Chapter 10 - Before the Wedding
His recordings were real.
Three days before my wedding to Valentina, he had secretly recorded his sister because he did not trust her to follow the plan.
The first audio began with Valentina.
“Once we’re married, I can influence Dom.”
Marcus answered, “Influence isn’t enough. We need access to Ruby’s voting block.”
“She’s a toddler.”
“Exactly. Adults control toddlers.”
I stopped the recording.
Luca waited.
“Keep going,” I said.
Valentina complained that Isabella’s trust terms made Ruby impossible to bypass without a court order.
Marcus suggested building a record slowly.
Behavioral concerns.
Household instability.
Evidence that I was too distracted by business to parent.
Valentina asked, “And Ethan?”
Marcus said, “He makes you look maternal. Use him.”
I stood.
Ethan.
Even before the wedding, he had been part of the presentation.
The third recording contained a detail I did not expect.
Valentina said:
“Domenico still keeps Isabella’s notebooks.”
Marcus answered:
“Find them.”
She knew the notebook existed.
She had searched for it.
Teresa had returned it to Ruby’s room last week.
By accident, she saved the evidence.
Then she asked to speak to Ethan.
The child advocate refused until it could be supervised.
According to her lawyer, she shouted that Ethan belonged to her and nobody could “turn him against his mother.”
The advocate documented it.
Meanwhile, the board met without Marcus or Valentina.
The waterfront sale was canceled.
Orison Capital collapsed.
Lenders began asking questions.
Then Nico found one final financial trail.
Marcus had not stolen eighteen million alone.
Six million had been transferred through a Falcone hotel account requiring two approvals.
One was Marcus.
The second authorization belonged to someone inside my council.
I looked at the names.
Only five people had that access.
Luca.
Nico.
My uncle Salvatore.
My cousin Rocco.
May you like
And our longtime accountant, Peter Vale.
One of the men standing beside me through the entire crisis had helped Marcus steal from us.
