Chapter 8
Cesare did not confront Julian with the video.
He gave it to the foundation’s outside counsel.
He also gave them the investment records.
For once, he wanted someone outside the Lombardi family deciding what mattered.
The consequences arrived quickly.
Julian was temporarily removed from the museum contract committee.
Ethan’s bid was frozen.
Vanessa was barred from private museum events pending review of the assault on Avice.
Ethan’s legal team objected loudly.
Julian objected louder.
“You suspended your own son?”
“You had an undisclosed financial interest.”
“That doesn't mean I rigged anything.”
“No.”
Cesare looked at him.
“But it means you don't get to decide whether you did.”
Julian stared at his father.
Something between them changed.
Power had always flowed one direction in the Lombardi family.
Cesare decided.
Others complied.
Now Cesare was deliberately removing himself from decisions involving Julian.
It felt like surrender.
It was actually the first fair thing he had done.
Then Vanessa sent Cesare a message.
One sentence.
He knew before I did what the lie could buy us.
Cesare read it several times.
He did not respond.
Instead he asked the forensic accountants to reconstruct every financial event between Julian discovering the fake pregnancy and the gala.
The result was uncomfortable.
Within ten days of the cloakroom footage, Julian increased his investment in Ethan’s fund.
Within two weeks, he asked Cesare again to reconsider the museum contract.
Within a month, he told two board members the Cole family was “about to become permanently tied to ours.”
The fake baby became part of his business argument after he already knew there was no baby.
Cesare finally understood why Vanessa had remained silent.
May you like
She had begun the lie.
Julian had eventually decided it was useful.
