Chapter 2
Fabio said nothing for several seconds.
“Yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“Before dinner.”
“Yes.”
“What was the hearing supposed to be about?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Fabio walked toward the hospital window.
Rain streaked the glass.
Behind him, Juliet sat beside Mabel.
Adrian continued.
“I need you not to call Constance.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Do not call anyone on the board either.”
“Why?”
“Because Monday’s governance vote just became relevant.”
Fabio understood immediately.
The DeSantis Family Trust owned forty-one percent of DeSantis Maritime & Infrastructure, the legitimate holding company through which most of the family’s modern wealth operated.
Ports.
Commercial real estate.
Warehousing.
Construction.
Private aviation services.
The family’s darker history belonged to an older generation.
Fabio had spent fifteen years forcing the current enterprise into audited, regulated structures.
Constance hated almost every reform.
Monday’s vote was the largest yet.
Fabio wanted to eliminate what remained of the “family emergency authority.”
The authority allowed Constance, as senior family trustee, to approve up to $5 million in emergency security and family-continuity spending without full committee approval.
It had made sense decades earlier.
Now it was a loophole.
Fabio’s proposed amendment would require an independent trustee to approve every emergency distribution above $250,000.
Constance called it humiliation.
Fabio called it accounting.
Two months earlier, the finance team discovered $3.7 million in emergency payments to a company called Veridian Protective Consulting.
The invoices were vague.
Security readiness.
Estate risk management.
Threat assessment.
Fabio requested supporting records.
Constance refused.
Then another $2.1 million appeared.
Different vendor.
Same descriptions.
That was when Fabio ordered an outside audit.
Monday’s amendment would make the change permanent.
Adrian asked:
“If Constance obtained a protective order that restricted direct contact between you and her, could you participate in Monday’s vote?”
“Remotely.”
“Maybe.”
Fabio frowned.
“What are you getting at?”
“The family trust agreement requires both family trustees to participate in certain governance amendments unless one is temporarily unable to serve.”
Fabio’s eyes narrowed.
“If I’m suspended?”
“An independent special fiduciary could be appointed.”
“That wouldn’t give Mom control.”
“No.”
“So what does she gain?”
“Time.”
Fabio looked toward Juliet.
Time.
Mabel shifted in her sleep.
Then Juliet said quietly:
“Fabio.”
He turned.
“I called your office at six fifteen.”
“What?”
“She had a fever. I called you.”
“And?”
“Your mother came to the nursery ten minutes later.”
Fabio stared.
“How did she know?”
“I assumed your office told her.”
“What did she say?”
Juliet looked unsettled.
“She told me not to make a scene until after dinner.”
“Exact words.”
“‘If you drag that child out before dessert, Fabio will explode and ruin everything.’”
Fabio became very still.
Not:
Mabel will be fine.
Not:
The fever is nothing.
May you like
Fabio will explode.
His mother had been thinking about his reaction before dinner even began.
