Chapter 19 - Victor’s Last Secret
Dante did not accuse Victor immediately.
He waited until they returned to the mansion.
Then he placed Ferraro’s unfinished message on the library desk.
Victor read it.
His shoulders sank.
“Ask.”
Dante did.
“Did you know Salvatore never signed the covenant?”
“Yes.”
Marco swore.
Dante felt anger rise.
“How long?”
“Since 1998.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought it had been destroyed.”
“You think that answer matters?”
“No.”
Victor sat.
He looked suddenly old.
“Salvatore refused the covenant because it gave the other families too much leverage. Cross prepared it. Ferraro’s father wanted it. Salvatore tore his copy in half.”
“Then how did Ferraro get one?”
“I gave it to him.”
Marco moved forward.
Dante stopped him.
Victor continued.
“I was trying to prevent a war.”
“With a forged contract?”
“It wasn’t forged when I gave it to him. It was unsigned.”
Dante understood.
“You gave Ferraro’s father the draft as proof Salvatore had considered the deal.”
“Yes.”
“And someone later forged the signature.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Me.”
Silence.
Marco stared.
Dante felt something inside him go still.
Victor looked up.
“After Nico died, Salvatore became unstable. Three families were preparing to move against him. I thought if they believed the continuity arrangement existed, they would wait.”
“So you forged my father’s name.”
“Yes.”
“You created the trap.”
“I created a bluff.”
“That could steal thirty-one percent of my company.”
“I intended to destroy it after the crisis.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Ferraro’s father kept his copy.”
Dante turned away.
Every old man in his father’s world had believed he could control the next consequence.
Cross.
Victor.
Salvatore.
Each secret created another.
“Why didn’t the clause trigger earlier?”
Victor answered.
“It required a qualifying compact. There wasn’t one until yours.”
Dante looked back.
“You encouraged the Harbor summit.”
Victor did not speak.
Marco whispered, “Jesus.”
Dante’s voice became quiet.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you know signing could trigger the covenant?”
“No.”
“Then why are you hesitating?”
Victor’s eyes filled with something Dante had never seen there.
Fear.
“Because I knew Ferraro had found it.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Dante approached.
“You knew for six months.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was trying to recover it.”
“How?”
“Through Daniel Pike.”
Marco stared.
“What?”
Victor looked at him.
“I knew Daniel was Nico’s son.”
Marco’s fist hit Victor before Dante could react.
Victor fell against the desk.
Marco reached for him again.
Dante grabbed Marco’s arm.
“You knew?” Marco shouted.
Victor wiped blood from his mouth.
“Anna told me seven years ago.”
“You let me hire him!”
“I asked her to keep him away from Moretti business. He came anyway.”
“And you watched me sit beside my brother’s son for seven years!”
“I was trying to protect both of you.”
Marco laughed in disbelief.
“There it is. Protection.”
Victor looked at Dante.
“When I learned Ferraro had the covenant, I contacted Daniel anonymously. I told him CROWN might contain the original trust index.”
Dante finally saw it.
“You started him searching.”
“Yes.”
“You did not plant the tie bug.”
“No.”
“But you pushed the man who did toward CROWN.”
“Yes.”
“You created the conditions.”
Victor lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Dante had never wanted to kill Victor more.
That frightened him.
Because his father would have.
Immediately.
Publicly.
Without learning anything else.
Dante walked to the window.
“Where is Ferraro?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took him?”
“I don’t know.”
Marco shouted, “Stop lying!”
“I’m not.”
Dante turned.
“One last question. Is there anyone else alive who knew you forged Salvatore’s signature?”
Victor took a long time.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Anna.”
Marco stared.
Victor continued.
“I told her after Salvatore died.”
“Why?”
“Because she was considering exposing everything. I wanted her to understand the covenant was not Salvatore’s crime.”
Dante said, “Did Daniel know?”
“Maybe.”
Marco’s phone rang.
Anna.
He answered.
Her voice was frantic.
“Daniel is gone.”
Marco closed his eyes.
“Where?”
“He took the CROWN copy.”
“Which copy?”
“The full distribution package.”
Dante stepped closer.
Anna continued.
“He found Victor’s confession about the covenant.”
Victor went pale.
Marco asked, “Where would he go?”
Anna began crying.
“To Ferraro.”
Dante understood.
Daniel had spent his life believing Salvatore’s empire killed Nico.
Now he had learned Victor forged the financial weapon that could destroy the Moretti organization.
Ferraro possessed the surviving covenant.
Daniel possessed the proof.
If the two men met, either they would make a deal—
or one would never leave.
A message appeared on Dante’s phone.
From Daniel.
BRING VICTOR TO PIER 31.
NO GUNS.
THIS ENDS TONIGHT.
Dante looked at Victor.
Victor read the message.
Then he stood.
“I’ll go.”
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
Victor buttoned his coat.
“I spent thirty years deciding what truths other people could survive.”
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
He looked at Dante.
“It’s time I stop.”
