Chapter 5
Victoria did not deny the handwriting.
That surprised everyone.
She looked at the page once.
Then at Lorenzo.
“You want me to pretend I didn’t write it?”
His eyes hardened.
“What is phase two?”
She leaned back.
“A vote.”
Marcus shifted.
Victoria noticed.
So did Lorenzo.
“A vote?” Lorenzo repeated.
“To transfer operational control temporarily.”
“To Marcus?”
Her eyes moved toward her son.
“Initially.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Initially.
One word.
He had not expected it.
Lorenzo saw the first fracture between mother and son.
Victoria continued.
“You came home different.”
Lorenzo’s voice remained flat.
“How?”
“You cancel meetings because Isabella wants you at breakfast.”
Several capos looked away.
“You moved armed business out of the residential wing.”
“Yes.”
“You stopped collections around schools.”
“Yes.”
“You refused retaliation after Paolo Rizzo insulted the family.”
“He was drunk.”
Victoria’s expression sharpened.
“You see exceptions everywhere now.”
Lorenzo understood.
This was the core of her motive.
She believed fatherhood had softened him.
Not emotionally.
Operationally.
To Victoria, power survived because nobody tested limits twice.
Lorenzo had begun choosing restraint.
She interpreted restraint as decay.
“You think Isabella made me weak.”
Victoria’s eyes moved toward the child standing beside Anthony.
Her voice softened slightly.
“I think loving her made you hesitate.”
Lorenzo’s hands went still.
“And you locked her behind a wall.”
Victoria’s composure flickered.
Only then.
“That was not the plan.”
Marcus looked at her.
Lorenzo caught it.
“What plan?”
Victoria inhaled.
“Isabella wandered into the passage.”
Marcus’s eyes lowered.
“She saw documents.”
“So you put a collar on her?”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
“That was Marcus.”
The room shifted.
Marcus stared at his mother.
“You told me to keep her quiet.”
“I told you to keep her out of the gallery.”
“You stood there.”
Victoria’s fingers clenched around her ring.
Lorenzo watched them turn on each other.
Marcus continued.
“You laughed.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Because you had already done it.”
“Then you left her there.”
Victoria stopped.
No defense.
Lorenzo’s breathing slowed.
The cruelty had not been carefully planned.
That did not make it smaller.
It made it more revealing.
When power was threatened, both had treated a three-year-old as an inconvenience.
Then Claire entered with another report.
She placed it in front of Lorenzo.
“The second signet ring was manufactured by the same jeweler who made yours.”
Lorenzo looked up.
“Who ordered it?”
Claire hesitated.
“Your father.”
The room went silent.
Lorenzo stared at her.
His father had been dead nine years.
Claire continued.
“The duplicate ring predates Victoria’s voice system by almost fifteen years.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Not guilt.
Memory.
Lorenzo looked toward her.
“You knew.”
She said nothing.
“Why did my father make another ring?”
Victoria slowly exhaled.
“Because he never intended one Bellandi to control everything.”
And for the first time, Lorenzo realized the conspiracy might have started before Marcus—
May you like
before Victoria—
and before Lorenzo ever became boss.
