Chapter 10
Evelyn laughed.
Once.
Sharp.
Disbelieving.
“No.”
No one answered.
She looked at Greco.
He would not meet her eyes.
That was when the truth began to hurt.
“Look at me.”
Greco slowly did.
Her face had gone pale.
“My father offered a child?”
Greco’s jaw tightened.
“He was desperate.”
Evelyn stared.
The exact word she had probably used for years to justify her own revenge.
Desperate.
Greco continued.
“Luca thought if Carlo’s daughter was held by the Bartolos for a month, they would stop killing our men.”
Valentina remained still.
She had never heard this.
Mateo looked at her.
“You were six.”
Her breathing changed.
“He planned to take me?”
“Yes.”
“Did my father know?”
“Not until the night it was supposed to happen.”
Greco’s voice became rough.
“Carlo caught him first.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Mateo stepped closer.
“Your father died because he tried to trade a little girl for peace.”
Silence.
Then Valentina looked at Evelyn.
Not triumphant.
That made it worse.
Evelyn’s eyes moved toward the house.
Toward Lily.
The parallel was unavoidable.
She had spent years believing she was avenging a father taken by Carlo Carbone.
In reality, she had rebuilt his ugliest choice.
Use a child.
Break the mother.
Call it necessity.
Gerald laughed bitterly.
Everyone turned.
He stared at Evelyn.
“You spent years telling me Valentina’s father murdered an innocent man.”
Evelyn’s face hardened immediately.
Defense returned.
Pride.
“I told you what I was told.”
“You built my anger on it.”
“You already had plenty.”
Gerald’s eyes narrowed.
“You knew enough to question Greco.”
She looked at him with contempt.
“And you knew enough not to swing a belt at a three-year-old.”
Gerald’s mouth tightened.
Again she refused to let him hide behind her.
Valentina saw something important.
They were both guilty.
Different reasons.
Different lies.
Same child.
Greco looked toward Evelyn.
“I should have told you.”
She turned on him.
“Don't.”
Her voice was low and vicious.
“You don't get to become my uncle now because the truth finally makes you uncomfortable.”
Greco stopped.
Evelyn looked back at Valentina.
Her chin lifted.
“You want me broken?”
Valentina said nothing.
Evelyn smiled.
“You're disappointed.”
She stepped forward.
“Yes, my father was a traitor.”
Another step.
“Yes, he tried to use you.”
Her eyes hardened.
“But don't stand there waiting for me to cry and beg.”
A pause.
“I still hate what your family did to mine.”
Valentina’s gaze remained steady.
“And Lily?”
Evelyn's jaw tightened.
Valentina stepped closer.
“What did my daughter do to you?”
No answer.
That silence finally belonged to Valentina.
She waited.
Evelyn’s fingers tightened.
Then:
“She made you untouchable.”
Valentina narrowed her eyes.
Evelyn’s voice sharpened.
“Before Lily, men feared you.”
“After Lily, they loved watching you soften.”
Her lips curled.
“I hated that.”
There.
Not just revenge.
Jealousy.
Power.
Resentment.
Evelyn looked toward the house.
“She gave you something my family never had.”
“What?”
“A future no one was allowed to stain.”
Valentina’s voice became cold.
“So you decided to stain it.”
Evelyn smiled again.
“Now you understand.”
The major twist was complete.
Evelyn had entered the plan carrying her father’s revenge.
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But she had stayed in it because Lily represented everything she believed the Carbones had denied her.
And Gerald had willingly turned that resentment into a coup because he wanted Valentina’s chair.
