Chapter 14
A year after Luca's birth, the reserve's legal and financial matters were largely resolved.
Sabina had completed the criminal and civil requirements attached to her conduct and continued making restitution payments under a court-approved schedule.
She lived outside New York and worked in a financial administration role with no access to Corsetti accounts.
Beatrice had no family-office authority.
She maintained her own household and finances.
Neither woman had contact with Luca.
Damien and Elara moved out of the old family estate.
Not because the building was unsafe.
Because Elara wanted a home where every room did not carry somebody else's authority.
They bought a smaller house near the Hudson River.
Still luxurious.
Still protected.
But the nursery belonged to them.
Elara chose the furniture.
Damien assembled the crib badly.
A professional corrected it.
Luca learned to crawl across the living-room carpet and developed a habit of hiding socks beneath the sofa.
He had no idea how much conflict had surrounded his first day of life.
Elara intended to keep it that way until he was old enough to understand.
Damien began reducing his involvement in the older Corsetti organization.
His legitimate businesses were separated from family-controlled financial arrangements.
Outside directors gained more authority.
He stopped treating relatives as automatically qualified for executive roles.
Some relatives called him disloyal.
He accepted the criticism.
One afternoon, Elara found him reading the final reserve audit.
Again.
She sat beside him.
“Are you looking for something new?”
“No.”
“Then why keep reading it?”
Damien closed the folder.
“I keep thinking about how obvious it looks now.”
“Most things do afterward.”
“I signed those papers.”
“You signed acknowledgments. You didn't authorize them to hurt me.”
“I still helped build the system.”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
She continued.
“You can admit that without making yourself the center of what happened.”
Damien smiled faintly.
“That sounds like something Rebecca would say.”
“Rebecca's usually right.”
“Unfortunately.”
Elara leaned against him.
Luca crawled across the carpet, found a sock, and held it up triumphantly.
Damien watched his son.
The family reserve was no longer a throne.
May you like
It was money governed by rules.
That was enough.
