Chapter 6
Victor requested a family council.
Valentina refused.
He sent the request again through three senior capos.
She refused again.
Then he arrived at her estate without permission.
Bodyguards stopped him at the front entrance.
Victor stared at the men.
“Do you know who I am?”
None moved.
Valentina watched from the upper landing.
For thirty years, that question opened doors.
Not anymore.
She walked down slowly.
Victor’s eyes found hers.
“You're turning family against me.”
Valentina stopped six feet away.
“No.”
Her voice remained quiet.
“I’m making them choose without you in the room.”
Victor’s hand tightened over the silver handle of his cane.
He did not need the cane.
He carried it because people associated it with his authority.
“You've already decided what happened.”
“I’ve decided you removed a safety platform, disabled a camera, moved rescue equipment and held me while my son went underwater.”
Victor’s jaw flexed.
“Because the spectacle had to look real.”
Valentina’s eyes sharpened.
There.
A partial confession.
Victor realized it too late.
He recovered quickly.
“No one was supposed to be hurt.”
“Celeste says the shelf was supposed to remain.”
Victor’s gaze changed.
“She'll say anything now.”
“Why remove it?”
Silence.
Valentina waited.
Victor looked toward the bodyguards.
“They hear everything now?”
“Yes.”
“That’s your mistake.”
Valentina tilted her head slightly.
“No. Closed rooms were my mistake.”
Victor breathed out through his nose.
Then he changed weapons.
“Your father would be ashamed of what you're doing.”
Valentina's expression did not move.
“Dead men are very convenient when living men need an argument.”
Victor's eyes flashed.
For the first time, genuine anger.
“You're giving away a Morello institution.”
“I’m removing it from private control.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Valentina stepped closer.
“That's only the same thing to men who think control means ownership.”
Victor’s knuckles whitened around the cane.
Then he smiled.
A thin, practiced smile.
“Ask Rebecca why she didn't tell you everything.”
Valentina stopped.
Victor turned toward the door.
Before leaving, he looked back.
“You think I was the first person who asked about removing you?”
Valentina’s pulse changed.
Victor left.
She immediately called Rebecca.
The CFO answered on the second ring.
Valentina heard traffic behind her.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Going home.”
“Who asked about removing me before Victor?”
Rebecca said nothing.
Valentina’s hand tightened around the phone.
Then Rebecca whispered:
“Your husband.”
The late Matteo Morello had died two years earlier.
May you like
And apparently, before his death, he too had questioned whether Valentina should remain in control.
