Chapter 81
Penelope’s POV
Penelope’s morning started with an unwelcoming phone call.
Luca had called yesterday asking to meet today, claiming he had important information to share. When Penelope suggested he come to her office, he’d immediately backtracked, saying he didn’t have money for transportation.
“What about the five hundred I gave you?” Penelope had asked, irritation creeping into her voice.
“I spent it,” Luca admitted without a hint of shame.
Of course he did. Penelope had resisted the urge to hang up right there. “Fine. I’ll send you another five hundred. Just meet me at my office at ten.”
“I don’t know,” Luca had said, his tone suddenly suspicious. “How do I know this isn’t some kind of setup? What if Marcus finds out and sends people after me?”
Penelope had gripped her phone tighter, reminding herself that she needed this idiot. “Then where do you suggest we meet?”
“There’s a spot in my neighborhood. A café. I’ll text you the address.”
And that’s how Penelope found herself sitting in the back of her Bentley at nine thirty in the morning, her driver navigating through increasingly unfamiliar streets while an escort car followed behind them for security. She’d insisted on the escort after seeing the address Luca had sent. The neighborhood wasn’t just questionable, it was actively concerning.
When they finally arrived, Penelope understood why Luca had felt safe here. This was the slum of the slummest. Buildings with crumbling facades. Trash piled on street corners. People sitting on stoops drinking from bottles wrapped in brown paper bags even though it wasn’t even ten in the morning yet.
Her driver pulled up to what Luca had generously called a café. It was really just a rundown food stall with a few plastic tables and chairs set up outside under a torn awning. The kind of place that probably had more health code violations than menu items.
Penelope spotted Luca immediately. He was sitting at one of the tables, wearing the same stained clothes from two days ago. He still looked like he’d been sleeping in his car, if he even had a car. The five hundred dollars she’d given him clearly hadn’t gone toward personal hygiene.
She climbed out of the Bentley carefully, her heels clicking against the cracked pavement. Every eye on the street turned to look at her. She was wearing a Chanel suit that cost more than most of these people made in a year, and her jewelry alone could probably pay someone’s rent for six months. She stuck out like a diamond in a dumpster.
“Mrs. Penelope!” Luca called out, waving like they were old friends meeting for brunch.
Penelope walked over slowly, her driver staying close behind her. She sat down on the plastic chair across from Luca, trying not to think about what might be living on its surface.
“Mr. Vance,” she said coolly.
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Chapter 81
“Just call me Luca.”
She looked him over with barely concealed disgust. His beard was still unkempt, his eyes were bloodshot, and he still smelled like a distillery mixed with body odor.
“If we’re going to have any kind of working relationship,” Penelope started, her tone sharp, “you need to change how you look and stop the drinking. There’s a lot of money to be made here, but the journey is long and it requires you to be presentable. Do you understand?”
Luca’s expression shifted slightly, some of the drunken casualness fading. “How much money are we talking about?”
“Enough that your one million dollar demand to Marcus will look like pocket change.”
That got his attention. He sat up straighter, his eyes focusing properly for the first time since she’d arrived.
“What do I have to do?”
“First, we need to establish what we know.” Penelope leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice even though no one around them was paying attention. “Tell me what you know about this sudden marriage between my stepson and your daughter.”
Luca scratched his beard, thinking. “I really don’t know much. One minute she was here crying about not having money, begging everyone for help. Next minute she’s suddenly rich, paying for her mother’s hospital treatment, giving her extra money for upkeep. It was overnight. Like someone flipped a switch.”
“And you found that suspicious?”
“Hell yeah, I found it suspicious. Girls like Elara don’t just stumble into money like that. Something had to happen. Either she’s doing something illegal or someone’s paying her for something.” He leaned back in his chair. “What do you care anyway?”
Penelope smiled, the kind of smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “My husband and I have thirty percent of Thorne Dynamics between us. Marcus has seventy percent. There was a clause in his grandfather’s will that said Marcus must be married before his thirtieth birthday or he loses his shares.”
“Loses them to who?”
“To the other shareholders. Meaning me and my husband.”
Luca’s eyes widened slightly. “So you’re saying-”
“I’m saying that if this marriage is real, Marcus keeps his seventy percent and continues running the company. But if we can prove the marriage is fake, that it was arranged purely for business purposes, then his shares get redistributed. That seventy percent would be split between the remaining shareholders.”
She paused, letting that sink in. “Currently, that’s just me and my husband. Which means we’d each get thirty-five percent. Combined, we’d have full control of Thorne Dynamics.”
“And what does that mean for me?” Luca asked, his voice greedy now.
“It means you’ll get much more than one million dollars. I’ll give you five percent of whatever we gain from this. You’ll work for the company. You won’t even have to come into an office. You can be a boss in your own right. Imagine that. Five percent of a multi-billion dollar corporation.”
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Chapter 81
With every word, Luca’s eyes got wider. The greed was practically radiating off him in waves. Penelope could see the calculations happening in his alcohol-soaked brain, trying to figure out how many zeros that would translate to.
“What do I have to do?” he asked again, leaning forward now.
“First, you need to get proof that this marriage is a sham. Any evidence that Marcus paid Elara to marry him. Contracts, bank transfers, emails, text messages. Anything that shows this wasn’t a real love match but a business transaction.”
“Where am I supposed to find that?”
“You’re her father. You have access to places and people that I don’t. Check their old apartment if she still has it. Talk to her friends. Follow her if you have to. But get me something concrete.”
Luca nodded slowly. “I can do that.”
“And second,” Penelope continued, her voice becoming even sharper, “you need to clean yourself up. Really clean up. Because you’ll need to visit me at my house to drop off information, and my security won’t let you through the gates looking like this. Get a haircut. Shave. Buy some decent clothes. Take a shower, for God’s sake.”
“That requires money.”
Penelope reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. She’d prepared it before leaving this morning, knowing she’d need to invest more in Luca if this was going to work. She slid it across the table.
“Twenty thousand dollars. That should be more than enough to make yourself presentable and start investigating.”
Luca grabbed the envelope and opened it slightly, his eyes lighting up when he saw the stack of bills inside. Penelope watched his reaction carefully. He was hooked now/ The money had him completely under her control.
“Don’t spend it all on alcohol,” she warned. “I need you to be functional and useful. If you waste this, there won’t be more.”
“I won’t,” Luca said quickly, clutching the envelope like it might disappear. “I promise. I’ll clean up and start looking for proof today.”
“Good.” Penelope stood, brushing off her suit even though she hadn’t touched anything. “I have an event this evening that I need to prepare for. Keep me updated on what you find. And Luca?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t contact me unless you actually have something useful. No more phone calls asking for money because you spent what I gave you. Are we clear?”
“Crystal clear.”
Penelope turned and walked back to her car without another word. Her driver opened the door for her and she climbed inside, grateful to be in her own clean space again.
As they pulled away from the slum, Penelope allowed herself a small smile. This was going to work. Luca
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Chapter 81
was desperate and greedy enough to do whatever she asked, and if there was any proof that Marcus’s marriage was fake, he’d find it.
And once she had that proof, everything Marcus had built would come crashing down.
B
AD
