Chapter 5
Salvatore found the wine steward before sunrise.
His name was Peter Lang.
Fifty-three.
Served my father before me.
Terrified when brought into the room.
I watched him carefully.
“Did you alter my decanter?”
He shook his head violently.
“No, Boss.”
“Did anyone ask you to?”
His eyes moved toward Katherine.
Enough.
“What did she say?”
Peter swallowed.
“She gave me a small packet.”
I stopped him there.
I did not need the details.
“What did she tell you it would do?”
“Make you sick.”
“Did she say kill?”
“No.”
“Did you believe her?”
He started crying.
“Yes.”
“Why did you do it?”
His face collapsed.
“My son.”
Of course.
Another pressure point.
“What about him?”
“He owes Marcus.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
I turned.
“How much?”
He did not answer.
Peter did.
“Enough.”
That was all I needed.
Katherine had not simply ordered a servant.
She found someone whose child Marcus already controlled through debt.
Efficient.
Ugly.
Peter continued.
“She said if I refused, my son would disappear from family work.”
I looked at Marcus.
“True?”
He stared at the floor.
“Yes.”
There.
He had built leverage.
Katherine had used it.
Different roles again.
Peter whispered:
“I thought you would recover.”
I looked at him.
“You thought risking my life was acceptable because you expected recovery.”
He cried harder.
I did not raise my voice.
No point.
Fear had already done enough damage in this family.
I asked:
“What happens after I collapse?”
Peter looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
Good.
He was only one layer.
I turned to Marcus.
“You did.”
He said nothing.
“Katherine told you.”
Still nothing.
Then Salvatore placed an old leather folder on the table.
Found in Marcus’s office.
No legal papers.
No contracts.
Just handwritten names.
Captains divided into three columns.
LOYAL TO ROMAN.
LOYAL TO OLD BLOOD.
UNDECIDED.
I stared.
The conspiracy was not improvised.
Marcus and Katherine had been counting who would move where after I fell.
May you like
Christmas dinner was not the plan.
It was the trigger.
