Chapter 16 - MY FATHER
My father, Carlo Bellandi, had been dead twelve years.
I had spent most of my life trying to become everything he was not.
Then Isabella's evidence showed he had started the Vale relationship.
Not Raymond.
Carlo.
He used Raymond's foundation to move political payments through medical charities.
Raymond learned the system, expanded it, and eventually owned everyone who depended on it.
Including parts of my company.
I felt ashamed.
Then angry at being ashamed of crimes committed before I took control.
Francesca stopped me.
"Don't make the mistake of thinking innocence means no responsibility."
I looked at her.
"You inherited the machine. You kept using it."
She was right.
I had signed grants because they were traditional.
Kept directors because they were loyal.
Trusted old lawyers because they knew the family.
I had not created the rot.
I had benefited from not looking closely.
The federal packet named eleven companies, four board members, two judges, and three charitable foundations.
Bellandi stock dropped twenty-three percent in two days.
Banks called.
Partners threatened to walk.
I ordered full cooperation.
My board called it suicide.
I called it late.
Ruby watched the news from the couch.
"Is our company bad?"
I sat beside her.
"Some people did bad things with it."
"Did you?"
The honest answer hurt.
"I signed things I should have checked."
She thought about that.
"Like permission slips?"
I almost laughed.
"Bigger than permission slips."
"Then read them next time."
Simple.
Brutal.
Correct.
That afternoon, prosecutors offered Lucinda a deal if she testified against Raymond.
She accepted.
But her first statement contained a new accusation.
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Raymond had not ordered Isabella's medication altered.
Lucinda had.
