Chapter 9
Tessa had questioned one of Daphne’s instructions.
Nothing more.
Daphne ordered kitchen staff to discard a tray prepared for my private meeting.
Tessa knew I had requested it personally.
She said so.
Daphne felt challenged.
Then Elliot played the first disciplinary recording.
My voice:
“Tessa Blake is becoming insubordinate. Daphne may correct the behavior.”
The phrase disgusted me.
Not because I was above harsh language.
Because it sounded plausible.
Close enough to how people expected a Mafia boss to speak.
Daphne told herself the punishment came from me.
Even though she knew it did not.
That fascinated me.
“You knew the recording was fake.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you used it to excuse your own choice.”
She cried.
“Yes.”
Borrowed authority had become borrowed conscience.
If Sebastian’s voice said it, Daphne could pretend Sebastian owned the cruelty.
That was why she answered me at dinner:
“Your orders. I followed them.”
Not merely cover.
Self-deception.
She wanted me to share guilt for commands she manufactured.
I looked at her engagement ring.
“Did you ever love me?”
She looked offended.
“Yes.”
I believed her.
That was not enough.
People prefer betrayal stories where love was fake.
Easier.
Reality is worse.
She loved me.
Envied my authority.
Feared disappearing beside it.
Let Elliot exploit that fear.
Then chose to hurt people.
All true.
She removed the ring herself.
Placed it between us.
“I know.”
No question.
No plea.
Good.
The engagement ended there.
Quietly.
I did not throw the ring.
Did not humiliate her publicly.
She had enough truth to carry.
Then she asked:
“What happens to Tessa?”
Strange question.
“Nothing happens to her.”
Daphne shook her head.
“I mean because of me.”
I understood.
Would Tessa lose her job because her existence now complicated mine?
“No.”
That answer made Daphne cry harder.
May you like
Maybe because she finally understood how casually she had treated another woman’s livelihood.
Power feels abstract until you see who was waiting for your mood to decide whether they ate.
