Chapter 7 - SEVENTY MILLION DOLLARS
Alessandro had expected greed.
He had not expected the number.
Seventy million dollars.
Marco looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Alessandro already knew.
His father’s controlling interest in Romano Maritime had been placed in a private trust.
The trust could not be sold while Alessandro remained alive and active.
If Alessandro died without children, ownership passed temporarily to Luca.
But Luca could not liquidate it for ten years.
Unless Alessandro’s spouse exercised a provision inserted years earlier.
A provision designed to protect a widow from hostile partners.
Isabella had discovered it.
Somehow.
The insurance policy was only spending money.
The real prize was the company.
Alessandro listened as Enzo spoke.
“Once you’re married, everything changes.”
Isabella shook her head.
“The wedding is six weeks away.”
“He’s suspicious now.”
“Then we accelerate.”
“How?”
Enzo leaned close.
“You convince him the child misunderstood.”
“You cry.”
“You apologize for the security access.”
“You tell him you were planning a surprise.”
“He loves you.”
Isabella stared at the floor.
“He did.”
Enzo smiled.
“Men like Alessandro don’t stop loving.”
“They turn love into possession.”
“Use that.”
Alessandro’s hands curled into fists.
Marco glanced at him.
“Boss.”
“I’m fine.”
He was not.
What hurt was not the money.
It was remembering how Isabella held Lily-shaped baby clothes in a boutique two months earlier and joked about someday giving him a daughter.
Every tender moment now had a shadow.
Then Isabella said something worse.
“What about Luca?”
Enzo shrugged.
“After Alessandro, Luca becomes the obstacle.”
Marco looked at Alessandro sharply.
Enzo continued.
“He signs over control or he gets removed too.”
Isabella whispered.
“You said nobody else had to die.”
Enzo’s expression hardened.
“I said nobody else had to die if everything went smoothly.”
Alessandro felt the last uncertainty disappear.
This was not Isabella’s plan alone.
Enzo had built it.
She had joined him.
Maybe for money.
Maybe for love.
Maybe both.
Then Isabella asked.
“And Sofia?”
Enzo’s answer made even Marco look away.
“The girl and her mother leave tonight.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere they never become witnesses.”
Alessandro stepped away from the glass.
“That’s enough.”
Marco understood.
Within minutes, Enzo was separated from Isabella.
But before guards reached him, Enzo received a phone notification.
He looked at the screen.
Then smiled.
Alessandro’s stomach tightened.
Enzo had known he was being watched.
He ran.
Not toward an exit.
May you like
Toward the estate’s lower level.
Toward the old records vault containing the original Romano trust.
