Chapter 11
Carlo lost his capo pin first.
He removed it himself.
I handed it back.
He frowned.
“No.”
“I helped him.”
“Yes.”
“I hid meetings.”
“Yes.”
“I opened Dante’s case.”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“Then take it.”
“No.”
I looked around the council table.
“You don’t choose the neat punishment because guilt is uncomfortable.”
He stared.
I continued.
“You keep the pin until I finish deciding what trust remains.”
That frightened him more than immediate removal.
Good.
Uncertainty is sometimes the honest shape of damaged trust.
Dante stood beside me.
His part was smaller.
Still real.
He had built a security system one senior capo could access through an override key without triggering immediate notice.
“Fix it.”
He nodded.
“More importantly?”
He waited.
“Stop assuming rank equals permission.”
That landed.
He had protected the hierarchy before the person.
Most security systems do.
That was useful when the hierarchy was clean.
Dangerous when betrayal came from inside.
Dr. Reynolds spoke next.
“What about Titan?”
The dog had become restless since the incident.
Avoided the heavy leash.
Growled when Victor’s scent lingered.
I looked toward the hallway.
“Sophia visits tomorrow.”
Elena had agreed.
Not because we needed her to fix Titan.
Because she wanted to.
Important.
The next afternoon Sophia sat in the garden drawing while Titan lay beside her.
No commands.
No training.
She simply existed.
Gradually his breathing slowed.
The kennel trainer watched.
“So what do we do?”
I looked at him.
“Stop turning everything into obedience.”
He almost smiled.
Fair.
Titan did need training.
But first he needed to stop associating every approach with correction.
The lesson felt uncomfortably applicable to the entire Moretti family.
Victor watched from an upstairs window under guard.
He saw Sophia toss a ball.
Titan ignored it.
She laughed.
No punishment.
Then Titan eventually nudged the ball back himself.
Choice.
Trust.
Patience.
Nothing Victor had valued because none of it looked like control.
May you like
I wondered how much of my own leadership still carried the same mistake.
Probably more than I wanted to admit.
