Chapter 9 - THE TRUTH ABOUT VICTOR RUSSO|
Victor Russo had spent most of his adult life making powerful men uncomfortable.
He knew how to recognize a threat before it became an attack.
He knew how to negotiate with men who preferred violence to contracts.
And he knew how to make people listen without raising his voice.
But he had never learned how to explain his past to a woman who valued honesty more than protection.
That was why he hesitated before calling Khloe.
He had discovered something ugly about Adrian Vale.
Not just the missing shipments.
Not just the falsified inventory records.
Adrian had been moving money through businesses Victor had allowed to operate with far too little oversight.
Some of those businesses were legitimate.
Others weren't.
And Victor knew he couldn't pretend otherwise.
When Khloe answered, her voice was cautious.
“What happened at the board meeting?”
“Adrian tried to have me removed as chairman.”
“Did he succeed?”
“No.”
“Then why are you calling?”
Victor looked across his office.
The Chicago skyline stretched beyond the windows.
On the wall behind his desk hung a black-and-white photograph of his father standing beside a freight truck in 1978.
Everything Victor owned had begun with that truck.
But the empire he built afterward carried far more complicated debts.
“I need to tell you something,” he said.
Khloe went quiet.
“Something about the shipment?”
“Something about me.”
He asked whether she would meet him with her attorney present.
Khloe considered refusing.
Then she agreed to a meeting at Grace Whitman's office the following afternoon.
Victor arrived without his usual entourage.
Only Nico accompanied him to the building.
He remained outside the conference room.
Inside, Grace opened a legal pad.
“Mr. Russo, my client is not here to provide confidential information about the investigation.”
“I understand.”
“Nor will she make any agreement that compromises her legal rights.”
“I wouldn't ask her to.”
Khloe folded her arms.
“Then tell me the truth.”
Victor took a breath.
“My company has engaged in illegal activity.”
Grace's pen stopped moving.
Khloe stared at him.
“How much?”
“Enough that I'm not going to insult you by calling it a misunderstanding.”
“Be specific.”
Victor looked at her.
“Years ago, I authorized unlawful payments connected to certain port operations.”
He paused.
“I also allowed businesses associated with my organization to move goods outside normal reporting procedures.”
Khloe felt her stomach turn.
“So the stories about you are true.”
“Some of them.”
“Are you the head of a criminal organization?”
Victor held her gaze.
“Yes.”
The word settled between them.
No excuses.
No romantic explanation.
No attempt to convince her that everything had been done for a noble purpose.
For several seconds, Khloe could hear the ticking clock above Grace's bookshelf.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because you need to know what kind of man you're dealing with.”
“And because Adrian knows.”
Victor nodded.
“He has records of old transactions.”
“Records you allowed to happen.”
“Yes.”
Khloe stood and walked toward the window.
She felt foolish.
Not because Victor had lied to her about being dangerous.
He hadn't.
But because a part of her had wanted to believe the man who defended her in the restaurant existed separately from the man whose reputation frightened an entire city.
There was only one Victor Russo.
And both men were real.
“You protected me from Liam,” she said.
“Yes.”
“That doesn't erase what you've done.”
“I know.”
“People may have been hurt because of your business.”
Victor's expression changed.
“Yes.”
The admission made her eyes sting.
She turned to face him.
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Turn over the records.”
Grace straightened.
“To whom?”
“My attorneys are preparing disclosures to the appropriate authorities.”
Khloe searched his face.
“Why?”
Victor glanced toward his father's photograph in the documents on the table.
“Because Adrian used the system I allowed to exist.”
He looked back at her.
“I can't pretend that stopping him will make me innocent.”
Khloe felt something shift inside her.
She had spent years listening to Liam explain why nothing was ever his fault.
The cryptocurrency disaster.
The unpaid rent.
The broken furniture.
Even the bruises on her wrist.
Everything had always been caused by somebody else.
Victor was different in one important way.
He was accepting responsibility for choices that could cost him everything.
But accepting responsibility didn't automatically earn forgiveness.
Khloe returned to her chair.
“If you cooperate, you might go to prison.”
“I know.”
“You could lose your company.”
“Yes.”
“And people connected to your past may turn against you.”
Victor gave a faint smile.
“That's already happening.”
Khloe looked at him for a long moment.
“I'm not going to be the reason you change your life.”
“You aren't.”
“I won't become your reward for doing the right thing.”
Victor's expression softened.
“I would never ask that of you.”
She believed he meant it.
Whether he could live by those words was another question.
The meeting ended without a handshake.
Without a promise.
Without a declaration of love.
Victor left his attorney's contact information with Grace so any necessary records could be requested through appropriate legal channels.
At the elevator, he turned toward Khloe.
“For what it's worth, I'm sorry you were pulled into this.”
Khloe studied him.
“You didn't pull me into it alone.”
“No.”
“But you helped build the situation that made it possible.”
Victor nodded.
“Yes.”
She took a breath.
“Then help dismantle it.”
For the first time that afternoon, he looked almost hopeful.
“I intend to.”
At 9:17 that evening, Liam Price called Detective Morales from a parking garage near a commuter rail station.
He sounded terrified.
Someone had been following him.
Morales told him to remain in a secure public location and wait for officers.
But before they arrived, a dark SUV accelerated through the garage.
Liam's phone fell from his hand.
May you like
The detective heard a terrible crash.
Then the line went dead.
