Chapter 7 - BRUNO'S CONFESSION
Elio put a gun on the table.
Bruno didn't reach for his.
That was the first reason Janevra believed him.
The second was the way Bruno looked at Elio.
Not like a traitor.
Like a man about to lose his brother.
"My younger brother, Matteo, disappeared four months ago."
Elio said nothing.
Bruno continued.
"The Santoros took him. They wanted information about your movements."
"And you gave it to them?"
"I gave them garbage."
"What about the gala?"
"I never told them."
Janevra placed the photograph down.
"Then why meet their lieutenant?"
Bruno swallowed.
"Because they sent me proof Matteo was still alive."
The room changed.
Elio's anger remained, but certainty disappeared.
Bruno pulled a small flash drive from his pocket.
"They wanted me to place this inside your office computer."
"Did you?"
"No."
"What's on it?"
"I don't know."
Janevra did.
"Don't plug it into anything connected to the network."
Everyone looked at her.
She almost laughed.
Apparently being underestimated had advantages.
A security specialist examined the drive offline.
It contained surveillance photographs.
Bank records.
Property documents.
And a video.
Daario appeared onscreen speaking to someone outside the frame.
"The marriage changes everything," he said.
"When Victoriao dies, Janevra controls the ports. When Janevra dies, her husband inherits through the marital trust."
Elio went completely still.
Janevra felt cold spread through her body.
Daario continued.
"Then Elio dies, and the Vieira succession passes where it belongs."
The recording ended.
Janevra stared at Elio.
"Where it belongs?"
Bruno looked sick.
Elio finally answered.
"Daario is next in line after me."
Janevra understood.
Their wedding hadn't created peace.
It had created the perfect chain of inheritance.
Victoriao.
Janevra.
Elio.
Three deaths.
One beneficiary.
But the final document on the flash drive carried a signature Janevra hadn't expected.
Her father's.
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And beneath it was a legal transfer dated ten years earlier.
According to the document, Janevra already owned the Moretti ports.
