Chapter 5 - Midnight Vote
Bellini Maritime’s emergency board meeting took place forty minutes away in a glass tower overlooking the river.
Valerio wanted Alessia to stay behind.
Alessia wanted to throw something at him.
They compromised by taking Nathan, Marco, two attorneys, and enough security to make the hospital’s parking garage look like a diplomatic convoy.
In the elevator, Alessia stared at her reflection.
Wedding makeup. Hospital bracelet. Leg brace. Anger.
“You look terrifying,” Valerio said.
“Good.”
The boardroom doors opened at 3:02 a.m.
Cesare Rinaldi sat at the head of the table.
He was sixty-three, silver-haired, elegant, and patient in the way only men who believed time belonged to them could be patient.
“Alessia,” he said. “You should be resting.”
“You should be explaining why you forged my signature.”
Every face at the table turned.
Cesare’s smile barely changed.
“That document protects your assets if your condition worsens.”
“My condition was being worsened.”
Valerio placed the toxicology report on the table.
The room went quiet.
Nathan added the pharmacy record.
Then Alessia slid forward the forged power of attorney.
“You filed this after Veronica put me on the floor.”
Cesare leaned back.
“Careful.”
“No. You be careful.”
For the first time, Valerio looked almost proud.
A board attorney cleared his throat. “The vote concerns temporary custodial control of Mrs. Rinaldi’s shares. If the medical certification is disputed, we should adjourn.”
Cesare’s voice hardened.
“The company cannot freeze because of a domestic scene.”
Alessia looked at him.
“There was no domestic scene. There was an assault.”
The doors opened again.
A woman from the company’s compliance office hurried in carrying a folder.
“We have a problem.”
She placed a time-stamped document on the table.
The hospitalization certificate had been uploaded at 9:41 p.m.
Alessia checked the time of her fall.
9:59 p.m.
Eighteen minutes later.
Someone had filed proof of her “neurological collapse” before Veronica ever pulled the chair.
Valerio stared at Cesare.
“You knew she was going to fall.”
Cesare said nothing.
Then every phone in the room buzzed at once.
A financial alert.
Bellini Maritime had just transferred forty-eight million dollars into a temporary escrow account under emergency authority.
May you like
The authorization bore Alessia’s forged signature.
And the receiving bank was in Switzerland.
