After the vault door sealed, Alessandro slid from the chair to the black marble floor.
I watched him without going closer. The accounts were frozen, the syndicates had heard the evidence, and his name could no longer buy protection in Europe. I closed the account list on my console.
He got onto his hands and knees and crawled toward me. One trouser knee tore against the stone. He kept coming until he reached the two steps below my chair.
His shoulders shook as he reached inside his jacket. He took out a powder-blue velvet box.
I recognized it. The box had been on his desk the week before he announced the engagement.
He forced himself upright on his knees and wiped his face with his good hand. The dirt only smeared.
He opened the box.
A large blue sapphire sat inside a ring of diamon
