Chapter 8
Evelyn demanded a private conversation with Lorenzo.
He refused.
“No more private versions.”
Her eyes hardened.
“Then Marcus stays?”
“Yes.”
Dominic stayed too.
Witnesses.
Accountability.
Evelyn sat again.
Her hands trembled slightly as she removed one diamond bracelet.
Then another.
A nervous habit Lorenzo had seen only once before—
at her father’s funeral.
“I didn't know about Ramires.”
Marcus laughed softly.
She ignored him.
“I knew he had debt.”
“How much?”
“Two million.”
Marcus looked away.
Lorenzo saw.
Evelyn continued.
“I thought suspension would give us time.”
“So you agreed to remove me.”
“Yes.”
The word came flat.
“What did you expect after?”
“A council.”
“And Marcus?”
“Temporary command.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“You trusted him?”
Her eyes moved toward her husband.
Not anymore.
“I trusted what I could control.”
Marcus smiled bitterly.
There it was.
Their marriage summarized in one sentence.
Evelyn believed Marcus useful because he was aggressive enough to execute what she wanted.
Marcus believed Evelyn useful because her donor network delivered votes and money.
Love may have existed somewhere.
Power sat on top of it.
Then Lorenzo asked the question that mattered most.
“Why Leo?”
Evelyn’s face changed.
Finally.
Shame entered.
Not enough to absolve.
Enough to make her look human again.
She stared at the table.
“Because nothing else worked.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
She continued.
“Marcus challenged you twice.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You didn't react.”
“We leaked the audit rumor.”
“I ordered an audit.”
“We told two capos you were losing control.”
“They laughed.”
Evelyn’s breathing became uneven.
“You only lose control over one person.”
Lorenzo’s eyes went cold.
“Say his name.”
She swallowed.
“Leo.”
Silence.
Marcus looked away.
Evelyn continued.
“I told myself it would be one slap.”
Her voice thinned.
“You'd hit us. The cameras would show it. Dominic would sign. The council would suspend you.”
Lorenzo’s hands tightened.
“You used my son as a switch.”
Tears entered Evelyn’s eyes.
She blinked them away angrily.
“I needed certainty.”
The line disgusted even Marcus.
He looked at her.
“You said you'd only scare him.”
She turned.
“You knew.”
“I knew you'd say something.”
“You stood there.”
“I didn't tell you to hit a four-year-old.”
Power shifted again.
Then Anthony entered.
He carried Leo’s blue cupcake wrapper inside a clear evidence sleeve.
Lorenzo frowned.
“What?”
Anthony turned it over.
Inside the folded paper base was a tiny adhesive tracker.
Not a camera.
A signal tag.
The cupcake had been marked so the photographer would know exactly when Leo reached the designated position.
Evelyn stared.
“I didn't put that there.”
Marcus did not speak.
Lorenzo looked at him.
Marcus’s face gave him away.
May you like
The slap had been Evelyn’s decision.
But Marcus had prepared to use Leo as bait before she ever raised her hand.
