Chapter 7
Marcello stopped answering.
That confirmed more than confession would have.
Giulietta ordered her attorneys to freeze his trustee authority and begin an emergency board review.
Warren laughed quietly.
“You think paperwork will stop your uncle?”
Giulietta looked at him.
“It will stop his signatures.”
A pause.
“My men can handle the rest without breaking the law.”
Warren studied her.
For the first time, something resembling respect entered his expression.
Preston saw it.
His face tightened.
All his life, Warren had rarely respected him without correction attached.
Now Giulietta earned it while ending their alliance.
That humiliation cut deeper than the fight.
Preston stepped forward.
“So that's it?”
Giulietta looked at him.
“You threatened me with a weapon.”
“You humiliated me.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“In the room you locked?”
His mouth tightened.
“I was angry.”
“You were prepared.”
Preston looked away.
That difference mattered.
Giulietta watched his hand.
His thumb pressed repeatedly against his watch.
Nervous.
“Who gave you the club?”
Preston froze.
Warren’s head turned.
He had not expected the question.
Giulietta noticed both.
“The golf club wasn't in the suite decor.”
Silence.
“It came from somewhere.”
Preston’s breathing shortened.
Warren looked at him.
“Answer.”
Preston's eyes hardened.
The old obedience returned instantly.
Giulietta saw it.
Preston had spent his life performing dominance while still obeying one man.
His father.
“I brought it.”
Warren stared.
“No.”
Preston looked at him.
Something fractured.
“You told me to make her react.”
“I did not tell you to bring a weapon.”
“You told me not to fail.”
Warren’s hand tightened.
Preston laughed bitterly.
“You always say that before you pretend the method was my idea.”
Giulietta watched father and son expose the structure between them.
Warren’s voice lowered.
“You're blaming me because you lost control.”
Preston looked at him.
“No.”
His eyes filled with something ugly and old.
“I’m blaming you because you spent thirty years calling my fear discipline.”
Silence.
Giulietta did not interrupt.
This was not forgiveness.
This was evidence.
Then Preston reached into his pocket.
He removed a small key card.
“Marcello gave me access to the Marconi archive room.”
Giulietta’s face changed.
“What archive room?”
Her family maintained one secure records suite inside their downtown headquarters.
Only three people had access.
Giulietta.
Luca.
Marcello.
Preston held the fourth card.
Warren looked at him sharply.
“You weren't supposed to show that.”
Giulietta’s eyes became still.
There it was.
The conspiracy was deeper than marriage.
Preston looked at her.
“He wanted something from your father’s private files.”
“What?”
Preston’s voice dropped.
“A list.”
“What list?”
He swallowed.
“Names of every Marconi captain who ever took money without your father’s approval.”
Luca went pale.
Giulietta turned toward him.
His reaction was immediate.
May you like
Too immediate.
And suddenly the debt around Luca’s son looked like only one reason he had been compromised.
