Chapter 12
The baby remained healthy.
That should have ended Raffaele’s fear.
It did not.
Every time Sophia paused while walking, he watched.
Every time she called unexpectedly, his chest tightened.
Eventually she confronted him.
“Stop staring at my stomach.”
“I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
“I’m looking at you.”
“Dad.”
He surrendered.
“Fine.”
Sophia sat beside him in the estate library.
Emma was across the room drawing a wedding.
Not Bianca’s wedding.
A wedding involving three rabbits, one shark, and a purple horse.
“Your granddaughter appears to have moved on,” Sophia said.
“Smart woman.”
Sophia became serious.
“You know what bothers me most?”
“Bianca?”
“No.”
“Gregory?”
“You.”
Raffaele looked at her.
Sophia continued.
“I warned you about him.”
He remembered.
Not about fraud.
About judgment.
Gregory pushed boundaries.
Used relationships to skip procedures.
Treated Sophia’s questions like disrespect.
She had complained twice.
Raffaele told her Gregory had been loyal for twelve years.
“He earned some trust,” Raffaele had said.
Now Sophia repeated the sentence back to him.
“He earned some trust.”
Raffaele looked down.
“I was wrong.”
“You were comfortable.”
That was worse.
She was right.
Gregory made Raffaele’s life easier.
Handled events.
Fixed operational problems.
Kept lenders calm.
Rarely arrived without a solution.
Raffaele rewarded usefulness with less scrutiny.
Sophia had been the person introducing friction.
Questions.
Paperwork.
Controls.
Limits.
He called it caution.
Gregory called it obstruction.
Neither man had taken her seriously enough until the wedding exploded.
“I’m sorry,” Raffaele said.
Sophia looked surprised.
He did not add an explanation.
She noticed.
“That’s new.”
“I’m experimenting.”
“Dangerous.”
The independent audit eventually found several smaller governance failures across Carbone companies.
None involved a hidden empire of theft.
Mostly bad habits.
Family approvals assumed rather than documented.
Vendor exceptions based on relationships.
Invoices pushed through because somebody “knew Raffaele.”
Raffaele ordered changes.
Outside directors.
Written approvals.
Independent procurement review above specific thresholds.
Several old associates complained.
One said:
“This isn’t how family works.”
Raffaele answered:
“Exactly.”
May you like
Sophia heard about it later.
For the first time, she wondered whether her father might actually change before she had to leave.
