Chapter 6 - THE PRICE OF HIS FAMILY'S EMPIRE
“You knew Harborlight had access to my vehicle?”
Marco's question echoed through the ballroom.
Dominic looked exhausted.
“They were supposed to evaluate our security weaknesses.”
“Who hired them?”
“The proposal came through the existing security department. I approved the additional expense.”
Marco stared at him.
“You approved surveillance equipment inside my car?”
“I approved a security assessment. I didn't know they were filming you privately.”
“Did you ever bother checking?”
Dominic had no answer.
For years, Marco had regarded his cousin as a younger brother.
Their fathers had worked together.
They had celebrated Christmas at the same table.
And when Marco was recovering from surgery, Dominic had been the person he trusted to keep the family's businesses running.
Now that trust was lying in pieces.
“What did they offer you?” Marco asked.
Dominic looked away.
“A permanent executive position.”
“At my company?”
“At Bridgewater Holdings. After the acquisition.”
Marco slowly nodded.
“So you were willing to sell my father's company for a title.”
“That's not fair.”
“Then make it fair.”
Dominic finally raised his voice.
“You were gone for four months, Marco! Employees needed answers. Investors were threatening to withdraw. Every day, someone asked whether you were coming back, and I didn't know what to tell them.”
Marco stared at him.
Dominic continued.
“For once, I was the person making decisions. For once, people listened when I spoke.”
The admission hung between them.
Marco had spent years protecting his cousin.
He had never considered that Dominic might resent needing that protection.
“I wanted to matter,” Dominic whispered.
Marco looked away.
“Then you should have built something of your own.”
Celia quietly approached Sofia.
“The police have begun taking statements in the adjoining sitting room. The guests who witnessed the incident are being interviewed.”
Sofia nodded.
An officer had already photographed her swollen cheek and injured wrist.
For the first time, she felt that someone outside the Bellini household was listening.
But the danger wasn't over.
Dr. Price's report could prevent the board from declaring Marco permanently incapacitated.
Yet the morning meeting was still scheduled.
The trustees had not agreed to cancel it.
And Dominic's temporary authority remained legally active until Marco's restoration was formally recognized.
Marco sat at the long dining table, studying the financial summary Dominic had brought from his office.
An old photograph stood on the nearby mantel.
It showed Marco's father standing beside twenty dockworkers.
Their sleeves were rolled up.
Their shoes were dirty.
Every man in the picture was smiling.
Marco remembered that afternoon.
His father had insisted that the workers eat first at the company's anniversary celebration.
“Without them,” he had said, “there is no Bellini family business.”
Now Marco looked at the proposed acquisition.
Thirty-two million dollars.
A bargain price for a company worth much more.
And there was another provision.
The purchaser intended to consolidate operations and eliminate several hundred positions.
Marco's jaw tightened.
“Dominic, did you read the employee retention agreement?”
Dominic hesitated.
“I reviewed the financial terms.”
“You didn't read the pages about the workers?”
“Those terms were negotiable.”
Marco pushed the document toward him.
“Not after the sale.”
Sofia watched from the doorway.
She understood what losing a job meant.
Her mother depended on the money Sofia sent home each month.
Celia was nearing retirement.
Several kitchen employees had worked at the mansion for decades.
To wealthy men discussing acquisitions, a reduction in payroll was a line on a spreadsheet.
To ordinary families, it meant unpaid rent and empty refrigerators.
Marco turned another page.
Then stopped.
The purchase agreement included a financial guarantee backed by a reserve associated with Bellini Port Logistics' employee retirement obligations.
He looked at Dominic.
“You used retirement money as part of the arrangement?”
Dominic's face drained.
“It was presented as a temporary guarantee.”
“Whose idea?”
“Bridgewater's financial advisers.”
“And you approved it?”
Dominic covered his face.
Marco stood.
“You were supposed to protect these people.”
His voice was low.
“Some of them worked for my father before you were born.”
Dominic said nothing.
Marco looked toward Sofia.
“Miss Ramirez, would you ask Mrs. Ward to bring me the household employment records?”
Sofia nodded.
Then paused.
“Mr. Bellini, why?”
“Because I want to know how many employees this arrangement could hurt.”
Before she could leave, Celia returned carrying another folder.
“I believe this belongs with the acquisition papers, sir.”
It contained the proposed household restructuring plan.
New management.
Outside security.
Reduced domestic staff.
The list of positions to be eliminated stretched across three pages.
Sofia found her name almost immediately.
SOFIA RAMIREZ — TERMINATION UPON TRANSFER.
She had expected that.
She was young.
She had little seniority.
But the next name made her chest tighten.
CELIA WARD — TERMINATION WITHOUT RETIREMENT EXTENSION.
Eighteen years of service.
No farewell.
No recognition.
Just a line on a page.
Celia read it silently.
Then she took off her glasses.
“I gave this house eighteen years,” she whispered.
Sofia reached for her hand.
Marco stared at the list.
The conspiracy wasn't only about replacing him.
It was about erasing everyone who might remember how the Bellini household used to operate.
And at the bottom of the page, Sofia discovered a final instruction.
All household records to be transferred to Harborlight Protective Services before 7:30 A.M.
She checked the time.
There were less than ten hours left.
May you like
If the transfer occurred, the people who had secretly filmed Marco would gain control of every employment record, staff schedule, and security log in the mansion.
Including the records that might prove who had tried to kill him.
