Chapter 7 - Vittorio’s Last Amendment

Dante moved Emma behind him.

Luca noticed.

So did Carlo.

“Careful,” Carlo said.

Luca turned.

“That sounded like advice.”

“It is.”

“You are in no position to give me any.”

Carlo looked suddenly tired.

“You still don’t understand your father.”

“Then explain him.”

Carlo stared at the sealed cabinets.

“Vittorio signed the alliance when Moretti Holdings was carrying more debt than anyone knew.”

Luca’s expression changed.

“My father never told me that.”

“He intended not to.”

“Why?”

“Because he fixed it.”

Carlo walked to a cabinet.

Dante stopped him.

Luca nodded once.

The cabinet opened.

Inside was a blue folder.

VITTORIO MORETTI — FINAL AMENDMENT.

Carlo did not touch it.

“Read.”

Luca opened the document.

His eyes moved quickly.

Then stopped.

Emma watched his face.

“What?”

He looked at her.

“My father canceled the Vescari succession clause six months before he died.”

Belini stared.

“No.”

Carlo closed his eyes.

Emma understood.

“You knew.”

“Yes.”

Belini turned on him.

“You told us the amendment was invalid.”

“I told Vincent what he needed to hear.”

“Why?”

Carlo looked at Luca.

“Because Vittorio changed more than the agreement.”

Luca read further.

The amendment created a protected inheritance trust for any biological child of Luca Moretti.

Voting shares.

Properties.

Liquid assets.

Immediate legal priority over every alliance provision.

Their unborn son was protected before he had even been conceived.

Emma whispered, “Then why hide him?”

Carlo’s face tightened.

“Because the amendment removed the Vescari family.”

“And you?”

Luca asked.

Carlo did not answer.

Dante did.

“He was trustee.”

Carlo looked at him.

Dante continued.

“Under the old structure, Carlo controlled the transitional trust until the marriage.”

Luca’s expression became cold.

“And under the amendment?”

“The trustee role disappears once I have a child.”

Silence.

Emma looked at Carlo.

This was not loyalty.

Not protection.

Not fear of chaos.

Money.

Power.

Relevance.

Carlo had spent three years living inside authority borrowed from a dead man.

A child would end it.

Belini stared at him.

“You used us.”

Carlo laughed without humor.

“Your father used everyone.”

Luca looked at the last page.

His father’s handwriting appeared beneath the legal signature.

One sentence.

Luca read it aloud.

“If my son ever has a child, protect that child from every bargain I was weak enough to make.”

Nobody moved.

Emma covered her mouth.

Belini slowly sat down.

Carlo’s face finally broke.

Vittorio had not ordered the disappearance.

He had tried to prevent it.

Luca looked at Carlo.

“You turned his protection into a weapon.”

Carlo said nothing.

Dante’s phone rang.

He answered.

Then looked at Emma.

“Mrs. Moretti.”

Her stomach tightened.

“What?”

“We found the man who posed as the doctor.”

Luca turned.

“Where?”

“JFK.”

“Leaving?”

“Yes.”

Dante paused.

“He has something with him.”

“What?”

“A second recording.”

Emma felt cold.

“Of what?”

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Dante looked at Luca.

“Carlo giving the instructions.”