Chapter 4
The preschool records produced the next problem.
Dominic had been added as an authorized emergency guardian three months earlier.
Matteo had no objection to trusted relatives being permitted to collect Ava.
That was normal.
What was not normal was the form attached to Dominic’s name.
It identified him as the person authorized to make temporary educational and medical decisions if Matteo became “incapacitated, detained, or otherwise unavailable.”
Matteo stared at the wording.
“I never signed this.”
His attorney examined the document.
His signature was there.
But it looked familiar for the wrong reason.
It had been lifted from another form.
A digital forensic review confirmed it.
The signature image matched one Matteo had used fourteen months earlier on an unrelated school authorization.
Someone had copied it.
The preschool administrator was horrified.
She explained that the paperwork had arrived through a family office email address and appeared legitimate.
Which family office employee sent it?
Helena’s longtime assistant.
Matteo called the assistant.
The woman began crying within five minutes.
Helena had given her the document.
She insisted Matteo knew about it.
“Did you speak to him directly?” Matteo’s attorney asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Mrs. Bellini said he didn’t want paperwork bothering him.”
That sounded exactly like something Matteo might have said.
Helena had spent fifty-four years learning her son.
She knew which weaknesses could be disguised as habits.
Matteo rarely read routine family paperwork.
He delegated.
People obeyed.
Helena had built the plan inside those assumptions.
Dominic’s reaction was different.
When Matteo showed him the form, genuine shock crossed his face.
“I didn’t know she forged you.”
“You knew you were listed?”
“As emergency contact.”
“As guardian?”
Dominic looked away.
Matteo waited.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Helena said your lawyers recommended it.”
“My lawyers didn’t.”
“I know that now.”
Matteo stood.
“You knew my daughter was being taught to call you Daddy. You knew documents were being prepared to give you control if I disappeared.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“And you never asked me.”
“I should have.”
“That answer is getting old.”
Dominic stood too.
“You want the truth?”
“I’ve been waiting.”
“Your mother told me you were about to be indicted.”
The room went quiet.
Matteo’s attorney looked at him.
Matteo looked only at Dominic.
“When?”
May you like
“Before Christmas.”
It was September.
