Chapter 13 - THE ESTATE PLAN
The Rinaldi estate plan was complicated because Dominic had spent his adult life making it complicated.
Holdings.
Trusts.
Life insurance.
Business entities.
Family foundations.
Luca’s inheritance sat behind layers intended to protect him from both outsiders and the Rinaldi name.
Bianca had assumed marriage would create automatic authority.
It did not.
Serena Conti explained everything to Dominic.
“If you die before Luca is eighteen, your nominated guardian is considered, but the court decides.”
“Who is nominated now?”
“Your sister, Elena.”
Dominic nodded.
Bianca knew Elena.
They disliked each other.
“And the trust?”
“Professional trustee with Elena as family adviser.”
“Bianca gets nothing?”
“Spousal provisions if married. Separate.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Then why was she asking about managing Luca’s trust?”
“Planning?”
“Maybe.”
Conti hesitated.
“There is something else.”
She produced notes from a consultation Bianca attended alone.
Allowed because Dominic had authorized her access for wedding-related planning.
Bianca asked whether marriage could make her eligible to serve as successor family adviser if Elena declined.
Conti had said yes, if Dominic amended the documents.
Bianca then asked how caregiver recommendations were evaluated in guardian disputes.
“What exactly did she say?”
Conti read:
If a nanny claims a stronger bond with Luca than a future spouse, can that interfere?
Dominic felt something cold settle in his chest.
“She was already thinking about Talia.”
“Probably.”
“Why didn't you call me?”
“Because clients ask hypothetical questions.”
“You didn't think it was strange?”
“I did.”
“Then why—”
Conti cut him off.
“Dominic.”
He stopped.
“You employ professionals, then punish them for not reading your family’s mind.”
The room went silent.
Few people spoke to him that way.
Conti had known him fifteen years.
She continued:
“If you want every unusual question escalated to you, create that policy. You didn’t.”
Dominic leaned back.
Another failure of structure.
He nodded.
“Fair.”
Conti looked surprised.
Then:
“I wrote myself a note after the consultation.”
“What?”
She showed him.
Bianca appears unusually concerned with non-parent caregivers gaining influence.
That was all.
No accusation.
No prophecy.
Just pattern recognition.
Dominic brought the note to his personal therapist.
He had started seeing Dr. Samuel Keene two months after Gianna died, then stopped after six sessions.
Now he returned.
Keene read nothing.
Dominic simply talked.
About Gianna.
Bianca.
Talia.
Luca.
About power.
“Why do you think Bianca framed Talia?” Keene asked.
“I don't know that she did.”
“Good.”
Dominic frowned.
“Good?”
“You're learning uncertainty.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Keene continued:
“What would it mean if she did?”
“That I almost married someone willing to sacrifice an innocent person.”
“What else?”
Dominic looked away.
“That she knew I would help.”
Keene waited.
“Not knowingly.”
“Still.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“She assumed my reflex would be to trust her over staff.”
“Was she wrong?”
“No.”
That was the hardest part.
Bianca’s scheme, if it was a scheme, required accurate knowledge of Dominic.
She knew he valued hierarchy.
Knew he disliked disorder.
Knew he expected employees to remain controlled.
Knew Talia’s first visible disagreement with Bianca would look like insubordination.
Bianca had not invented his instincts.
She weaponized them.
Keene asked:
“What do you do with that?”
Dominic thought of Luca reaching for Talia while he ordered her out.
“Change them.”
“That simple?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Again.
Dominic hated therapy.
May you like
Which probably meant he needed it.
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