Chapter 6 - THE WILL NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO READ
The answer was hidden in a trust document written eighteen years earlier.
Gabriel's attorney, Lydia Moretti, arrived at Sarah's apartment the next morning carrying three binders, two laptops, and the expression of a woman who considered sleep an optional weakness.
She was in her fifties, silver-haired, immaculate, and unimpressed by Gabriel Rossi.
Sarah liked her immediately.
“Your father created a family trust after Elena became pregnant,” Lydia told Gabriel. “Most of it concerns legitimate holdings—real estate, vineyards, transportation companies. But Article Nine contains a succession provision.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I know Article Nine.”
“No, you know the summary your former counsel prepared.”
Lydia opened a binder.
“Your father anticipated factional fighting if something happened to you before Leo reached adulthood. Under certain conditions, voting control over the Rossi legitimate assets transfers to Leo's guardian.”
Sarah leaned forward.
“Which is Gabriel.”
“Unless Gabriel is declared legally incapacitated, criminally disqualified from management, or proven to have placed Leo in reckless danger.”
The room went silent.
Hayes swore softly.
Lydia continued. “If that happens, control passes to the next qualified adult relative appointed by the family trustees.”
“Matteo,” Sarah said.
“Yes.”
Gabriel's face became stone.
“So the attack was designed to do more than kill Leo.”
“Possibly,” Lydia said. “If Leo died, a different succession clause would activate. If Leo survived but the attack made you appear unable to protect him, Matteo could challenge your control. If you retaliated publicly and recklessly, he could use that too.”
Sarah remembered the threatening voice.
The boy belongs to the family.
“They want Leo alive if they can control him,” she said.
Gabriel looked sick.
Lydia nodded. “Which means this is not only about revenge or territory. It is about legal leverage.”
Sarah sat back.
For the first time, the assault in the sunroom seemed even colder than it had before. The bullets had been aimed at a child, but the men behind them were thinking in clauses and percentages.
“What do we do?” Sarah asked.
Lydia looked at Gabriel.
“We do nothing theatrical.”
Gabriel's expression suggested disappointment.
“We preserve evidence. We involve prosecutors. We move control of the legitimate businesses into independent oversight so no family trustee can claim you are manipulating them. And we strengthen Leo's guardianship documents.”
Gabriel crossed his arms.
“What weakness remains?”
Lydia hesitated.
“Household stability.”
Sarah looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Lydia sighed.
“Your father's documents reflect old-fashioned assumptions. He believed a minor heir should reside in a formally recognized household with a spouse or co-guardian if possible. It is not legally required for custody, but it strengthens Gabriel's position if Matteo argues that the home is unstable.”
Sarah laughed once.
“You're telling me a dead patriarch wrote a family trust that rewards marriage.”
“In simplified terms.”
Gabriel looked away.
Sarah noticed.
“No.”
He turned back.
“I didn't say anything.”
“You thought something.”
“I did.”
“No.”
Lydia closed the binder.
“I am not suggesting a marriage. In fact, a rushed marriage during litigation could look manipulative.”
Sarah pointed at her approvingly.
“Thank you.”
Gabriel said nothing.
The meeting ended with practical decisions. Independent directors would be appointed to Gabriel's legal companies. Leo's therapist would document his progress. The estate's child-security protocols would be reviewed by outside specialists. Sarah's involvement would remain voluntary.
That last word appeared repeatedly because Sarah insisted on it.
After Lydia left, Leo arrived for lunch.
He had started speaking more since the attack, but loud sounds still froze him. When a delivery truck backfired on the street below, he dropped his fork.
Sarah did not say, It's okay.
Because clearly, for him, it wasn't.
She said, “That scared you.”
Leo nodded.
Gabriel watched.
Sarah waited until Leo's breathing slowed.
“Want to check the window together?”
They did.
The truck drove away.
No armed men. No broken glass.
Just noise.
Leo returned to the table.
Later, while Gabriel washed dishes with astonishing incompetence, Leo sat beside Sarah on the couch.
“Can you marry Dad?” he asked.
Sarah nearly dropped her tea.
Gabriel froze at the sink.
“Leo,” he said.
“What?”
Sarah chose her words carefully.
“Why are you asking?”
“So you live with us.”
“You don't have to marry someone to care about them.”
Leo frowned.
“Mrs. Gable said wives don't leave.”
Gabriel turned off the water.
Sarah's heart hurt.
“Sometimes wives leave. Sometimes husbands leave. Sometimes people stay without being married. The important thing is whether they choose to keep showing up.”
Leo thought about that.
“Will you?”
Sarah looked at him.
“I'll tell you the truth. I don't know what my whole future looks like. But I'm not disappearing without saying goodbye.”
Leo accepted that answer more easily than most adults would have.
After he went to brush his teeth, Gabriel said quietly, “You could have told him yes.”
“That would have made him feel better tonight and betrayed him tomorrow if it wasn't true.”
Gabriel nodded.
“You are better at this than I am.”
“At what?”
“Not buying peace with promises.”
Sarah studied him.
“Who did that to you?”
His face changed.
“My father, sometimes. My mother more often. Every crisis ended with a gift, a trip, a promise that nobody intended to keep.”
“That explains a lot.”
“I'm afraid to ask what.”
She smiled.
The moment almost felt peaceful.
Then Gabriel's phone rang.
Lydia.
He listened for less than a minute before all warmth left his expression.
“What happened?” Sarah asked.
Gabriel put the call on speaker.
Lydia's voice was clipped.
“Matteo filed an emergency petition with the family trustees. He claims the attack proves Gabriel's household is unstable and Leo is endangered under his custody.”
Sarah stared at Gabriel.
Lydia continued.
“He is also alleging Gabriel formed an inappropriate relationship with an employee who was injured on the property and is now being financially coerced to remain silent.”
Sarah stood so fast her cane fell.
“He said what?”
Gabriel caught her elbow.
Lydia said, “He is using Sarah against you.”
Sarah looked at the man beside her.
May you like
For the first time, she understood how Matteo planned to turn her courage into evidence of Gabriel's corruption.
And she was done letting men write her story for her.
