Chapter 10
Rachel transmitted the final codicil before disappearing again.
Daniel Mercer authenticated the drafting records.
The signatures were real.
Vincent D’Angelo had changed his mind twice during his final week.
The first codicil divided power between Roman and Adrian’s father.
The second revoked that arrangement.
Roman expected his name.
It was not there.
Vincent had left operational succession to Helena.
For five years.
After that, control would transfer to whichever descendant demonstrated “the stability to preserve the family without turning blood into entitlement.”
No specific name.
A performance-based succession structure.
Helena had suppressed both documents.
Why?
Because under the final codicil, her authority would have ended six years ago.
The major twist was not that Helena stole Roman’s inheritance for him.
She stole power for herself.
Roman had spent eleven years believing he inherited absolute authority from his father.
Adrian spent eleven years believing Roman stole authority from his branch.
Both men were wrong.
Helena had built the conflict because conflict made her necessary.
She told Roman his father trusted him completely.
She told Adrian’s father he had been cheated by Roman.
She positioned herself between both sides as the elder who prevented war.
Then when the five-year period should have ended, she quietly allowed Roman to remain in control while keeping documents that could destroy him if he ever stopped listening to her.
Roman looked at his mother across the council table.
Her hands were clasped tightly.
No pearls now.
No perfect posture.
Just an old woman caught at the center of an empire she had manipulated for more than a decade.
Roman’s voice was quiet.
“You didn't protect me.”
Helena’s eyes filled.
“I kept this family together.”
“No.”
His breathing slowed.
“You kept us divided enough to need you.”
Adrian looked away.
The sentence landed on him too.
His hatred of Roman had been cultivated.
Not invented.
Roman had still benefited.
Adrian had still made his own choices.
But Helena had maintained the wound because it preserved control.
Then Roman asked the question that mattered most.
“Did you plan my death?”
Helena’s head snapped up.
“No.”
“Did Adrian?”
“No.”
Adrian stared back.
Roman looked toward Veronica.
Her face had gone pale again.
Rachel’s final message contained one more attachment.
May you like
A life-insurance inquiry submitted three months before Roman left for Sicily.
The applicant was Veronica.
