Wine mogul Viktor Banovic was found dead at his residence in Mendocino. He leaves behind his children, Robin, Adrian, and Roxanne Banovic, daughter-in-law, Jayne Banovic, and grandchildren Kevin, Zax, and Adriana Banovic.
Authorities don’t suspect foul play and have quickly ruled his death as ‘natural causes’. Too quickly in my opinion. Viktor was a healthy, vibrant, seventy-five-year-old man. He had just passed the physical to renew his pilot license and according to his doctor, he was as healthy as the horse he rides every day. So… natural causes? Hmm…
Did he have enemies? A man of his caliber must have pissed off at least one person while coming up in the business. He came from nothing, and I mean nothing… to become the owner of the most successful wine label in the country. He had a lot of powerful friends all over the world. He even had the Saudi Prince on speed dial. So imagine everyone’s surprise when he was suddenly found dead.
Okay, so here’s a little about Viktor’s humble beginnings that not too many people know about. The man had his past on lockdown. To say that he valued his privacy is an understatement. No one knew that as a child he witnessed his mother kill his father. Or that the powers that be put him and his brother in separate orphanages. Or that he was a victim of child labor and lived on the streets for part of his life. He had to do a lot of unspeakable things in the name of survival. Yet somehow he survived and became the man he was when he died.
It is public knowledge that Viktor was estranged from his kids. He was such a private man yet, it was ‘public knowledge’ that he was estranged from his kids. Did he push them away to protect them? If so, what was he protecting them from?
In a move that no one expected, he left his everything to them in his will. Did he finally eliminate the threat if there was one? Is he sending some kind of message by leaving everything to the kids? So many questions. Stay tuned as the saga continues.
Read more about Viktor’s beginning in Viktor’s story on Kindle Vella.
Read more about Viktor’s life in Adriana. Book 1 in the Banovic Series.
