Chapter 6 - The Grandfather’s Safeguard
Roman’s father, Antonio D’Angelo, had known Helena better than anyone.
They had been married for thirty-seven years.
They built companies together.
Raised Roman together.
Fought constantly over control.
Antonio respected Helena’s intelligence.
He feared what happened when she believed control was slipping away.
His letter was blunt.
No spouse of Roman.
No grandparent.
No family adviser.
Could remove a legally recognized child from the trust based only on privately obtained paternity evidence.
Any challenge required two independent accredited tests, court supervision, and review by trustees unaffiliated with the D’Angelo family.
Helena’s forged report never satisfied those conditions.
Even worse for her, any beneficiary challenge made through intentional fraud automatically triggered a full forensic audit of the person filing it.
Helena knew.
That was why she never formally challenged Sophie before.
Doing so would expose her own finances.
The gala plan was desperation.
She needed the trustees emotionally primed before filing.
She needed Nora discredited.
She needed Roman absent.
Roman had returned at the exact wrong moment for her.
Or the exact right moment for Sophie.
The audit began immediately.
Within forty-eight hours, investigators identified millions in questionable transactions.
The $1.8 million intended for Nora and Sophie was only the cleanest trail.
Another $3.2 million had moved through consulting companies.
$1.1 million funded property held in Helena-controlled LLCs.
Several loans were secured using family assets without proper approval.
Vincent authenticated many transactions.
His cooperation did not make him innocent.
He had profited.
He had lied to Roman for years.
But he could explain the machinery.
Then one transfer caught everyone’s attention.
$300,000 sent two years earlier to a company called Bellweather Risk.
Roman knew that company.
They provided private security.
They had also been part of the protective detail around Roman when he was attacked three years earlier.
Roman’s face went still.
He asked whether Helena had paid them before or after the assassination attempt.
Before.
Six days before.
Silence filled the office.
No one accused Helena immediately.
A payment to a security company did not prove involvement in an attack.
Roman refused to make that leap.
He ordered records preserved.
Bellweather’s owner was contacted.
The payment had been for an “internal route review.”
Authorized by Helena.
Route review of what?
Roman’s movements.
His scheduled motorcade.
His private entrances.
His travel times.
The same information the attackers somehow possessed.
Helena claimed she commissioned the review to improve Roman’s safety.
Possible.
Then investigators found the report.
Bellweather identified three vulnerabilities.
Helena received it.
May you like
Roman’s actual security chief never did.
One of those vulnerabilities was the exact underground garage where Roman was ambushed.
