Chapter 6 - THE DEAD MAN'S EMAIL
Gerald Knox was found alive the next morning.
Barely.
A patrol officer discovered him in his car beneath an overpass, drugged and dehydrated.
His laptop was missing.
His memory was foggy.
But he remembered one sentence.
"They wanted the amendment."
"Who?" Torres asked.
"A man called me after midnight two days ago. Said if I didn't hand over Elena's trust file, he would send police proof that I had forged it."
"Did you?"
Gerald's eyes filled with shame.
"Yes."
My hand tightened around the hospital rail.
"For who?"
"Your father."
The room went still.
My father, Vittorio Moretti, had died five years earlier.
Gerald explained.
After Elena's death, Vittorio ordered the amendment naming Luca alternate trustee.
"Why?"
"He said Dominic was emotionally unstable and Ethan needed family continuity."
"My father thought grief was instability."
"I should have refused."
"Did Luca know?"
"No."
That mattered.
Not enough to clear him.
Enough to change the shape of the lie.
Gerald said Vittorio also ordered a second document.
A private succession agreement.
If Dominic died or became legally incapacitated before Ethan turned eighteen, Luca would become interim CEO.
My father had built a bridge around me before his own death.
I wondered how many people had been walking across it without telling me.
Then Hannah called from my office.
"You need to come."
She had found an old scheduled email in Elena's archived account.
It had never been sent because the server retired before the delivery date.
SUBJECT: IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME.
My hands went cold.
Elena had written it three days before her car crash.
Dominic,
If you're reading this, I was right to be afraid.
Do not assume the danger comes from Luca.
He is reckless, but he isn't the one watching Ethan.
Hannah whispered, "Keep reading."
The next line was worse.
Someone inside your security team has been giving my medical records to your father.
May you like
He had worked for my father before he worked for me.
And suddenly seven missing minutes felt very different.
