Chapter 7 - The Heir Domenico Chose
Valentina was upstairs before anyone could stop her.
Lily sat on the nursery rug between Rosa and two armed guards, lining up wooden animals in a crooked row.
She looked up.
“Mommy.”
Valentina crossed the room and lifted her.
Lily’s arms went around her neck.
“You mad?”
“No, baby.”
“At Uncle Gerald?”
“Yes.”
Lily thought about that.
“He was loud.”
“I know.”
Valentina carried her to the window and looked down at the garden.
Every adult below had spent years thinking inheritance meant property.
Domenico had apparently thought further ahead.
Her attorney, Felix Caruso, arrived with a trust binder so old the paper smelled like dust.
He found the clause after forty minutes.
“If Valentina Carbone becomes incapacitated, compromised by coercion, or dies before establishing a stable succession mechanism, designated protected holdings transfer into a trust for her first lawful child.”
Valentina stared at him.
“Lily.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Felix turned pages.
“Shipping shares. Two development companies. The Long Island properties. Several offshore interests.”
Nico whistled softly.
“Control?”
Felix nodded.
“Enough to block any internal takeover.”
Marco, watched by two guards, leaned against the wall.
“Your father was paranoid.”
Valentina looked at him.
“My father was right often enough to make that word useless.”
Felix found another notation.
“There is an activation requirement.”
“What?”
“A key certificate stored in Garden Seven.”
The microSD.
Or something connected to it.
Valentina’s phone rang.
Tomas.
“We found the wine bottle.”
“Bring it.”
“Already moving.”
A crash sounded upstairs.
Valentina turned.
Then Rosa screamed Lily’s name.
For half a second Valentina did not understand.
Lily had been beside her.
No.
She had set Lily down near the nursery doorway while Felix showed her the trust page.
Now the doorway was open.
The hall beyond it empty.
Valentina ran.
One guard was face-down near the stairs.
The second lay against the wall breathing, barely conscious.
Rosa came out of the nursery clutching her head.
“Someone hit me.”
Valentina’s vision narrowed.
“Lily?”
Rosa shook her head.
On the pillow lay a purple ribbon from Lily’s dress.
Pinned beneath it was a note.
BRING THE CARD.
May you like
COME ALONE.
