Estate.
Three men stood in unison as I walked into the room, Enzo Roberts and two men I had never seen before. They sat in a windowless conference room, some folders piled between them. An enormous bouquet of lilies dominated a side table, filling the air with a heavy, funereal scent. Aside from the morbid odor of the flowers, the atmosphere was antiseptic—impersonal, businesslike. Lawyerly.
The first lawyer, an elegant gentleman with silver hair who appeared to be somewhere in his early seventies, held out his hand. “Countess, my name is Francisco Zimmer. It is a delight to finally meet you.” He gestured to a short man wearing a bright yellow tie. “That is Mr. Murray Smith. You know Mr. Roberts already. We’re so very pleased you have come to Turin to meet with us.”
I shook each man’s hand and then took a seat. They sat across from me, hands folded on the table, an air of anticipation in their manner.
“I believe you received the estate’s letter,” Zimmer said. “And the list of assets.”
“Yes, I did receive it,” I said. “But as it was in Italian, I couldn’t read it.”
“You speak no Italian?” Smith asked, incredulous.
“‘Ciao,’” I said. “And ‘spaghetti.’”
Zimmer opened a folder and took out a sheaf of paper. “Let’s start with this,” he said. “It is an English translation of the Italian documents sent to your home. There is a long version and then a more simplified one.” He found the page he was looking for and handed it to me. It had a stamp at the bottom, certifying that the translation was authentic. “This is the simple version.”
I took the paper and read the following:
The Montebianco Estate is comprised of the following assets:
Ancestral title dating from 1260 as granted by Amedeo VI of the House of Savoy to Frederick Montebianco through marriage to Isabelle of the House of Savoy.
Exclusive use of family coat of arms, described as two black mountains and a castle.
Exclusive use of the Montebianco family seal.
Exclusive ownership of family jewels, furniture, silver, artworks, tapestries, and all other movable goods, etc.
Exclusive ownership of the Montebianco ancestral home, namely a 25,000-square-foot castle in the valley of Nevenero and all of its annexes, including wine cellar, dairy, grain mill, abattoir, and so forth.
Exclusive ownership of the maison particulière in the third arrondissement of Paris.
Dividends from the family portfolio of investments, including real estate, forestry business, stocks, bonds, currencies, and precious metals (estimated value to be disclosed in yearly financial report, attached).
I read the list several times, my eyes climbing up and down the list of treasures. I had known about the title, which was probably little more than a nominal hereditary name, without value in the modern world. And I was aware of Montebianco Castle. But I had not expected family jewels and artwork and dividends. I had not expected a town house in Paris. There was no concrete amount attached to any of these items, but I could see that the Montebianco Estate was worth a fortune. Life-changing money, I remembered Enzo saying.
“Do you have the financial report?” I asked.
Smith opened another folder, searched through it, and gave me a fat document. I flipped through the pages until I found the family income for 2015. Scrolling down the endless columns of numbers, I found the total revenue for the previous year. It was negative fifty-three thousand euros.
“They are in debt?” I asked, stunned. I thought of the private jet, the fancy hotel suite. How on earth was the family paying for these things when they had negative income? “That is surprising, considering . . .”
“Yes, surprising,” Smith said. “But not so unusual. Like many old families, the Montebiancos amassed wealth for generations. Now there is nobody to take care of their assets. The forestry business, for example, could yield great profits, if it were managed correctly. As it is now, the family is without liquidity. I would suggest you start selling some of the assets in order to raise cash. Aside from the Paris apartment, there are parcels of land. We could begin there.”
I read the financial report again, unable to fully take it all in. “I don’t know what I expected,” I said. “But this is really . . . it is all really incredible.”
“It must be quite a surprise,” Smith said, nodding sympathetically.
“Quite overwhelming,” Zimmer added.
“You are in an extraordinary situation,” Smith said.
“What is extraordinary is that you found me at all,” I said. “My name is Monte, not Montebianco. It must have taken more than