Chapter 2 - Before Monday
The ambulance arrived seven minutes later.
Silvio rode with Ethan and Mia to the hospital.
Grant and Lucinda followed in another vehicle because Silvio’s security team made sure they could not disappear.
By the time the doctors finished the first examination, Ethan was on IV fluids.
Mia was asleep beneath a cooling blanket.
The attending physician stepped into the hallway.
“They were fortunate.”
Silvio’s jaw tightened.
“How fortunate?”
“Another twenty or thirty minutes could have changed the outcome dramatically.”
Silvio stared through the glass.
Ethan was awake.
The boy looked smaller in the hospital bed than he had outside the estate.
“What should I do now?”
“Keep them here overnight.”
Silvio nodded.
“And document everything.”
The doctor studied him.
“We already are.”
Silvio understood the look.
The physician knew this was no accident.
When Silvio returned to the private waiting room, Lucinda was sitting perfectly straight in an upholstered chair.
Grant paced beside the windows.
Two security men stood near the door.
Lucinda looked up.
“How are they?”
Silvio stopped.
“Now you ask.”
Her eyes hardened.
“Don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Turn one stupid mistake into a family war.”
Silvio almost laughed.
“You locked two children in a disabled vehicle.”
“We were teaching them discipline.”
“You disabled the emergency unlock.”
Grant stopped pacing.
“That system was malfunctioning.”
“The camera shows you reaching under the dashboard.”
“I was checking the fuse box.”
Silvio nodded slowly.
“That is exactly where the emergency release control was wired.”
Grant’s mouth tightened.
Silvio stepped closer.
“You knew.”
Grant said nothing.
Silvio looked at Lucinda.
“And you knew.”
She folded her arms.
“You’re accusing us based on a security video you barely understand.”
“I understand it very well.”
Silvio pulled out his phone.
“I also understand Monday.”
Lucinda’s expression shifted.
Just slightly.
But Silvio saw it.
He opened an email from the family attorney.
He had sent one message during the ambulance ride.
WHAT HAPPENS MONDAY INVOLVING ETHAN AND MIA?
The reply had arrived four minutes earlier.
Silvio read it aloud.
“Under the final amendment to Arturo Moretti’s family trust, custodial control of the children’s inherited voting shares transfers Monday at 9:00 a.m.”
Grant looked away.
Silvio continued.
“If both children are living.”
Lucinda’s hands tightened.
Silvio looked up.
“What happens if they are not?”
Lucinda did not answer.
Silvio read the next line.
“In the event both minor beneficiaries die before transfer, their combined twenty-six percent interest passes to the surviving child of Arturo Moretti.”
Silvio lowered the phone.
His father had three children.
Mateo.
Silvio.
Lucinda.
Mateo had died four years earlier.
Ethan and Mia were Mateo’s children.
Silvio had formally renounced his inheritance after leaving the family business.
That meant if Ethan and Mia died before Monday, Lucinda became the sole surviving beneficiary.
Twenty-six percent of the Moretti hospitality empire would pass to her.
Silvio looked at his sister.
“You were going to inherit their shares.”
Lucinda stood.
“You think I would murder Mateo’s children for stock?”
Silvio said nothing.
That silence angered her more than an accusation would have.
She stepped closer.
“I raised them when Mateo died.”
“You controlled them.”
“I fed them.”
“You locked them in a car because Ethan said he was hungry.”
“I gave up three years of my life for those children.”
Silvio’s voice turned cold.
“They are not a debt someone owes you.”
Grant scoffed.
“This is absurd.”
Silvio looked at him.
“Then why did you ask why they were still alive?”
Grant opened his mouth.
No answer came.
Silvio’s phone rang.
It was the estate manager.
Silvio answered.
“What?”
The manager sounded shaken.
“Sir, someone broke into your father’s old office.”
Silvio looked directly at Grant.
“When?”
“Sometime in the last hour.”
“Anything missing?”
“We don’t know.”
Silvio looked at Lucinda.
“Seal the office.”
The manager hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The wall safe is open.”
Lucinda’s face went white.
Silvio noticed immediately.
He lowered his voice.
“What was inside?”
The manager swallowed audibly.
“According to the inventory log, sealed trust documents.”
Silvio stared at his sister.
“And a digital recorder labeled Mateo.”
Grant suddenly sat down.
Silvio ended the call.
For three years, the recorder had been locked inside Arturo Moretti’s office.
For three years, nobody had mentioned it.
And on the same weekend Ethan and Mia were nearly left to die, someone had opened the safe.
May you like
Silvio knew one thing for certain.
Whatever Mateo had recorded before his death was dangerous enough for someone to risk everything to erase it.
