Chapter 7
Matteo’s first instinct was to confront Helena immediately.
His attorney stopped him.
“If she is communicating with investigators, you need to assume anything you say could become relevant later.”
“You think she’s informing?”
“I think we don’t know.”
“I can ask her.”
“And she can lie.”
Matteo hated lawyers when they were correct.
Instead, he ordered a quiet review of what information had left Bellini-controlled companies during the previous year.
Not illegal surveillance.
Not retaliation.
A preservation audit.
Who accessed which files?
Who printed records?
Who requested copies?
The pattern was messy at first.
Then Helena’s name kept appearing.
She had requested internal financial summaries she had no operational reason to need.
Vendor histories.
Property-company ledgers.
Copies of old partnership agreements.
Travel reimbursements.
Dominic had accessed some of them too, usually after Helena asked.
“Why?” Matteo demanded.
Dominic looked exhausted.
“She said we needed to know what could become evidence.”
“For defense?”
“That’s what I thought.”
Matteo watched him.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I keep discovering I knew half of what she was doing.”
Dominic sat down.
Then he finally admitted something else.
Two months earlier, Helena had asked him to meet a former federal prosecutor who now worked privately.
The man asked Dominic broad questions about succession.
If Matteo were removed, who could keep the organization from fragmenting?
Would Dominic take control?
Would senior capos follow him?
Dominic had answered.
Matteo’s expression changed.
“You discussed replacing me with a former federal prosecutor?”
“He said he was advising Helena on exposure.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Dominic looked at him.
“Because part of me wanted to know the answer.”
That honesty was ugly.
Matteo respected it more than another excuse.
Dominic had not only been afraid.
He had been tempted.
If Matteo disappeared, Dominic would become the most obvious successor.
Guardian to Ava.
Head of the family.
The man everyone suddenly needed.
Dominic lowered his eyes.
“I told myself I was preparing.”
May you like
Matteo replied, “You were practicing being me.”
Neither man denied it.
