Chapter 10 - The Broken Chain of Command
Julian dropped the wrench onto the stone floor. It clattered loudly, rolling toward the water’s edge. His hands began to tremble.
“I didn't know Owen would be there,” Julian stammered, his eyes darting toward the exits. “I swear on my children's lives, Valentina! Victor told me it was just an insurance demonstration—an engineering pretext to force the conservatory board to shut down the wing for renovations!”
“An insurance demonstration?” Valentina scoffed, stepping closer. The fury in her gaze made the grown man shrink back. “You disabled the fail-safe on an open water exhibit during a public reception hosted for a three-year-old child!”
“Victor said Celeste was going to stage a slip near the steps!” Julian pleaded, sweating profusely despite the cool night air. “He said she would drop an antique vase to create a scene and challenge your safety protocol! He never said Owen would be pushed!”
“And yet, on the recording, you asked him if the platform was still in,” Valentina said coldly. “You knew the risk. You knew the water depth. And when Victor told you ‘it doesn't matter,’ you didn't reinstall it. You walked away.”
Julian fell to his knees on the wet pavers. “Victor has my debts. He bought out the offshore loan notes on my brother’s logistics firm. If I refused him, he was going to leak the altered manifests to federal investigators. I had no choice!”
“You always had a choice,” Valentina said without a shred of pity. “You chose a predator over a child.”
She turned to Nolan. “Confine him to the east wing holding room. Strip his communications, mirror his phone’s hard drive, and pull every message exchange between him and Victor over the last six months.”
“Valentina, please!” Julian shouted as two guards hauled him to his feet. “Victor isn't working alone! You think this is just about the conservatory? Look at the trust reallocation! Look at what Matteo hid in Zurich!”
Valentina stopped in her tracks. “What did you say?”
Julian swallowed hard, breathing erratically. “Matteo didn't leave the Morello foundation solely to you or Victor. There’s a blind codicil filed under an offshore entity called *Aegis-Seven*. Victor has been trying to crack the keycode for six weeks. He needed you discredited and deemed mentally unfit before the quarterly probate audit on Friday, or the entire estate defaults to an irrevocable third-party receiver!”
Valentina stared at him. “Who is the third-party receiver?”
Julian’s lips parted, but before he could speak, the shrill ring of Valentina’s private mobile cut through the air.
It was Dr. Mercer from Owen’s private medical wing.
Valentina swiped the screen. “Doctor?”
May you like
“Mrs. Morello,” Mercer’s voice came through, strained and urgent. “We have a critical situation. Celeste just arrived with a court-appointed child welfare advocate and two sheriff’s deputies. They’re serving an emergency custody intervention order.”
***
