Chapter 8
Genevieve crossed the room.
She did not look sixty-three.
She looked dangerous.
“You spoke to Vale without me.”
Adrian smiled.
“You spoke to half Boston without Domenico.”
“Don't compare us.”
“Why?”
His voice sharpened.
“Because your betrayal has pearls?”
Several capos looked away.
Genevieve raised one hand as if to strike him.
Adrian caught her wrist.
Domenico watched.
For one second mother and son stood locked together.
Then Adrian released her.
Not gently.
Genevieve’s eyes burned.
“I spent forty years protecting your name.”
Adrian adjusted his cuff.
“You spent forty years protecting your lie about my father.”
Her face tightened.
“There’s a difference.”
“Not to me.”
Rocco stepped forward.
“Salvatore wanted you both away from this life.”
Genevieve whipped toward him.
“Shut your mouth.”
Rocco did not.
“He asked Carlo to send you to Connecticut.”
Adrian stared.
Genevieve’s expression became lethal.
Rocco continued.
“He wanted Adrian raised outside the family.”
“No.”
Genevieve’s voice snapped through the room.
Adrian turned toward her.
Rocco nodded.
“Yes.”
“Salvatore knew what his name would do to the boy.”
Genevieve stepped closer.
“You were a driver.”
Rocco’s eyes narrowed.
“And you were there.”
The old mistake again.
Genevieve hated him for it.
Rocco continued.
“Salvatore said the boy should never grow up believing betrayal was inheritance.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
He looked toward Genevieve.
“You told me he died asking for revenge.”
She lifted her chin.
“He died ashamed.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“He should have been angry.”
“But he wasn't.”
Genevieve’s eyes flashed.
“He was weak.”
Silence.
Adrian stared at her.
The son who had spent his life worshipping a wronged father finally heard his mother call that father weak.
Something broke.
Genevieve realized it.
Too late.
She tried to recover.
“He gave up.”
Adrian laughed once.
Empty.
“No.”
He looked toward Rocco.
“He wanted me out.”
Rocco nodded.
Genevieve snapped:
“He wanted you small.”
Adrian turned.
There was genuine hatred now.
“You made me hate Domenico for a dead man who didn't.”
Her face hardened.
“I made you strong.”
“No.”
“You made me useful.”
She stared.
Adrian smiled bitterly.
“Now we finally agree on something.”
Domenico watched the fracture.
He did not interrupt.
A Mafia Boss did not always win by speaking.
Sometimes he let the people who built a lie destroy it themselves.
Then Lily tugged his sleeve.
“Daddy.”
He looked down.
She pointed toward the screen.
“That's the bad man.”
Lucian Vale.
Domenico frowned.
“You've seen him?”
She nodded.
Genevieve looked confused.
Adrian did not.
Domenico noticed.
“Where?”
Lily pointed toward the hallway.
“Red room.”
The old card room.
Closed during receptions.
Domenico looked at Adrian.
His confidence stayed.
“So?”
Lily continued.
“He gave Uncle Adrian a little bird.”
Domenico’s eyes narrowed.
“What bird?”
She shaped something with her hands.
“Silver.”
Adrian’s hand immediately moved toward his jacket.
Domenico saw it.
“Take it out.”
Adrian smiled.
“No.”
Two bodyguards moved closer.
Adrian looked at them.
“Touch me and half the North Shore hears Domenico can't control his own house.”
Domenico’s expression did not change.
“Take it out.”
A long pause.
Adrian finally reached inside.
He placed a silver raven pin on the table.
Not Ravelli.
Vale.
Genevieve stared at it.
Lucian’s private alliance mark.
Given only to men he considered inside his circle.
Her voice came low.
“You joined him.”
Adrian smiled at his mother.
“No.”
He tapped the pin.
“I made him think I did.”
Domenico watched.
Genevieve’s face hardened.
Adrian continued.
May you like
“Just like I made you think this was your coup.”
And for the first time, Genevieve looked genuinely uncertain about which of them had been using the other.
