Chapter 5: The Cousin Who Was Very Helpful
Marco arrived at eight.
He came the way he always did — jacket pressed, smile ready, the particular ease of a man who had spent his whole life being liked.
He was forty-four, three years older than Lorenzo, and he had always been the one people called charming.
Lorenzo had called him useful, once.
He was reconsidering that now.
They sat in the study.
No staff.
No Dante in the room, though Lorenzo knew exactly where Dante was.
"You look well," Marco said, settling into the chair across the desk.
"Better than last week, actually."
"I feel better."
"Good.
That's good." Marco crossed one leg over the other.
"So.
The board.
I know it looks like I've been overstepping, but you have to understand — Visconti was pushing for the port acquisition and if we'd waited for you to—"
"You approved a forty-million-euro acquisition without my signature."
"With the proxy authorization.
Which you signed."
"I signed a general proxy for operational continuity.
Not for capital acquisitions above five million." Lorenzo opened the folder on the desk.
"Your legal team reinterpreted the language.
Conveniently."
Marco's smile stayed in place.
"Lorenzo.
I was protecting the company.
You were not in a position to—"
"To what?"
"To manage at that level.
Given your condition."
"My condition," Lorenzo repeated.
"I don't mean it unkindly." Marco leaned forward slightly.
"We all love you.
We all want what's best for you.
But the reality is that for fourteen months you've been—"
"Sit back, Marco."
Marco sat back.
"I've been what?" Lorenzo said.
A beat of silence.
Something moved behind Marco's eyes.
The smile didn't drop, but it thinned.
"Incapacitated," he said carefully.
"And who told you the incapacitation was permanent?"
"Your own specialists—"
"Recommended by Celeste.
Reporting to Celeste." Lorenzo closed the folder.
"The port acquisition.
Who benefits most if Rinaldi capital is tied up in an underperforming asset for the next three years?"
Marco said nothing.
"The answer is anyone who needs me distracted and cash-poor while they consolidate control." Lorenzo looked at him.
"How long have you been working with her?"
"That's an extraordinary accusation."
"It's a question."
"I'm not working with anyone." Marco stood.
"I think you're unwell, Lorenzo.
I think the isolation has made you paranoid, and I think you need to speak to someone — a doctor, a therapist—"
"Sit down."
"I don't think I will." Marco picked up his jacket from the arm of the chair.
"I came here in good faith.
If you want to discuss the board decisions through proper legal channels, have your attorney call mine."
He walked to the door.
"The physio therapist Russo," Lorenzo said to his back.
"His license was suspended in Switzerland.
Did you know that when Celeste recommended him?"
Marco's hand was on the door frame.
He didn't turn around.
"Get some rest, Lorenzo," he said.
And left.
Lorenzo looked at the empty doorway.
Then he looked at the small device on the underside of the desk — the one Dante had placed there an hour before Marco arrived.
May you like
Every word.
Recorded.
