Chapter 2
Adrian recovered before anyone reached the fireplace.
He stepped directly into Domenico’s path.
“Don't.”
Domenico looked at him.
Adrian smiled again.
A thin, arrogant smile built to hide the first crack.
“You're going to tear apart your own reception because a child told you there’s treasure behind a lion?”
Genevieve laughed.
“She also thinks clouds follow the car.”
Lily lowered her head.
Genevieve saw it and continued.
Crueler now because Domenico was listening.
“That’s what happens when nobody teaches a child the difference between imagination and importance.”
Domenico’s eyes moved toward her.
Genevieve lifted her glass from a nearby table.
Still acting as though this were her reception.
Her room.
Her bloodline.
“You keep putting her at adult tables, Domenico.”
She took a sip.
“Eventually she starts believing adults need her opinion.”
Lily hid her face against Domenico’s jacket.
He placed one hand gently over the back of her head.
Then looked at Adrian.
“Move.”
Adrian’s shoulders squared.
“No.”
Several bodyguards shifted.
Adrian noticed and laughed.
“What?”
He looked around.
“You're going to have men drag me away from my own family’s fireplace?”
Domenico’s voice remained quiet.
“If necessary.”
Adrian’s smile faded.
He stepped aside.
Not out of obedience.
Calculation.
Domenico crossed to the fireplace.
The carved stone lion formed one end of the mantel support.
He pressed along the rear edge.
Nothing.
Genevieve scoffed loudly.
“Wonderful.”
She looked at the guests.
“Maybe next we search the garden because Lily saw a dragon.”
A few nervous laughs appeared.
Domenico ignored them.
Lily slipped from the bodyguard’s arms and came closer.
She pointed.
“His tooth.”
Domenico looked at the lion.
One stone fang sat slightly lower than the other.
He pressed it.
A narrow panel released behind the carving.
The room went silent.
Adrian’s face hardened.
Domenico reached inside.
His fingers closed around velvet.
He pulled out a small black pouch.
Genevieve stopped drinking.
Domenico opened it.
The ring dropped into his palm.
Black onyx.
Heavy gold.
A raven carved across the face.
Carlo Ravelli’s signet.
Eleven years gone.
Domenico looked at Adrian.
Adrian stared back.
No apology.
No panic.
Only challenge.
“Yes.”
The arrogance returned.
“I had it.”
Genevieve looked toward him sharply.
He ignored her.
Domenico’s hand closed around the ring.
“How?”
Adrian adjusted his wristwatch.
“My mother gave it to me.”
Every eye shifted toward Genevieve.
She did not flinch.
Instead, she smiled.
“Don't look so wounded.”
Her tone was almost amused.
“Your father wore that ring because he sat in a chair that should never have belonged to him.”
Domenico’s expression changed.
There it was.
Not the camera.
Not Lily.
Something older.
Genevieve stepped closer.
Her heels clicked through broken flower stems.
“My husband Salvatore was Carlo’s older cousin.”
“I know my family.”
“Do you?”
Her smile sharpened.
“Then perhaps someone forgot to tell you that your father became boss because Salvatore was pushed aside.”
Adrian looked at Domenico.
The old resentment lived comfortably in his face.
“My father died without the seat that should have been his.”
Domenico studied him.
“You were eleven when Salvatore died.”
“I was old enough to remember who sat at the head of the table afterward.”
Genevieve added:
“And who ate at the end.”
Her eyes moved toward Lily.
“Funny how history repeats itself.”
Domenico’s gaze hardened.
Genevieve smiled directly at the little girl.
“Some people are born at the wrong end of a family and spend their lives pretending the chair can fix it.”
Lily did not understand.
Domenico did.
He stepped between them.
Genevieve lifted both hands.
“Oh, spare me.”
She looked around the room.
“Everyone walks on glass because the little princess might cry.”
Adrian leaned against the mantel.
“My mother took back one ring.”
His tone was lazy.
“You inherited everything else.”
Domenico looked at him.
“Why hide it here?”
Adrian’s eyes flashed.
“Because I wanted to.”
“Try again.”
“Because this house belonged to my father before yours filled it with men who called him Boss.”
“That never happened.”
Adrian smiled.
“That’s the version you were raised on.”
Domenico looked toward the senior capos.
Several were old enough to remember Salvatore.
Nobody spoke.
One man, Rocco Marino, looked down.
Domenico saw it.
“Rocco.”
The veteran capo slowly raised his head.
“Did my father steal Salvatore’s position?”
Rocco’s mouth tightened.
Genevieve immediately interrupted.
“Don't bother.”
Her voice became contemptuous.
“Half these old men owe their comfortable retirement to your father.”
Rocco’s eyes hardened.
Genevieve smiled at him.
“What are you going to do, Rocco? Discover courage at seventy-two?”
Rocco’s jaw tightened.
Still he said nothing.
Adrian laughed.
“Exactly.”
He looked at Domenico.
“You inherited loyal silence.”
Then he pointed toward the ring.
“I inherited the truth.”
Lily tugged Domenico’s jacket again.
“Daddy.”
He looked down.
She was staring at the dinosaur.
The torn seam had widened.
A small black tab protruded beneath the camera.
Matteo approached carefully.
“Boss.”
He examined it.
“Memory card.”
Adrian straightened.
Domenico saw it.
The reaction was stronger than when the ring appeared.
Domenico removed the card.
Adrian stepped forward.
“You don't know what's on that.”
“That’s why I’m going to watch it.”
Genevieve gave a contemptuous laugh.
“It’s hours of carpets and children’s nonsense.”
Lily looked at her.
Then quietly said:
“No.”
Genevieve’s smile disappeared.
Lily pointed toward Adrian.
“Dino saw him sit in Daddy’s chair.”
Nobody moved.
Adrian’s face hardened.
Lily continued:
“And men came in.”
Domenico looked down at her.
“What men?”
She held up both hands, trying to count.
“Lots.”
Genevieve snapped:
“She doesn't know what she saw.”
Lily flinched.
Domenico turned sharply.
Genevieve stopped.
He looked back at his daughter.
“What did they call Adrian?”
Lily’s voice became tiny.
“Don.”
The room changed.
Adrian no longer smiled.
Domenico closed his fingers around the memory card.
May you like
Lily had not recorded gossip.
She had recorded a second Mafia council inside Domenico’s own house.
