Chapter 5 - The Unraveling
The fallout from my father’s departure was immediate and devastating for the DeLuca family structure.
Over the next two weeks, the news of our corporate split sent shockwaves through Chicago’s real estate community. Without my management and acquisitions expertise, DeLuca Development’s stock dropped fifteen percent in a single week. Institutional investors, terrified by rumors of an internal fraud lawsuit, began pulling their capital out of my father’s pending projects.
My sister Paola called me forty times in three days. When I blocked her number, she showed up at my private office building in West Loop.
I agreed to see her in the lobby.
Paola walked across the polished marble floor wearing a fur-trimmed coat, her face pale and lined with stress. She looked nothing like the proud, dismissive mother who had watched her daughters tear open thousands of dollars in presents while my daughter scrubbed dishes.
“Mauricio,” she sobbed, not waiting for me to speak. “You have to stop this! Dad’s health is failing over this! The banks are threatening to call in the loans on the estate in Lake Forest!”
I stood near the glass entrance, keeping my hands tucked casually in my trouser pockets. “Then I suggest Dad sell some of his vintage cars to cover the interest.”
“How can you be so heartless?!” Paola shrieked, her voice echoing off the high ceilings. “Sofia and Emma’s private school tuition is due next week! The trust accounts are frozen because of your lawyers!”
I looked at my sister, feeling a profound, sad pity for her. She had spent her entire adult life relying on my parents’ wealth, allowing them to control her choices in exchange for an endless supply of money. She had embraced their toxic ideas about bloodlines because it kept her children at the top of the family hierarchy.
“When Renata was sitting at that sink on Christmas Day,” I said quietly, “her sleeves were wet, her hands were red, and she asked me if she had done something bad. Did you care about her feelings then, Paola?”
Paola flinched, her eyes darting away. “That... that was Mom and Dad’s doing! I didn't tell them to make her wash dishes!”
“You sat on the couch and laughed while your daughters opened gifts,” I reminded her coldly. “You let my six-year-old child believe she was a servant in her own grandparents’ home because she didn't share your DNA. You taught your daughters that love is based on a bloodline.”
“Mauricio, please—”
“I’ve established a separate educational trust for Sofia and Emma,” I interrupted, my voice dead even. “Their tuition will be paid directly to the school until they graduate. They are children, and I won't let them suffer for your cruelty.”
Paola gasped, relief momentarily washing over her face before my next words froze her solid.
May you like
“But as for you and Dad,” I continued, stepping closer to her, “not another dime of my money will ever touch your hands. The estate is being liquidated to settle the corporate buyouts. You wanted a clear boundary between 'real' family and the rest of us. Now you have to live behind it.”
I turned and walked toward the private elevator bay, leaving my sister standing alone in the center of the cold marble lobby.
