Chapter 4 - VITTORIO’S OFFER
Vittorio requested a meeting.
He wanted neutral ground.
I chose my attorney’s office.
Not a restaurant.
Not a warehouse.
Not somewhere my old life could turn law into theater.
My attorney, Sofia’s former junior counsel Angela Bellini—daughter of the late Bellini—sat beside me.
Vittorio arrived with two lawyers.
No soldiers.
Good.
He smiled when he saw me.
“Nephew.”
“Uncle.”
“You look tired.”
“I have four children.”
His smile disappeared.
Good.
“So it’s true.”
“You already knew.”
“I suspected.”
“How?”
“One of Elena’s charity payments.”
I glanced at Angela.
She made a note.
Vittorio continued.
“Four boys require money.”
“They had money.”
“Sofia’s trust?”
He knew too much.
I said nothing.
Then he leaned back.
“This does not need to become ugly.”
“That depends on you.”
“I want DNA verification.”
“Already done.”
His eyes changed.
“And legal recognition?”
“In progress.”
“You’re moving quickly.”
“I lost four years.”
That shut him up briefly.
Then:
“The family trust is complicated.”
“No.”
I smiled faintly.
“That is what people say when the document is clear but they dislike the result.”
Angela almost smiled.
Vittorio’s lawyers remained expressionless.
The trust was clear.
My legitimate descendants inherited my branch.
Recognized children existed.
Therefore Vittorio’s contingent claim disappeared.
He had spent years expecting one day to control everything.
Now four preschoolers stood between him and that future.
But then he surprised me.
“I don’t want them dead.”
I stared.
He looked offended.
“Do you really think that?”
“I think you spent years searching for them.”
“To confirm whether they existed.”
“Why?”
“Because Sofia accused me of planning your death.”
Silence.
My body went still.
“What?”
Vittorio opened a folder.
Inside was a copy of one of Sofia’s letters.
If anything happens to Alejandro, look at Vittorio first.
My jaw tightened.
“You had this?”
“For five years.”
“Where did you get it?”
“From Bellini’s office after he died.”
Angela’s face hardened.
“That file was privileged.”
Vittorio shrugged.
“Your father had careless clerks.”
Angela did not respond.
I looked at the letter.
Sofia believed Vittorio wanted me dead.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe fear amplified everything.
I asked:
“Did you?”
Vittorio stared at me.
“No.”
“Were you moving money?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect my share from you.”
That almost made me laugh.
He continued.
“You were consolidating legitimate companies and cutting family members out of old cash businesses. Half the family thought you intended to starve them.”
“I intended to stop crimes that kept us vulnerable.”
“You intended to become respectable.”
“Yes.”
He smiled bitterly.
“Exactly.”
The family had been changing under me.
I had spent years moving us away from illegal operations.
Some men called that weakness.
Others called it survival.
Vittorio called it betrayal.
But did that make him a murderer?
Not automatically.
Angela asked:
“Did you order surveillance on Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I thought she was hiding assets.”
“Did you know about the embryos?”
“Eventually.”
“Did you attempt to locate the children?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vittorio looked at me.
“Because I believed Sofia was creating heirs specifically to strip my branch of everything.”
My stomach turned.
Children reduced to voting shares.
He continued.
“I wanted proof.”
“Your men showed up at my gate.”
“To talk.”
“Three SUVs.”
“Would you have opened the gate if I sent flowers?”
Fair.
Still stupid.
Then he said something that shifted everything.
“You think I found the boys recently.”
“Yes.”
“I found them two years ago.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“I knew where they were.”
“Then why leave them alone?”
“Because someone else was watching them too.”
Angela leaned forward.
“Who?”
Vittorio looked toward me.
“Your cousin Marco.”
My father’s sister’s son.
A man I trusted.
A man who sat at my table.
A man currently serving as chief financial officer of Moretti Holdings.
Vittorio smiled without humor.
May you like
“You have been looking at the wrong villain.”
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