Chapter 2 - Inside the Walk-In Freezer, the Unraveled Fraud, and the Truth Behind the Stolen LifeThe kitchen doors swung open. The loud world behind the dining room disappeared. Chefs froze, pans stopped moving, a sauce simmered untouched on a burner. Lorenzo crossed the tiled floor. Rocco and Vincent brought Preston toward the walk-in freezer. The freezer door opened, and cold white air rolled across the floor.
Preston began shaking. “Please.”
Lorenzo stopped. “You thought she was alone.”
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“You don't need to do this.”
Lorenzo's gaze remained fixed on him. “No.” He turned to Meline. “You don't have to watch.”
She looked at Preston, then at Lorenzo. “I want to know.”
He studied her face, then nodded. “Stay near the door.”
Rocco closed the freezer. Lorenzo remained inside for several minutes. The restaurant heard nothing—no shouting, no dramatic crash, only the hum of refrigeration. Meline stood beside Vincent. Her hands were shaking.
Vincent looked at her. “You can leave.”
She looked at him. “Who are you?”
“Vincent.”
“One of Lorenzo's men?”
He smiled faintly. “One of the people who keeps him alive.”
Meline looked toward the freezer. “And who keeps him human?”
Vincent glanced at her. “You.”
That answer stayed with her. Thirty minutes later, the door opened. Lorenzo stepped out, his expression calm. Preston remained inside, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.
Lorenzo walked directly to Meline, ignoring everyone else. “Are you hungry?”
She stared at him. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“You just…”
“I know.” He took his seat beside her.
The restaurant had slowly resumed its muted rhythm. No one spoke openly about what had happened, but the silence was different now. Meline looked down at the wineglass she had never finished, then at her arm, then at Lorenzo. “What did you do?”
He answered without pretending. “I showed him what he had already destroyed.”
“What does that mean?”
“He is bankrupt.”
Her eyes widened. “And?”
“He will be facing federal charges.”
“Why?”
Lorenzo took a breath. “He forged your signature.”
Meline's expression changed. “What?”
“He created a Delaware shell company using your identity.”
Her stomach turned. “He used you as the guarantor.”
“I didn't sign it.”
“I know.”
“He said…” She stopped.
Lorenzo waited.
“He said I was imagining everything.”
Lorenzo's hand closed gently around hers. “He wanted you to doubt yourself.”
Meline's eyes filled with tears. “Why?”
“Because if you questioned the money, you might discover what he had done.”
She shook her head. “And what had he done?”
“He had been diverting client funds.”
Her lips parted. “To where?”
“Several accounts.”
“His?”
“Some.”
She waited. “Others belonged to people who were using him.”
Meline shook her head. “So he wasn't just trying to survive.”
“No.” Lorenzo leaned closer. “He was preparing to make you the criminal.”
That hurt more than she expected, because there was something worse than being betrayed: being betrayed while believing the person had merely been selfish. Preston had been deliberate. He had built a trap, and he had expected her to take the fall.
Meline stared at the table. For six months, she had wondered whether she had been foolish. Now she finally knew the truth: she had not been foolish; she had been used.
Lorenzo's thumb moved across her hand. “Look at me.”
She did.
“You are not what he made you believe you were.”
Her voice shook. “I know.”
“Do you?”
She nodded. “I'm starting to.”
Lorenzo smiled. “Good.”
She leaned against him. For the first time in six months, the past felt as though it had finally stopped chasing her.
Then Lorenzo's phone vibrated. He looked at the message, and his expression changed. Meline noticed. “What?”
He turned the screen toward her. One sentence: OBSIDIAN WASN'T PRESTON'S ONLY ACCOUNT.
Meline frowned. “What does that mean?”
Lorenzo looked toward the dark kitchen. “It means your ex may have been working for someone.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“But you will.”
“Yes.” He stood.
Meline caught his hand. “Don't leave me alone.”
May you like
He looked down. “I won't.”
And when they left Luku twenty minutes later, Meline still did not understand that the man who had just ruined Preston Cole's life had also just opened a much larger door—one that led straight into the heart of a financial war she had never known existed.
