Swimming with Sharks (19 page)

“How are you?” Mark asked in a concerned voice. “You look sick.”

“I’m feeling great,” she replied and forced a smile. It occurred to her that Mark was friends with Oliver. Had Oliver told him about the embarrassing episode in his apartment?

“Is there anything else?” she asked Mark, who was still holding the files in his hands and looked like he had something else on his mind.

“There’s something that I’d like to talk to you about,” he said.

“Is it urgent? I have another meeting, then I need to leave for the airport.”

“Maybe it’s important,” Mark answered in a serious tone. “I’ve compiled some information that you should read. There are inconsistencies that I stumbled upon during the last few weeks. I know that you don’t want to hear about it, but I’m sure that this will interest you.”

He placed a large envelope on her desk.

“What kind of information is this?” Alex eyed her employee suspiciously. She saw Zack strolling around the trading floor. Mark also spotted
him. It was still relatively quiet because the stock exchange had not yet opened, and Zack was talking with some of the traders.

“It would be better if St. John doesn’t get a hold of this envelope,” Mark said. An uneasy feeling suddenly overcame her.

“Why are you giving me this now, of all times?” she asked. Mark threw a quick glance at the trading floor.

“I want you to know that you can trust me,” he said, lowering his voice, “but probably not many others in here. Please, Alex, take a look, but don’t speak about it to anyone.”

At that moment, Zack stepped into Alex’s office, whereupon Mark excused himself and left. Alex put the envelope into her briefcase together with other documents she needed for the trip.

“You left so quickly Saturday.” Zack sat down on one of the visitor’s chairs unasked, and his eyes curiously glanced over her desk. “You missed the fireworks. It was phenomenal.”

“I’m sure,” Alex said, trying to act relaxed, “but I was dead tired all of a sudden. And I need to fly to Hong Kong today.”

While Zack made small talk about the fireworks and the party, Alex had the feeling that there was a ticking bomb in her briefcase, and Zack’s warning suddenly entered her mind:
Be careful with Vitali.
She wished she could ask him what he’d meant by that. Did he know about Sergio? She didn’t know what to believe anymore.

Alex had no idea how she would act toward Sergio when she returned to New York. As expected, the press jumped on the scandal that the Zuckerman murder ignited during the summer slump. Regardless of the respectability of the newspaper or television station, the topic of the Mafia in New York was gleefully exploited. Alex bought every American newspaper she could get her hands on and vigilantly followed the reports while
she was abroad. Sergio was publicly accused of involvement in the murder at the Milford Plaza, and his father’s criminal past was once again covered extensively. Although every accusation raised against Sergio was dug up out of the archives, none of the journalists dared to call him a gangster. But the intense speculation was enough to portray him in an unfavorable light.

Alex had opened the envelope the moment she reached her Hong Kong hotel room. It contained a neatly bound stack of copied newspaper clippings about Gilbert Shanahan. Alex broke out in goose bumps as she read them. She also found a list of all the deals she had completed in recent months: Camexco, Hanson, American Road Map, National Concrete, Sherman Industries, Seattle Pacific Woods, Inc., Diamond Crown, Redwood Lumber, Storer, Hale-Newport, A&R, and Micromax. Mark had researched meticulously and discovered that either the Panamanian holding company of SeViCo or a company called Sunset Properties was behind every client. Sunset Properties had been incorporated in the British Virgin Islands since 1985. He had created a diagram of arrows that all converged into one point.

Alex was perplexed and shook her head. What was this supposed to mean? Additionally, there was a list of investment funds launched by LMI in recent months. Many of these funds were issued as a way to finance their deals. One of the funds—Private Equity Technology Partners—was highlighted in yellow marker; with five hundred million dollars in capital, it was larger than the average fund. It was highly speculative and invested in new technology-oriented start-ups. This included another fund called Venture Capital SeaStarFriends Limited Partnership.

Alex lit a cigarette and stared at the area highlighted in yellow. She didn’t understand the connections and turned the page. Then she suddenly froze.
Are you kidding me, or are you really that naive?
SeViCo. Sergio Vitali Corporation. The hand holding her cigarette started to tremble.
Some of my companies also do business with LMI
…This is what Sergio told her when
she asked him whether he was involved with LMI. Here it was in black-and-white. SeViCo was behind every single deal that she’d worked on and closed over the last few months. Alex flipped back a few pages. Venture Capital SeaStarFriends Limited Partnership. Sea Star—
Stella Maris.
Was all of this a coincidence? She turned to the last page of Mark’s summary, holding her breath. On the top of the page it said in handwriting:

NBC Broadcast Satellite Corp. acquired 100 percent of the shares of the Tallahassee News Group in April 1997. The buyer in this deal was represented by LMI. TNG’s stock price rose to an all-time high of 23
⁵
/
₁₆
in March 1997 and subsequently fell to 7
¹⁵
/
₁₆
. Simultaneously, an IBC called Magnolia Limited Partnership was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands with $320,000 in capital. These strong price fluctuations in TNG’s stock were then investigated by the SEC. Gilbert Shanahan was summoned and run over by a truck the day of the hearing. As it turned out, the legal department at LMI had prepared the articles of incorporation for Magnolia, whose sole shareholder was Gilbert Shanahan. LMI claimed in front of the SEC that they knew nothing about it, and by doing so passed the buck to Shanahan, who was—quite conveniently—already dead at that point in time.

Alex skimmed over the next page. Mark had listed the stock prices and the corresponding dates of her deals. She felt a chill come over her. The stock prices rose slightly every single time before the acquisition or merger was made public. At the bottom, Mark had written:
Who knew about these deals before their announcement?
Alex broke out into a cold sweat. She knew who it was, and this someone knew it solely and exclusively from her. It was Zack, and it looked like he was taking advantage of this knowledge. There was only one question left unanswered: For whom was he doing these insider trades—for himself, or Vincent Levy?

She stared at the wall of her hotel room, and slowly the confusion in her mind cleared. The pieces of the puzzle started coming together, and she suddenly saw things clearly. Sergio had been at Zack’s party. That’s where she’d met him. She’d never asked herself what he was doing there. Besides, he had also invited Zack to his birthday party. Why? Because they were close business partners? Did Zack also supply Sergio with information, which she gave him on Levy’s order? If Sergio, through SeViCo, was behind these deals, then he already profited handsomely through Zack—and illegally and tax-free at that! This was incredible! Her bewilderment turned into rage as she realized how naive and blind she had been. Was Sergio even responsible for her being hired at LMI? Possibly. Levy had tested to what degree she would be willing to participate in these dirty business deals, and she had let herself be bribed with his dubious bonus. If Mark was right and she had interpreted the findings of his research correctly, then she was nothing but a willing puppet. This was fraud of epic proportions. Alex sat motionless on her hotel bed for a long time. It would be quite simple to find out. She would set a trap for Zack. If he fell into it, then she’d know.

Alex threw her keys on the table, slipped her sandals from her feet, and took off her blazer. Without turning on the light, she walked straight to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. She took out a bottle of milk and allowed herself a big gulp. The evening with Madeleine and Trevor had been very entertaining, but she had downed more red wine than she could handle. The Downeys had invited her to their house on Long Island for the weekend, and Alex had been happy to escape the humid city. She had a great time in Amangansett, horseback riding on the beach with Madeleine and sharing meals with her and Trevor.

Alex walked barefoot into the living room and pressed the light switch as she passed it. She froze and nearly dropped the bottle of milk in shock. Sergio was sitting on the couch.

“Jesus!” she exclaimed. “Why did you scare me like that? Why are you sitting here in the dark?”

“Hello,
cara
.” He smiled, his white teeth flashing in his dark face. “I’ve been waiting for you for three hours. Your cell phone was turned off.”

“Did we have a date?” Alex put the milk bottle on the floor and noticed that she was trembling. This was the first time she had seen him since that terrible evening at his house. Although she was horrified by him now that she knew the truth, she had to keep her composure.

“You haven’t called me since you got back from Asia, and I was simply longing for you. How are you?”

“Good.” She remained standing next to the light switch, watching him. “And how are you?”

“Excellent.”

“It’s unbelievable what they write in the newspapers,” she said coolly.

“Newspaper scribbling,” Sergio said and laughed. “I’ve never cared about that.”

“They say that you’re somehow connected with the murder of this real-estate guy.” Alex was trembling inside. She could hardly resist the urge to throw everything she had found out about him into his face.

“I’m sure that they’d love to put the blame on me.”

Sergio crossed his legs and grinned. Although he’d never admit it, this vicious press campaign was really getting to him. Being defenseless made him angry. And on top of that, he could hardly endure how self-righteous Mayor Kostidis appeared on television. On Monday, the IRS criminal tax investigation unit showed up once again at Ficchiavelli and turned the entire place upside down. Massimo had attacked one of the agents in one of his temper tantrums. That had cost Sergio endless phone calls with all kinds of influential people on his bribery payroll to
keep this situation from leaking to the press. He also realized that some of his “friends” were avoiding him, which was a clear indication that Kostidis’s smear campaign was having an impact. There were problems in every direction, and he also couldn’t reach Alex. Sergio was tense beyond all measure and irritated. He wanted to have sex with Alex and release the pressure.

“This bastard Kostidis has been leading a personal crusade against me for the past fifteen years,” he continued. “He’s obsessed with the idea of locking me up behind bars. During his time as the US attorney, he tried everything in his power to denounce me. It wasn’t enough for him to drag New York’s entire underworld and half of Wall Street into court—he wants me too.”

He stood up without taking his eyes off of Alex. At first glance, he seemed as confident and relaxed as usual, but his eyebrows were tensely furrowed.

“He’s tried everything already: He accused me of all kinds of Mafia activities, bribery, extortion. He tried to frame me with fraud and union manipulation. All to no avail. I don’t know how many years the US Attorney’s Office spent fabricating accusations. It was all in vain.”

His expression became sinister.

“I pay my taxes, provide work for thousands of people, and carry a great deal of responsibility,” he said, his tone angry, “and then this miserable Greek idiot brings his righteous anger upon anyone with an Italian name, calling me a gangster and Mafioso. He’s already caused me enormous damage with his slander, but I don’t get upset about him anymore. Let him make a fool of himself with his missionary zeal.”

Sergio laughed grimly.

Alex knew that this was anything but ridiculous, yet she secretly admired Sergio’s performance. He withstood her stare without blinking an eye, and if she hadn’t known better, she would have believed him.
Don Sergio,
she thought, and a shiver ran down her spine.