THE MAFIA BOSS NEEDED A WIFE FOR ONE WEEKEND—SHE CHANGED HIS FAMILY FOREVER

Vittorio ended the call.

For several seconds, neither he nor Evelyn moved.

Then he placed the phone on the piano.

"You shouldn't have been listening."

"I wasn't trying to."

"But you were."

Evelyn could have apologized and left. Instead, she stepped into the room.

"Who was never supposed to be involved?"

Vittorio's expression hardened.

"This is not your concern."

"Someone threatened me. Someone falsified records in Daniel's name. Someone removed your succession papers. And I just heard you say no one was supposed to be harmed."

He stared at her.

"Do you think I would allow anyone to harm my family?"

"I don't know what you would allow. That's why I'm asking."

Vittorio looked toward the dark windows.

"Twenty years ago, I made a business arrangement with a man named Peter Bell, Adrian's father. Peter helped us survive a difficult period when the company was close to collapse. He brought investors, secured financing, and introduced us to partners who were willing to work with a family whose reputation was not always respectable."

"Was Northline part of that arrangement?"

"Not then."

"Was the waterfront project?"

Vittorio shook his head.

"The original agreement was legal. It involved a loan and a share of future profits. But when Peter died, Adrian began managing his father's interests. He believed the Carusos owed him more than the contract provided."

"Did you agree?"

"No."

"Then why are you speaking to him as though you made a deal about the missing papers?"

Vittorio's jaw tightened.

"Because I made a mistake."

He explained that Adrian had approached him months earlier with evidence that the company's former partners had concealed liabilities. He claimed that a group of investors intended to challenge the trust structure and force a sale of several valuable properties.

Adrian offered to protect the family by restructuring the voting rights and securing the investors' support.

Vittorio had agreed to review the proposal.

He had not agreed to the altered inspection report, the suspicious payments, or the removal of the archive box.

But he had kept the negotiations secret from Luca because he feared his son would reject the plan before the details were clear.

"You hid a business arrangement from your own family," Evelyn said.

"I was protecting them."

"From what?"

"From losing everything."

Evelyn looked at him steadily.

"Sometimes people lose everything because they spend too long protecting the appearance that they have nothing to fear."

Vittorio lowered his eyes.

The words seemed to echo in the room.

"Adrian said the girl was dangerous," he murmured.

"Which girl?"

"Sophia."

Evelyn felt her stomach tighten.

Vittorio explained that Adrian had warned him Sophia's photographs could trigger a public investigation. He had suggested that she be persuaded to stop publishing, preferably by offering her a paid position with the company's charitable foundation.

Vittorio had considered the proposal.

He had not told Luca.

"He wanted to buy her silence," Evelyn said.

"He called it an opportunity."

"Did Sophia know?"

"No."

"Did you approve the offer?"

Vittorio looked away.

"I told Adrian to wait."

"That isn't the same as refusing."

"No," he admitted.

Evelyn took a breath.

"Then you need to tell Luca everything. Not tomorrow. Not after you have found a way to make it less embarrassing. Now."

Vittorio stood.

"You don't understand what happens when this family loses control."

"Maybe control is what got you here."

He looked at her with anger, but beneath it she saw something more fragile.

Fear of losing the only identity he had ever trusted.

Vittorio called Luca.

Within fifteen minutes, Luca, Marco, Sophia, and Margaret were in the music room. Vittorio explained the negotiations with Adrian, the proposal involving Sophia, and the missing papers.

Luca listened without interruption.

When his father finished, Luca's voice was almost unnaturally calm.

"You let Adrian negotiate changes to our trust structure without telling me."

"I intended to resolve it before it became a problem."

"It is a problem."

"I know that now."

"No, Father. You knew it when you made the deal. You simply believed you could control the consequences."

Vittorio flinched.

Sophia looked at her grandfather.

"Did you ever consider asking me what I wanted?"

He did not answer.

Luca turned to Margaret.

"Notify the trustees. Preserve every record of the negotiations. We are suspending all dealings with Adrian and Northline until the investigation is complete."

Margaret nodded.

Then she looked at Vittorio.

"There's another issue. The archive box contained a handwritten amendment giving a third party an option to purchase a portion of the voting shares under certain conditions."

Luca went still.

"What third party?"

Margaret opened her folder.

"The name is not on the digitized copy. We need the original to identify the beneficiary."

Evelyn remembered Vittorio's telephone call.

The girl was never supposed to be involved.

She looked at the old man.

"Who is the girl?"