Chapter 10 - I WAS WORTH MORE TO THEM THAN I KNEW
Valentina returned to her mother’s villa furious enough to shake.
“Twelve percent?”
Lucia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your grandmother invested before Bellini Maritime expanded.”
“And you never told me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Valentina laughed.
That phrase had become almost insulting.
“From what?”
“From becoming valuable to men who count women in percentages.”
That answer was better than she expected.
Still not enough.
Lucia explained.
Her mother invested decades earlier when Bellini Maritime was small.
The shares passed to Lucia.
Under her estate plan, half would go to Isabella.
Half to Valentina.
Six percent each.
But because of a voting agreement tied to Moretti land holdings, Valentina’s future six percent carried disproportionate influence over a logistics corridor dispute.
Combine it with Luca’s Bellini shares and the vineyard route—
He would have held a major bloc.
Marco Vescari knew.
Celeste probably did not.
Alessandro definitely did.
And Dante?
No.
For the first time, Valentina believed someone powerful truly had not known the value assigned to her.
She called him.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“Yes.”
“Even if it hurt your position?”
Pause.
“Yes.”
That pause mattered.
He had actually considered the cost before answering.
Honesty.
She trusted that more than instant virtue.
Then Lucia said:
“There’s another reason I kept it hidden.”
Of course.
The voting trust contained a marriage restriction.
If Valentina married into the Bellini family before age thirty, her shares would temporarily consolidate under her spouse’s branch for seven years.
Valentina went cold.
“Who wrote that?”
“My father.”
“Why?”
“Old alliance planning.”
“Can it be changed?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Any time before transfer.”
Valentina stared.
She was twenty-eight.
Her mother could remove the clause now.
Lucia reached for the file.
“I should have years ago.”
“Yes.”
No softening.
No pretending.
Lucia signed amendment instructions that afternoon.
The forced leverage vanished.
Valentina expected relief.
Instead she felt something else.
Power.
Not the power of ownership.
The power of finally knowing the rules.
Then Dante arrived.
Alone.
No security inside the gates.
He stood in the garden.
“I came to tell you before someone else does.”
That sentence made her stomach tighten.
“What?”
“My Board met.”
“And?”
“I’m stepping down temporarily.”
“What happened?”
“Alessandro’s suppression of the affair compromised internal oversight.”
“That was him.”
“My system allowed it.”
Again.
Responsibility.
No escape.
Dante continued.
“I need an external audit.”
Valentina looked at him.
“What happens to you?”
“I wait.”
She smiled faintly.
“You’re very bad at that.”
“Yes.”
Then his phone rang.
He listened.
All expression disappeared.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“Marco Vescari has entered Italy.”
“Why?”
Dante looked toward Lucia’s house.
“He requested a private meeting.”
“With who?”
“Not me.”
A pause.
May you like
“With your mother.”
And Lucia had already agreed to see him.
