Chapter 8 - MY PARENTS' MARRIAGE STARTED THE WHOLE THING
Mom and Dad loved each other.
That part was real.
But their marriage also ended a business war between Bellori and Carter interests.
Salvatore witnessed it because he brokered the settlement.
In exchange, Bellori voting rights were placed into trusts controlled through future daughters.
Victoria and me.
Generational leverage disguised as inheritance.
Our entire family structure had been designed around women transferring power through marriage.
I felt nauseated.
Then I laughed.
“Everyone has spent decades arranging marriages around us.”
Dante said nothing.
Smart.
Victoria found another file.
Mom tried to dissolve the structure after we were born.
She wanted both daughters’ rights converted into ordinary assets.
Salvatore blocked it.
Gianna helped him.
Dad originally sided with Salvatore because the trust protected family wealth.
Then Mom’s stroke.
After that, Dad changed sides.
Too late.
He spent years quietly undoing the system.
That was why he resisted Dante and me marrying.
Not because he hated Dante.
Because marriage would activate mechanisms Mom died trying to escape.
Then why allow Dante to marry Victoria?
Emergency.
Salvatore had threatened me.
Victoria’s visible trust could neutralize him temporarily.
The marriage bought time.
Awful.
Effective.
Then Dad hid my inheritance.
Built safeguards.
Watched Switzerland.
Paid people.
Controlled everything.
He died before finishing.
Marcus inherited fragments.
Gianna inherited fear.
Dante inherited guilt.
Victoria inherited money she didn’t want.
And I inherited Leo.
The only person in the entire structure who had never signed anything.
Then Gianna resurfaced.
Not running.
Hospital.
Admitted after a car crash.
Was it real?
Yes.
She had tried to flee.
No attack.
No mystery sabotage.
Just ice.
Sometimes accidents remain accidents.
She survived.
Under guard.
Then she confessed partly.
She had drugged my mother years ago.
Not intending death, she claimed.
Sedative meant to stop her from meeting regulators.
Mom suffered a stroke.
Gianna covered it.
She also met Dad before his death.
But denied poisoning him.
Toxicology confirmed digoxin.
Who had access?
Dad’s physician.
Dr. Samuel Carter.
Marcus’s father.
My uncle.
Marcus went pale.
He truly did not know.
Samuel had been helping Dad medically.
Then phone records showed Gianna called Samuel nineteen times in the month before Dad died.
We found Samuel at home.
He confessed.
Gianna pressured him?
No.
He acted for Marcus.
Another twist.
Samuel believed Dad planned to cut Marcus out of Carter Development and expose old laundering, leaving his son ruined.
So he increased Dad’s medication.
Slowly.
Intended to weaken him.
Then killed him.
Marcus collapsed.
“My father did this for me?”
Samuel answered:
“Yes.”
Marcus whispered:
“I never asked you.”
Samuel replied:
“You didn’t have to.”
There it was again.
Families doing unforgivable things in the name of unrequested protection.
Samuel was arrested.
Gianna faced charges for the old assault against Mom and financial crimes.
Marcus surrendered his leverage files.
Then I thought the worst was over.
Until Leo disappeared from Mia’s mother’s backyard.
No broken gate.
No struggle.
One witness:
A black sedan.
And Leo had willingly gotten inside.
May you like
Because he recognized the driver.
Victoria.
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