Chapter 10 - The Forgotten Chute
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Elena called Rosa Martinez, the veteran banquet coordinator who had worked at the Grand Regency for twenty-five years.
Rosa had known Elena since she was a struggling young widow and treated her like a second daughter.
Rosa answered on the first ring, her voice hushed and hurried as she spoke from the hotel’s industrial linen room.
She told Elena that hotel management was threatening to fire anyone caught talking to the press or discussing the gala incident.
Julian Croft’s private investigators had spent the early morning questioning the waitstaff and bribing workers to sign non-disclosure agreements.
Elena asked Rosa about the old maintenance chute in sub-basement three, describing the blue duffel bag Lily had seen.
Rosa hesitated for three agonizing seconds before whispering that Elena needed to speak to Hector, the night maintenance supervisor.
Hector had been clearing a jam in the mechanical hopper at midnight when a heavy nylon duffel bag dropped down the chute from the third floor.
Hector had set the bag aside in his locked maintenance locker because it bore a luxury designer logo that did not belong in the trash.
Hector had intended to turn it over to lost-and-found this morning, but Julian’s private goons had begun searching the lockers twenty minutes ago.
Rosa warned that Hector was currently hiding in the boiler maintenance workshop, terrified of the aggressive men roaming the basement.
Marcello took the phone from Elena, his voice carrying the authority that had commanded international boardrooms.
He told Rosa to tell Hector to stay exactly where he was and keep the locker locked at all costs.
Marcello promised that Hector would receive a hundred thousand dollars and lifetime job security if he protected that bag for another hour.
Marcello hung up the phone and turned to Frank Vance, who had already assembled a six-man security detail in the penthouse foyer.
Marcello told Frank that they were going to the Grand Regency sub-basement immediately to extract the evidence and protect the staff.
Elena stood up, announcing firmly that she was coming with them because Hector would not open the reinforced boiler door for strangers.
Marcello looked at her, concern flashing across his eyes as he warned her that Julian’s men were dangerous and desperate.
Elena replied that those workers were her community, and she refused to hide in a luxury penthouse while they took risks for her sake.
Marcello studied the fierce determination in her dark eyes, feeling a surge of respect that left him completely speechless.
He agreed, but ordered Frank to keep two armed guards flanking Elena at all times during the extraction.
Martha appeared in the kitchen, promising to guard Lily with her life in the secure, panic-room-equipped nursery.
Marcello knelt before Lily, kissing her forehead and promising to bring her mother back safely before lunchtime.
Lily patted his cheek with her small hand, telling him to make sure the mean lady didn’t hide any more tummies.
May you like
Marcello smiled, standing up and buttoning his suit jacket with cold, lethal purpose.
The convoy of three black armored SUVs departed the penthouse garage, cutting through Manhattan traffic toward the hotel basement.
