Chapter 25 - The War Room
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The moment Vivian’s car cleared the front gates, the library transformed into a war room.
Luca had his lead corporate attorney, Marcus, on a secure video call within ten minutes. I sat beside my mother on the leather sofa, holding her trembling hands. Alessandra had retreated to her private quarters, utterly broken by the revelation of her discarded daughter.
“Marcus, I need you to verify the authenticity of a Swiss document immediately,” Luca barked into the screen, uploading a high-resolution scan of Vivian’s paperwork.
“I’m looking at it now, Luca,” Marcus replied, his brow furrowed. “The notary seal is genuine. The signature matches Antonio’s known exemplars. If this document holds up in an American probate court, she genuinely has a claim to fifty percent of the liquid assets in the primary trust.”
“How much are we talking about?” I asked.
Marcus hesitated. “Roughly three billion dollars.”
The number hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.
“We can’t just hand over three billion dollars to a woman who just threatened our daughter,” I said, looking at Luca.
“We aren't handing her a dime,” Luca stated, his jaw set in a hard, unforgiving line. “Vivian thinks she can walk in here and use the threat of a scandal to extort us. She underestimated who she is dealing with.”
“Luca, she has leverage,” my mother pointed out nervously. “If she goes to the press, the affordable medical housing project—Eleanor House—could lose its federal funding due to the association with an ongoing fraud investigation.”
“She won't go to the press,” Luca said coldly.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because people who hide in Switzerland for thirty years always have skeletons of their own,” Luca replied, closing his laptop. “She didn't just survive on a boarding school allowance. She built a life. I want to know exactly how she funded it, who her associates are, and what she is desperately trying to keep hidden.”
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He turned to me, his dark eyes fierce and protective.
“She threatened Grace, Emma. The moment she did that, she stopped being a legal problem. She became a target.”
