Chapter 13
The first person Vittorio removed was not Marcus.
It was himself.
Not from the family.
From absolute control.
He established an independent finance review.
Operational approvals required two senior signatures.
Household staff received direct reporting channels outside family hierarchy.
Security access could no longer be changed by a single relative.
Marcus mocked the changes.
“You're turning a family into a corporation.”
Vittorio looked at him.
“No.”
He paused.
“I'm making it harder for men like you to hide inside my name.”
Marcus’s mouth tightened.
Bianca remained quieter.
She had stopped wearing jewelry.
Stopped arguing.
The arrogance that once filled every room had collapsed into exhaustion.
But she still had one piece of power.
She asked to speak with Vittorio privately.
He refused.
Emma and counsel remained.
Bianca looked humiliated.
That was intentional.
Not the humiliation.
The witnesses.
“No more private truths,” Vittorio said.
Bianca's fingers curled together.
“There’s something Elena didn't know.”
Marcus turned sharply.
“Bianca.”
She ignored him.
The power between brother and sister shifted for the final time.
“Marcus wasn't selling routes only to pay debts.”
Marcus stood.
A bodyguard moved.
He stopped.
Bianca looked at Vittorio.
“He wanted his own faction.”
Silence.
Marcus’s face became empty.
Bianca continued.
“He thought you'd become weak after Elena got sick.”
Vittorio watched Marcus.
“He was building loyalty outside your structure.”
Marcus finally snapped.
“You think I wanted your chair?”
Bianca answered for him.
“Yes.”
Marcus turned toward her.
The hatred in his eyes was immediate.
Bianca breathed in shakily.
“You told me after Elena was gone, Vittorio would depend on us.”
Vittorio understood.
Bianca’s relationship with him had not begun as a romance.
After Elena’s death, she became indispensable.
Lucy trusted her at first.
Vittorio trusted her grief.
Marcus controlled operations.
Brother and sister gradually occupied the empty spaces Elena left.
Bianca whispered:
“He said if I stayed close to you, we could keep the family stable.”
Vittorio stared.
“And you agreed.”
“At first, yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“Then I really loved you.”
Vittorio’s expression did not change.
May you like
That was the punishment.
Bianca finally learned there were confessions that came too late to matter.
