Chapter 5
The family lawyer was named Victor Bellini.
He had handled my marriage contract.
My father’s estate.
Leo’s trust.
Elena’s will.
He had also stood beside me at her funeral and told me grief made men imagine enemies.
By sunrise, my private attorney, Grace Holloway, arrived.
She was not part of the family.
That was why Elena had liked her.
Grace read three pages of the notebook and went pale.
“Dante, these are not suspicions.”
“What are they?”
“A road map.”
She pointed to a date from three years ago.
Two days before Elena died.
“She planned to file for emergency protection over Leo’s inheritance.”
I stared at her.
“From who?”
Grace swallowed.
“From your father.”
The words hit hard.
“My father loved Leo.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But he also built an empire that needed a controllable heir.”
“My son is not an asset.”
“No,” Grace said softly. “But they treated him like one.”
I walked to the window.
The sun was rising over the garden where my child had screamed for air.
“Can you freeze the trust?”
“I can file within the hour. But if Victor has authority, he may already be moving funds.”
Marco entered.
“We found Javier’s phone.”
“Anything?”
He looked at Leo sleeping on the sofa.
“Not here.”
I followed him into the hall.
Marco showed me a message thread.
Victor: If the boy found the book, frighten him quiet.
Javier: Dante saw.
Victor: Then shift the plan. Tonight.
I looked up.
“What does shift the plan mean?”
The front gate alarm sounded.
Marco’s radio exploded with voices.
“East wall breach!”
Sofia ran toward Leo.
I drew my gun and moved to the window.
Three black SUVs were forcing through the side drive.
Not police.
Not guests.
Men loyal to my father’s old council.
May you like
They had come before I could expose them.
And my son was still inside the house.
