Chapter 15 - Luca’s Company
Five years passed.
Luca Russo was six.
He knew the Russo mansion existed.
He did not know exactly what had happened there when he was a baby.
Matteo and Elena agreed they would tell him someday.
Carefully.
Honestly.
At an age when the truth could help rather than frighten him.
Russo Family Holdings changed too.
Independent directors now controlled compliance.
No family member could authorize major transfers alone.
Whistleblowers reported to outside counsel.
The Luca Trust remained the controlling shareholder.
But Matteo never treated it as Luca’s destiny.
One afternoon, Luca sat at the kitchen table drawing spaceships.
Matteo sat beside him reviewing board documents.
Luca pointed.
“Is that my company?”
Matteo laughed.
“Kind of.”
“Can I sell it?”
Elena nearly choked on her coffee.
Matteo smiled.
“When you’re older, maybe.”
Luca thought seriously.
“I want a dinosaur store instead.”
“Then we have time.”
That evening, Matteo attended a foundation meeting.
Using recovered funds and a portion of annual dividends, he and Elena had created the Alessandro Russo Family Protection Fund.
It supported families dealing with coercive financial control.
Emergency relocation.
Legal representation.
Childcare.
Counseling.
Elena insisted the fund serve people without Russo wealth.
Especially them.
At the opening ceremony, someone asked why the family created it.
Elena answered.
“Because money can protect people.”
She paused.
“And money can trap them.”
Matteo looked at her.
She had once stood in the Russo courtyard watching a woman use wealth, reputation, and family loyalty as weapons.
Now she used those same resources to give strangers a door out.
When the ceremony ended, Matteo handed Elena a folder.
She immediately laughed.
“No.”
“What?”
“The last time your family handed me a leather folder at a party, your brother held our baby over a fire.”
Matteo winced.
“Fair.”
“What is it?”
“House papers.”
Elena opened them.
A property.
Not the mansion.
A modest lake house Alessandro once loved.
Matteo smiled.
“I thought Luca should inherit at least one thing that doesn’t come with a board meeting.”
May you like
Elena kissed him.
“That one I’ll sign.”
