Chapter 5: The Man at the Door
We had been back at Liam's apartment for less than an hour when the knock came.
Three sharp raps.
Unhurried.
The kind of knock that expects to be answered.
Liam and I looked at each other across the kitchen table, where Diane's copied documents were spread in two careful piles.
He moved toward the door.
I gathered the papers into the folder and pushed it under the couch cushion in one motion.
Liam checked the peephole.
His shoulders didn't relax.
He opened the door.
The man standing in the hallway was in his thirties, in a dark coat, with the kind of neutral expression that people practice.
He held up a business card between two fingers.
"I'm looking for Emma Calloway," he said.
"My employer would like to speak with her."
"Nobody by that name here," Liam said.
"Mr.
Carter." The man's eyes moved past Liam and found me at the kitchen table.
"Miss Calloway.
My name is Daniel Reyes.
I work for Alessandro Vitali.
He's asked me to pass along a message."
I stood up slowly.
"He knows your real name," Reyes said.
"He's known for about ten days.
He wants you to know he's not here to cause problems.
He'd like to meet.
Today, if possible.
Somewhere of your choosing."
"Tell him no," I said.
Reyes nodded once, as if this was the answer he'd expected.
"He said you might say that.
He also asked me to give you this." He held out a sealed envelope.
I didn't move.
Liam took it.
Reyes looked at me one more time.
"He said to tell you he knows about your father, Miss Calloway.
And that he's not the person you think he is." He paused.
"Those were his exact words."
He left.
Liam closed the door and turned both locks.
I was already across the room, taking the envelope from his hand.
Inside was a single folded note, handwritten on heavy cream paper.
The handwriting was controlled but not cold.
*Elizabeth — I know why you were at the gala.
I know what you found.
I also know what was done to your father, and I need you to understand that I did not know what was in that file when I signed the order to destroy it.
I was told it was a routine compliance purge.
I was lied to.
I have been trying to find out by whom for three years.
I am not your enemy.
But whoever is behind this knows you exist now, and they are more dangerous than I am.
Please meet with me.
— A.V.*
I read it twice.
Liam read it over my shoulder.
"You believe him?" he asked.
I folded the note carefully and held it in both hands.
"I don't know," I said.
"But he said someone lied to him about that file.
If that's true, there's someone inside the Vitali Group who's been running this independently.
Someone who had my father's complaint buried.
Someone who ordered that background check on the gala staff." I looked at Liam.
"Someone who knows I exist and knows I've been asking questions."
Liam sat down heavily on the couch.
"Emma.
You're pregnant with this man's child."
"I know."
"If you meet with him and he's lying—"
"I know."
"And if he's not lying, then there's someone else out there who—"
"Liam." I set the note on the table.
"I know.
All of it.
I've known since I saw my father's name on those documents." I picked up my phone.
"I'm going to meet him.
But not alone, and not today.
I need two days."
"For what?"
I looked at the couch cushion where the folder was hidden.
"I need to make sure that if something happens to me, those documents still reach someone who can use them."
Liam was quiet for a moment.
"I know a journalist," he said finally.
"She's been covering the south side housing story for fourteen months.
She's careful.
She's good."
"Call her," I said.
"Don't tell her everything yet.
Just tell her you have a source who may be coming to her soon."
He nodded and reached for his phone.
Mine buzzed on the table.
An unknown number.
I let it ring four times, then answered.
Silence for one second.
Then a voice I recognized immediately — low, precise, and not Alessandro's.
"Miss Calloway." A woman.
Older.
"My name is Renata Vitali.
May you like
I am Alessandro's mother.
And I strongly suggest you do not meet with my son."
