Chapter 6
I did not hit Vincent.
That disappointed Adrian.
I could tell.
We brought him into the baby-shower salon just after sunrise.
The decorations were still there.
Broken stroller rack.
Scattered gift bags.
Bunting hanging loose from one wall.
Adrian sat exactly where my men had left him.
Evelyn beside him.
Sofia remained upstairs with Noah.
Safe.
That was the word I cared about now.
Vincent walked in.
Adrian smiled.
“There he is.”
Vincent looked at him with pure hatred.
Good.
Alliances always look uglier in daylight.
I sat across from them.
Gabriel Rourke stood against the wall.
Bandaged.
Alive.
The moment Evelyn saw him, her face collapsed.
“You.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Still disappointed?”
She recovered quickly.
“You should have stayed dead.”
He laughed.
“That line worked better twelve years ago.”
Adrian looked between them.
“You brought him here?”
I leaned back.
“He walked.”
“Big mistake.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Still pretending you make decisions?”
Adrian stood.
Two bodyguards pushed him down.
He looked at me.
“Massimo, listen to me.”
“No.”
“I was protecting Sofia.”
Gabriel laughed.
Adrian snapped:
“Shut up.”
I looked at my son-in-law.
“Explain how punching an eight-month-pregnant woman protects her.”
His expression sharpened.
“She was going to ruin everything.”
“Everything?”
“The family.”
Interesting choice of word.
“Whose?”
He said nothing.
Evelyn stepped in.
“My son has been carrying the burden Sofia was too spoiled to understand.”
I looked at her.
“What burden?”
“She wouldn't cooperate.”
“With being beaten?”
“With surviving.”
She leaned forward.
“Massimo, your daughter has no idea what this life costs.”
I almost smiled.
“She has bruises.”
“And?”
Her eyes were cold.
“Women before her survived worse without making a spectacle of themselves.”
Gabriel muttered something under his breath.
Evelyn kept going.
“She had a house. Money. Protection. A husband who tolerated every tantrum.”
I stared.
“Tolerated?”
“She refused him constantly.”
Adrian nodded.
“I asked one question for months.”
He looked toward the ceiling as if Sofia were there.
“Where is the passage?”
His voice sharpened.
“She could have answered the first time.”
I felt the entire room change.
He didn't notice.
He was finally telling what he believed.
“If she'd listened, she wouldn't have a single bruise.”
Silence.
He smiled bitterly.
“She chose every mark.”
One of my capos turned away.
Disgust.
Good.
Adrian continued.
“And Noah?”
He laughed.
“That child cries if a door closes too loudly.”
Evelyn smirked.
“Sofia raised him soft.”
Gabriel looked at me.
I understood the warning.
Don't kill them yet.
We still needed the full shape.
I looked at Vincent.
“You opened St. Michael.”
“Yes.”
Adrian turned.
Evelyn did too.
Surprise.
Real surprise.
Interesting.
Adrian stared at him.
“You said you couldn't.”
Vincent's face hardened.
“I said I wouldn't.”
“But you did.”
“Once.”
“For whom?”
Silence.
I leaned forward.
“For Varga?”
Vincent looked at me.
“No.”
That got everyone's attention.
Gabriel frowned.
“Then who?”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“You all think Marcus Varga is running this.”
Evelyn looked uneasy now.
I waited.
Vincent continued.
“He isn't.”
Adrian laughed.
“Don't be stupid.”
Vincent turned on him.
“You've been stupid since the day your mother told you Massimo's chair could be yours.”
Adrian stood again.
My men shoved him down.
Evelyn snapped:
“Enough.”
Vincent ignored her.
“Varga doesn't want St. Michael.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“What does he want?”
“Nothing.”
I frowned.
“He's already been paid.”
“By whom?”
Vincent looked at Evelyn.
She went white.
Adrian saw it.
“Mom?”
She said nothing.
There it was.
A secret inside their secret.
I leaned back.
“Evelyn.”
Her hands tightened.
“Who paid Varga?”
Silence.
I looked at Adrian.
“Your mother knows.”
Adrian turned.
“What did you do?”
Evelyn's mask finally cracked.
“Everything I had to.”
Adrian stood.
“What does that mean?”
She snapped:
“Sit down.”
He stared.
For the first time, son stopped obeying mother.
“What did you promise him?”
Evelyn's face hardened.
“He isn't the problem.”
“Then who is?”
She looked at me.
And said:
“Your sister.”
I stopped breathing.
My younger sister, Bianca Caradonna, had left the family seventeen years earlier.
Not dead.
Worse to my father.
Gone.
She chose a civilian life.
Changed her name.
Cut contact.
I hadn't seen her in fourteen years.
“What about Bianca?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“She came back.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Why?”
She glanced toward Adrian.
Then toward Sofia's empty chair.
“To take what she thinks you stole from her.”
Adrian stared at his mother.
“You said Varga was backing me.”
Evelyn didn't answer.
Vincent laughed bitterly.
Now Adrian understood.
He hadn't been Evelyn's future boss.
May you like
He had been a door opener.
And someone else had been waiting on the other side.
