Chapter 2
Gerald recovered before anyone else.
He laughed.
Long.
Mocking.
“You're letting a toddler resurrect ghosts now?”
Valentina watched him.
Gerald walked toward the cooler as though he still owned the lawn.
“Greco hasn't stepped inside a Carbone property in fourteen years.”
Evelyn brushed grass from her gown.
“And if he had, maybe that would say more about how badly this estate is guarded than about us.”
She looked toward the bodyguards.
Two men stiffened.
Evelyn smiled sweetly.
“Don't look so wounded. You should be embarrassed.”
Valentina turned the key over again.
One retired capo named Mateo Russo stepped closer.
His eyes narrowed.
“I know that key.”
Gerald’s jaw tightened.
Evelyn looked at him sharply.
Mateo continued.
“East greenhouse passage.”
Valentina looked toward the far stone wall.
That passage had been sealed when she was twelve.
Her father claimed the underground corridor was unstable.
Gerald laughed.
“Then go.”
He pointed toward the greenhouse.
“Take your little parade with you.”
His eyes moved toward Lily.
“Maybe the princess can find another secret while she's crawling through the flowers.”
Valentina’s voice lowered.
“Watch how you speak about her.”
Gerald smiled.
“No.”
The answer came easily.
“I've watched everyone in this family bend around that child for three years.”
He stepped closer.
“You want the truth? She made you soft.”
Lily heard.
Her face changed.
Valentina saw it.
She did not look away from Gerald.
“Keep talking.”
That unsettled him.
He had wanted rage.
Not permission.
Evelyn folded her arms.
“She cries, you stop meetings.”
“She gets tired, you leave dinners.”
“She wants juice, grown men start whispering.”
Her eyes slid toward Lily.
“Your daughter learned something useful very early.”
A cruel little smile.
“She only has to look pathetic and the whole Carbone name kneels.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
Valentina’s hand stopped against the key.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then:
“Mateo.”
The old capo straightened.
“Open the passage.”
Gerald’s smile thinned.
Valentina noticed.
The east greenhouse had been locked so long ivy had grown across half the stone arch.
The old key fit.
The door opened inward.
Cold air rose from beneath the estate.
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
Gerald stopped smiling.
Only for a heartbeat.
Then:
“So someone walked underground.”
He shrugged.
“Call the newspapers.”
Valentina ignored him.
The tunnel smelled of damp stone and tobacco.
Twenty yards in, they found a small table.
Two glasses.
One still wet at the bottom.
A burned cigar.
And a black coin stamped with a silver serpent.
Mateo stared.
“Greco.”
Evelyn breathed out slowly.
Gerald looked bored.
Too deliberately bored.
Valentina picked up the coin.
It was warm.
Someone had been there recently.
Then Lily, still held by her bodyguard near the tunnel entrance, pointed deeper inside.
“Mommy.”
Valentina turned.
The child was staring at the stone wall.
“What?”
Lily’s voice shook.
“The gray man went that way.”
Gerald’s head snapped toward her.
Again.
Valentina saw it.
“Today?”
Lily nodded.
“He said Aunt Evelyn would tell him when you hit Uncle Gerald.”
Every man in the tunnel went silent.
Valentina slowly turned toward Evelyn.
Evelyn stared back.
Then smiled.
Not afraid.
Almost pleased.
“There.”
May you like
Her voice was soft.
“That’s the face I wanted them to see.”
