Chapter 3: The Signature She Needed
Genevieve closed the study door and rested her champagne flute on Alessandro’s desk.
“You placed a tap on my phone.”
“You carry a burner I never gave you.”
“A woman in my position needs privacy.”
Dante moved between her and the receiver.
Genevieve looked past him at the security monitor, and her smile thinned.
“Leave us, Dante.”
“He stays,” Alessandro said.
“Then play the recording.”
Dante pressed the button.
Genevieve’s voice filled the room again.
“Once Alessandro signs after the wedding, he won’t control anything.”
Genevieve picked up the receiver and turned it over in her hand.
“You heard nine words and decided I was betraying you?”
“I heard enough to ask what I’m signing.”
“A charitable trust.” She set the receiver down.
“Your wedding gift to the families displaced by the South Harbor project.”
“I approved no such trust.”
“You told me you wanted to repair your family’s name.”
“I did not give you control of my companies.”
Genevieve stepped closer and lowered her voice.
“You think every conversation involving your money is a conspiracy.
That is your father speaking through you.”
Alessandro’s hand closed around the edge of the desk.
Genevieve glanced at his knuckles and smiled as though she had found a bruise.
“Don’t use my father to avoid my question.”
“Then ask a better one.”
“Who was on the phone?”
“My attorney.”
“What is his name?”
“You already know him.”
The study door opened again.
Silvio entered without knocking, carrying a leather folder under one arm.
“There you are,” he said.
“The guests are waiting for the toast.”
Alessandro turned the monitor toward him.
“Your access code erased eleven minutes of security footage.”
Silvio stopped beside Genevieve.
“Are you accusing me?”
“I’m asking you to explain it.”
“I authorized a private conversation in a private corridor.
Genevieve was discussing your wedding gift.”
“With a burner?”
Silvio’s mouth pulled into a patient smile.
“You run a global logistics company, yet a second phone frightens you?”
Genevieve slid her engagement ring from her finger and placed it on the desk.
“If you believe a child over the woman you planned to marry, perhaps this belongs here.”
Alessandro looked at the ring but did not reach for it.
“Tell me what I’m supposed to sign.”
Silvio opened the leather folder.
Inside lay a thick document marked RIENZI LEGACY TRUST.
“This transfers temporary voting authority after the wedding,” Silvio said.
“It protects the company if anything happens to you.”
“Authority transfers to whom?”
“To your wife and the family council.”
“Which you chair.”
Silvio shut the folder.
“That arrangement saved this family after your father became ill.”
“My father was never declared incapable.”
“No,” Silvio said softly.
“He simply became dangerous.”
Alessandro’s chair scraped behind him as he stood.
“You have thirty seconds to tell me why you hid this.”
Genevieve put her ring back on.
“Because you would never willingly release control.”
“And erasing the footage?”
“To protect the judge who drafted the preliminary language,” Silvio said.
“He cannot appear connected to your family before the document is filed.”
Dante’s phone lit up.
He read the message, then silently handed it to Alessandro.
The burner had transmitted one text moments before Genevieve entered the study.
THE CHILD HEARD ME.
MOVE PHASE TWO TO TONIGHT.
Alessandro raised his eyes to Genevieve.
“What is Phase Two?”
May you like
For the first time that evening, her smile disappeared.
“Where is Amara?”
