Chapter 3 - The Dead Man's Password
Giulietta grabbed Matteo by the sleeve before he could turn away.
“What is Article Seven?”
His gaze dropped to her hand.
“Not here.”
“That means you know.”
“It means I know enough to understand that Warren shouldn’t hear us discuss it.”
Warren laughed from inside the suite.
“A little late for privacy.”
Giulietta pulled Matteo into the adjoining library and shut the door behind Enzo.
“No guards,” Matteo said.
“Enzo stays.”
Matteo accepted that with a small nod.
Giulietta placed the tablet on the table.
“Start talking.”
Matteo opened his mouth.
A knock hit the door.
Three hard taps.
Enzo drew his pistol and opened it two inches.
A nervous hotel manager stood outside holding a black binder.
“Ms. Marconi, the officiant says there’s a legal issue with the marriage license.”
Giulietta almost laughed.
“Today has several legal issues.”
The manager handed Enzo the binder and fled.
Inside was the marriage packet.
A yellow tab marked SIGNATURE REQUIRED.
Giulietta flipped through it.
Preston had already signed.
Warren had signed as witness.
A third signature line remained blank.
Matteo watched the page too closely.
Giulietta shut the binder.
“Article Seven.”
Matteo exhaled through his nose.
“Your grandfather created it after the DeLuca war. It was meant to stop an outsider from taking control if the heir married into another family and became compromised.”
“Compromised how?”
“Incapacitated. Missing. Indicted. Dead.”
Giulietta’s pulse hit once against her throat.
“And who gets control?”
“Temporary trusteeship goes to the senior surviving family trustee until succession is settled.”
Enzo looked from Matteo to Giulietta.
“Senior trustee is you.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“On paper.”
Giulietta leaned against the table.
“So I marry Preston. Something happens to me. You take temporary control.”
“That is what the clause says.”
“And you forgot to mention it?”
“I haven’t seen Article Seven in years.”
Giulietta studied him.
“Password.”
“What?”
“My father’s dead administrator account. What was the old password format?”
Matteo’s eyebrows pulled together.
“I don’t remember.”
Enzo said, “We recovered part of a legacy credential string. First two characters were V7.”
Matteo spoke without thinking.
“Then it would end MCM.”
Silence.
His mouth closed.
Giulietta straightened.
“You remembered.”
Matteo’s expression barely shifted.
“Because Vincent reused the same stupid pattern for twenty years.”
Enzo stared at him.
Giulietta did too.
Matteo reached inside his jacket.
Enzo’s gun came up.
“Slow.”
Matteo withdrew a folded document.
He slapped it onto the table.
“Before you decide I killed your father and staged your wedding, read page nineteen.”
Giulietta unfolded it.
Certified copy. Old legal language. Marconi family trust seal.
Page nineteen had one paragraph circled in blue ink.
ARTICLE VII - SUCCESSION UPON MARITAL INCAPACITY.
Giulietta read the clause once.
Then again.
A ninety-day window after marriage.
Temporary control passed to the senior Marconi trustee if the heir became legally incapable of exercising authority.
Matteo.
The paper smelled faintly of fresh toner.
Giulietta touched the edge.
“This copy is new.”
Matteo’s eyes sharpened.
“I found it in my office this morning.”
“Convenient.”
“Terrifying.”
Enzo took the document and photographed the certification stamp.
His phone vibrated seconds later.
He read the reply.
His face changed.
“What?” Giulietta asked.
“The original is still sealed in the family vault.”
“So who ordered this copy?”
Enzo turned the screen toward her.
The request had been filed six months earlier through a Manhattan law firm.
Client authorization attached.
WARREN HALE.
Giulietta looked toward the locked library door.
On the other side, Warren began knocking.
May you like
“Giulietta,” he called calmly. “You might want to ask your uncle why I already knew exactly what happened after you said ‘I do.’”
