Chapter 14
Vivienne’s case concluded more than two years after the christening.
Her defense successfully narrowed several accusations.
She had not kidnapped Gabriel from the property.
She had not bribed a judge.
She had not completed an illegal adoption.
The hospital barcode tampering, forged parent acknowledgments, false adoption representations, attempted custodial interference, and related financial concealment remained.
Her physical lunge after the mismatch also mattered because it occurred after Roman had already taken Gabriel away from Bianca.
Vivienne eventually entered negotiated pleas covering document fraud, identity-related misuse, attempted custodial interference, and financial false-statement offenses.
The court considered her age.
Lack of prior convictions.
Restitution.
The fact that no child was physically removed from parental custody.
It also considered sustained planning around a newborn and abuse of confidential medical identifiers.
Vivienne received a custodial sentence followed by supervised release.
Financial penalties.
Restitution.
And long-term restrictions preventing her from serving as trustee, guardian, adoption intermediary, fiduciary, corporate officer, or authorized manager of DeLuca family assets.
A protective order barred contact with Roman’s children.
That relationship was finished during their childhood.
Vivienne’s six-percent widow voting block moved under professional administration according to settlement and trust orders.
Bianca turned thirty-six without a legal descendant.
Exactly as Salvatore’s trust provided, her nine-percent voting component converted into nonvoting economic interests.
She did not become poor.
She did not lose her home.
She retained substantial wealth.
The nine voting points moved to National Harbor’s independent governance pool.
The February board meeting happened without Vivienne controlling the outcome.
Vesta was already gone.
The DeLuca Hospitality board adopted stricter related-party transaction rules and independent conflict review.
Roman supported them.
Then did something his father would have considered almost insulting.
He declined the board’s offer to chair the family governance committee.
“Why?” one director asked.
Roman looked toward the professional trustee.
“Because my last name is not a compliance credential.”
That sentence eventually reached newspapers covering the legitimate company.
People treated it like evidence Roman had transformed.
He had not.
Roman still had a criminal history.
Still lived with security.
Still had federal investigations circling parts of his world unrelated to the family case.
Loving his children did not absolve the rest of his life.
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What changed was narrower.
Inside his house, he stopped confusing power with protection.
