Chapter 6
The greenhouse had one entrance.
That was what everyone believed.
Matteo knew better.
We built it as boys.
My father wanted imported citrus trees.
Matteo wanted a place to hide cigarettes.
I wanted somewhere adults didn't follow us.
There was an old irrigation crawlspace beneath the northern wall.
Barely large enough for a grown man.
Unless he remembered exactly where to open it.
Matteo remembered.
Elias found mud.
Fresh.
Footprints disappeared beneath the wall.
“He was here less than twenty minutes ago.”
I looked at the signet ring.
Matteo's initials were carved inside.
M.C.
I had seen him wear it from sixteen until the day he died.
“Why leave this?”
Elias answered:
“He wants you to know.”
Exactly.
My brother had always needed an audience.
Even when we fought as children, winning wasn't enough.
He needed me to understand that he won.
I looked toward the house.
“Where's Noah?”
“Hospital.”
“Lily?”
“With Emma.”
“Good.”
“Helena and Dominic?”
“Separated.”
“Better.”
We returned to the house.
Dominic lasted fourteen minutes alone.
Longer than I expected.
Shorter than Helena.
He sat across from me in my father's old office.
“Matteo is going to kill you.”
I smiled.
“Then why are you warning me?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because this got out of control.”
“No.”
I leaned back.
“It was always out of your control.”
He looked away.
“You thought you were helping restore the rightful boss.”
“I was.”
“You thought Matteo would reward you.”
Silence.
“You thought Helena would stand beside him.”
Still nothing.
“What changed?”
Dominic finally looked at me.
“He changed Friday.”
“How?”
“Victor Sanz was supposed to die.”
“I know.”
“Then Matteo ordered Noah brought downstairs too.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What?”
Dominic swallowed.
“He said Noah needed to see what happens when a weak father loses control.”
I stood.
Dominic flinched.
Good instinct.
“Why?”
“He hates you.”
“That explains me.”
I moved around the desk.
“Not my son.”
Dominic's face tightened.
“He said Noah was already being raised to replace you.”
“He's fourteen.”
“To Matteo, that's enough.”
Of course.
My brother had spent eleven years living inside the same humiliation.
Passed over.
Replaced.
He looked at my son and saw another version of me waiting.
“Was Noah supposed to die?”
Dominic shook his head quickly.
“No.”
I believed the fear.
“What then?”
“Matteo wanted him turned.”
“Against me?”
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
Matteo had not changed at all.
Still thought pain created loyalty.
Our father tried that too.
He was wrong.
“Lily?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
I grabbed his chin.
“What about Lily?”
“She was supposed to disappear.”
My hand tightened.
“Meaning?”
“I don't know.”
“Wrong.”
“I swear.”
I released him.
He rubbed his jaw.
“Helena said the girl had seen too much.”
“And Emma?”
“Same.”
There it was.
Three lives.
Mother.
Daughter.
My son.
All because my dead brother wanted a chair.
I looked at Dominic.
“You hit Noah.”
“Yes.”
“You locked Emma downstairs.”
“Yes.”
“You helped Helena terrorize Lily.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Why are you still alive?”
He looked at me.
Because he didn't know.
Neither did I.
Not yet.
Then Elias entered.
“Boss.”
I turned.
“We intercepted a call.”
“Whose?”
“Helena's.”
I frowned.
“She doesn't have a phone.”
“No.”
He placed a small radio transmitter on the desk.
“Found inside her pearl case.”
Helena had worn those pearls for thirty years.
Of course.
“What did she say?”
Elias looked at Dominic.
Then me.
“She told Matteo the hospital is secure.”
My stomach tightened.
“What hospital?”
Elias didn't answer immediately.
He didn't need to.
I was already moving.
Noah.
May you like
Matteo had never been running from the greenhouse.
He had been pulling me away from the hospital.
