Chapter 15 - The Blood Covenant
“Victor didn't just want to embarrass me,” Valentina whispered, the horror blooming in her chest. “He didn't just want me deemed unfit. If Owen had drowned in that pond...”
“Victor would have inherited seventy billion dollars in sovereign assets and shipping monopolies,” Rebecca finished, her voice shaking. “He would have controlled the entire global network, untouchable by any court or board of directors.”
Valentina gripped the edge of the mahogany desk. Matteo had tried to protect Owen by hiding his inheritance in a blind trust, but by making Victor the secondary beneficiary, he had unwittingly painted a massive crosshair on their son’s back.
“Matteo wasn't naive,” Valentina said, pacing the room. “He knew Victor was ruthless. Why would he ever name Victor as the secondary beneficiary? It makes no sense. Matteo despised Victor’s greed.”
“Unless Matteo didn't write that clause,” Nolan interjected, pulling up the code repository for the trust filing. “Look at the cryptographic signature on Clause 14-B. The main trust was signed with Matteo’s private 256-bit security key in Zurich on January 12th. But Clause 14-B was appended two weeks later in New York.”
“Matteo was in intensive care in New York two weeks later,” Valentina said, her pulse racing. “He was heavily sedated after his second heart surgery. He could barely hold a pen, let alone authorize an offshore codicil.”
“Someone forged his digital authorization,” Rebecca said. “Someone who had physical access to Matteo’s biometric token while he was lying in that hospital bed.”
Valentina’s mind raced through the hospital room’s visitor logs. Victor had been barred from the floor by hospital security. Julian Vance was managing the estate logistics in Chicago.
Only three people had held unmonitored access to Matteo’s ICU room during those critical forty-eight hours.
Valentina herself.
Dr. Harrison, the chief cardiac surgeon.
And Matteo’s lifelong personal attorney and trustee—the man who had drafted the Morello family charter forty years ago.
“Arthur Pendelton,” Valentina whispered.
“Pendelton?” Rebecca looked stunned. “Pendelton has been the family’s legal patriarch since your grandfather’s era! He’s eighty years old. He delivered Matteo’s eulogy!”
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“Pendelton was the only one who had the physical biometric keycard to Matteo’s safe deposit box during the surgery,” Valentina said, the pieces snapping together into a grotesque, terrifying puzzle. “Victor didn't plan this alone. Victor is the brute force. Arthur Pendelton is the architect.”
***
