Chapter 6
Evelyn walked out of the tunnel first.
Not fleeing.
Leading.
That irritated Gerald.
He followed.
Valentina came behind them with Greco and the older capos.
Lily sat beneath a white garden umbrella with her bodyguard.
The soda can remained unopened beside her.
When she saw Valentina, she held out both arms.
Valentina went to her immediately.
Gerald gave a disgusted laugh.
“There.”
His voice carried across the lawn.
“Every conversation stops again.”
Lily flinched.
Gerald saw it.
And kept going.
“Maybe we should give her a little bell.”
His smile sharpened.
“Then every capo can kneel whenever she wants something cold.”
Valentina looked at him.
Gerald shrugged.
“What?”
“She’ll hear worse things when she grows up.”
Evelyn sat at the garden table as though the luncheon still belonged to her.
“She’ll probably never have to.”
She reached for her wine.
“Her mother will knock down half of Boston before anyone can tell the child no.”
Lily looked down at her sandals.
Valentina’s chest tightened.
She handed Lily to the nanny.
“Take her inside.”
Lily whispered:
“Did I make everybody mad?”
Valentina’s face softened.
“No.”
“Because of the soda?”
“No.”
Lily looked toward Gerald.
“He said I steal.”
Valentina’s hand stopped against her daughter’s back.
“You didn't steal anything.”
Gerald called from the table:
“She took what wasn't hers.”
Valentina turned.
His smile widened.
There was the cruelty.
Deliberate.
He wanted Lily to hear.
“Better she learns now than becomes another spoiled Carbone woman who mistakes wanting something for owning it.”
A few capos looked away.
Valentina crossed the lawn.
Slowly.
Gerald remained seated.
Confident.
Valentina stopped beside him.
“You speak to my daughter like that again—”
Gerald leaned back.
“What?”
His voice dropped.
“You’ll hit me?”
A grin.
“Please do.”
He tapped the table.
“Give every man here exactly what he came to see.”
Valentina’s eyes narrowed.
Gerald had just admitted it.
Every man here.
Not everyone had come for lunch.
Some had come to judge.
Valentina looked around.
“Who was invited for a vote?”
Silence.
Gerald’s smile weakened.
Evelyn did not.
She lifted her glass.
“Finally.”
Valentina’s gaze shifted to her.
Evelyn sipped.
“Your father had a rule.”
Valentina waited.
“If the boss put private affection above family survival, the senior men could challenge the chair.”
Gerald looked pleased again.
Valentina turned toward Mateo.
The old capo’s face was grim.
“True?”
Mateo nodded.
“Partly.”
Gerald snapped:
“There is no partly.”
Mateo looked at him.
“There always was with Carlo.”
Gerald stood.
His confidence became anger.
“Say it.”
Mateo’s eyes moved toward Valentina.
“Carlo said a boss could be challenged if love made them abandon the family.”
Gerald spread his hands.
“Exactly.”
Mateo continued.
“But he also said no child was ever to be used to prove it.”
Gerald stopped.
The lawn went silent.
Evelyn’s fingers tightened around her glass.
Mateo looked directly at Gerald.
“Carlo’s words were clear.”
His voice hardened.
“Any man who frightened a child to test a boss had already proved which one of them was unfit to lead.”
Gerald’s face darkened.
Power shifted.
Not completely.
But enough for the capos to feel it.
Then Evelyn set down her glass.
“You're quoting half a dead man’s sentence.”
Mateo looked at her.
Evelyn smiled.
“So was Gerald.”
Her eyes moved toward Valentina.
“And so are you.”
Valentina studied her.
Evelyn leaned back.
“Carlo said something else that night.”
A pause.
“Something he made Mateo swear never to repeat unless Greco returned.”
Every head turned toward the old capo.
Mateo went pale.
May you like
Evelyn smiled.
She had found the next weapon.
