Chapter 2
The doctor asked me to leave Clara’s room while they adjusted her medication.
I hated every second of it.
So did Arthur.
Because it left me with him.
The Bennetts had been moved into a private hospital waiting area under Vale control. No shouting. No weapons displayed. No spectacle. Twelve capos standing silently around a room accomplish more than noise ever could.
Arthur sat across from me.
His eight sons stood behind him.
I knew their names now the way enemies learn names.
Elias, the eldest.
Roman.
Victor.
Caleb.
Nolan.
Adrian.
Marcus.
Theo.
Eight grown men who had laughed outside my wife’s ICU room.
“Which one touched her first?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
Arthur smiled faintly. “You think being a Mafia boss changes what happened?”
Interesting.
The word was difficult for him to say.
He had spent years dismissing me as a businessman.
“It changes nothing about what happened.”
His smile weakened.
“It changes what happens next.”
Elias stepped forward. “She came to us.”
I looked at him.
“Pregnant.”
“She came home.”
“She visited her father.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“In the Bennett family, those are the same thing.”
There it was.
Ownership.
I leaned back.
“What did you want?”
Arthur answered without shame.
“My grandchild belongs to Bennett blood.”
“So does Clara.”
“She forgot.”
I almost smiled.
“She married me.”
“She embarrassed me.”
That sentence told me more than any confession could.
This was not about protection.
Not tradition.
Not even the unborn child.
It was humiliation.
Arthur Bennett could survive enemies. What he could not survive was a daughter choosing a life he did not approve.
Then Roman spoke.
“She was supposed to bring you to dinner.”
Arthur turned sharply.
Too late.
I looked at Roman.
“What dinner?”
He hesitated.
Antonio moved closer.
Roman swallowed.
“Tonight.”
I looked at Arthur.
A family dinner had already been prepared.
Clara was supposed to call me.
May you like
Bring me to Bennett territory.
And apparently the child growing inside her had been the reason they thought I would come without asking questions.
