Alexander almost smiled.

Andrei’s expression sobered.

"But that’s the point. Whoever did this understood exactly what each of us would assume."

Victoria suspected Andrei.

Andrei suspected Victoria.

Alexander would’ve been expected to suspect everyone with the Sebastian surname.

And Elias’s connection to Maribel made the entire thing look almost embarrassingly convenient.

"It’s misdirection," Alexander said.

Andrei nodded.

"I think so."

"I checked the acquisition history Elias mentioned. A Sebastian logistics subsidiary did eventually acquire assets that originated with Calderon."

Giovanni’s attention sharpened.

"But?"

"But that happened years after Matteo Mercer’s death. There’s nothing in the acquisition record connecting Sebastian Group to Calderon when the accident occurred."

Alexander nodded.

True enough to survive scrutiny.

Misleading enough to point them in the wrong direction.

"What now?" Andrei asked.

Giovanni answered first.

"We reopen my father’s case."

Alexander looked at him.

"We get the records first."

"That’s part of reopening it."

"We determine what we actually have before announcing murder."

Giovanni’s jaw tightened.

"We have an inspector who disappeared."

"We have Elias remembering that an inspector disappeared."

"We have somebody trying to keep Elias quiet."

"Now. We don’t know whether that relates directly to them."

Giovanni stared at him.

Usually, he respected Alexander’s insistence on reducing uncertainty before acting.

This time, every measured sentence sounded like delay.

"My father has already been dead for years."

Alexander’s expression changed.

"So rushing now changes what?"

The instant the words left him, he knew they were wrong.

Giovanni went completely still.

Andrei, wisely, said nothing.

Alexander exhaled.

"That’s not what I meant."

"I know what you meant."

"Gio."

"No."

His voice remained controlled.

"You get to calculate the risk because this affects your security, your employee, and your company."

"And you."

"Exactly."

Giovanni leaned forward.

"But he was my father. You don’t get to decide how much uncertainty I have to tolerate before I’m allowed to look for the truth."

"I didn’t say you weren’t allowed."

"You were about to."

Silence.

Perhaps Giovanni knew him too well.

Finally:

"We do it properly," Alexander said.

"Together."

A pause.

"Together."

Andrei cleared his throat.

"Wonderful. Now that we’ve completed whatever that was, would either of you like the information Legal found on the safety inspector?"

Both men turned toward the screen.

Andrei opened a file.

"His name was Ramon Villareal."

Giovanni stopped moving.

"The man who signed the clearance?"

"According to the archived records."

"Where is he?"

Andrei’s expression became unreadable.

"Dead."

Silence.

Alexander frowned.

"When?"

Andrei gave them the date.

"A year after Matteo."

"Cause?"

"Sudden cardiac event while traveling."

Alexander’s suspicion sharpened.

"Confirmed?"

Andrei lifted a scanned civil record.

"There’s a registered death certificate."