Chapter 7
Rose slept in a bassinet beside Dominic while he reviewed files with his lawyer.
For the first time since the gala, he had insisted on keeping no armed family men inside the room.
Only the court-approved child-care specialist and attorney.
The child-protection investigator had made the issue plain.
“You are a known organized-crime figure.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“Those statements can both be true.”
Dominic hated hearing that.
Still true.
The carriage incident triggered a formal safety review.
Rose had been endangered inside Dominic’s mansion, surrounded by his staff.
A judge allowed Rose to remain with Dominic temporarily only under conditions:
Licensed overnight caregiver.
Independent security screening.
No unsupervised contact with Veronica.
No criminal associates functioning as childcare.
Regular child-welfare visits.
Dominic agreed.
He would have agreed to almost anything.
Then his lawyer showed him Sofia’s last draft governance plan.
It was dated nine days before her disappearance.
The plan would have changed the foundation dramatically.
Veronica would lose automatic gala-chair authority.
All related-party vendor contracts would require independent review.
No Bellaforte family member could approve payments to another family member’s associate.
The board would expand from seven directors to eleven.
Independent directors would hold a majority.
Dominic himself would lose the right to appoint the chair.
His lawyer asked:
“You knew about this?”
“Parts.”
“Did you support it?”
Dominic looked toward Rose.
“After she was born, yes.”
That was important.
For years, Dominic tolerated Veronica because she raised enormous money and understood donors.
Sofia wanted systems instead of personalities.
Dominic resisted.
Then Rose arrived.
A child made succession suddenly real.
Not corporate succession.
Moral succession.
What did Rose inherit besides money and enemies?
Sofia said:
“If this foundation does good only because one powerful family allows it, then it isn’t strong. It’s dependent.”
Dominic finally agreed.
Veronica found out.
Her private messages to a friend became more bitter.
Sofia turned Dominic against his own blood.
Then:
Now the baby arrives and I’m supposed to smile while everything Marco and I built gets handed to outsiders.
And finally:
That child took everything from me.
The line she repeated at the gala.
Investigators now understood the emotion.
Rose did not literally own Veronica’s life.
Rose changed Dominic.
Dominic supported Sofia’s reform.
Sofia’s reform threatened Veronica’s authority.
But jealousy did not explain the missing-person operation.
It did not explain the insurance notice.
May you like
It did not explain North Pines.
There was another purpose.
