Chapter 12 - THE SON CARMINE ALMOST LOST
Carmine spent the next day with Leo.
That decision confused everyone.
Captains waited.
Cars remained ready.
Men expected orders.
Vittorio was supposed to appear at the old social club by sundown.
Carmine stayed in the nursery building a wooden train track.
Leo sat on the floor beside him.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Then Leo placed the same piece of track backward three times.
Carmine corrected it once.
Leo flinched.
Carmine froze.
“Why did you do that?”
Leo looked down.
“Bad?”
“No.”
“Track bad.”
“The track is fine.”
Leo stared at him.
Carmine understood.
Every mistake now meant punishment in the boy’s mind.
He removed the piece.
Placed it backward himself.
“Daddy did it wrong.”
Leo looked surprised.
“What happens now?”
The boy whispered:
“No dinner.”
Carmine’s throat closed.
He sat completely still.
“Who told you that?”
“Auntie.”
Carmine forced himself to breathe.
“Listen to me.”
Leo looked up.
“You can make mistakes.”
The boy waited.
“You still eat.”
Leo frowned.
“You can break a toy.”
A pause.
“You still eat.”
“You can spill water.”
Another pause.
“You still eat.”
Leo’s eyes began filling.
“Daddy mad?”
“Sometimes.”
“No dinner?”
Carmine picked up his son.
“No.”
Leo rested his head against Carmine’s chest.
For ten minutes Carmine said nothing.
The room outside could have burned.
He would not have moved.
Later Nora brought lunch.
Leo watched Carmine’s plate first.
“Daddy eat?”
“Yes.”
Only then did Leo begin.
Carmine noticed.
Another wound.
He had spent decades knowing which rival carried a hidden weapon and never noticed his son had learned to fear a meal.
Anthony entered after lunch.
“Word is moving.”
Carmine did not look away from Leo.
“Who reacted?”
“Three captains asked whether you’re sick.”
“Good.”
“Salvatore sent men toward the social club without asking.”
Carmine looked up.
“Interesting.”
“Vittorio arrived.”
“With?”
“Six men.”
“Second House?”
“Unknown.”
“And whoever is watching him?”
Anthony nodded.
“We saw two vehicles he didn’t arrive with.”
Carmine smiled faintly.
The trap was filling.
“Still staying?”
“Yes.”
Anthony looked surprised.
“Boss.”
Carmine’s eyes hardened.
“Do not mistake staying with my son for doing nothing.”
At the social club, Carmine’s men watched from distance.
Vittorio waited.
Salvatore’s men arrived.
Then one of the unknown vehicles left.
Anthony tracked it.
Not toward the estate.
Toward Manhattan.
A private residence belonging to retired Bellucci captain Raymond Cole.
Carmine remembered Raymond.
Seventy-four.
Walked with a cane.
Had not attended a family gathering in six years.
One of Giancarlo’s oldest men.
“Second House?” Anthony asked.
“Maybe.”
The second unknown vehicle left twenty minutes later.
Destination:
Dominic Valli’s widow.
Two old connections.
Carmine understood.
Whoever watched Vittorio was checking whether his public challenge caused old Second House members to move.
Vittorio was bait too.
Just like Helena.
Just like Leo.
The network was hunting itself.
That evening, Carmine finally left the nursery.
Not for Brooklyn.
For Raymond Cole.
He took only Anthony.
Raymond opened his door himself.
He saw Carmine and sighed.
“Took you long enough.”
Carmine stared.
“You expected me.”
“I expected Rosalie.”
The name froze the night.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“What happened?”
“She came.”
“After the ambush?”
“Before.”
Carmine stepped inside.
Raymond poured whiskey but did not offer any.
“The Second House had started moving again,” he said.
“Who leads it?”
“No one.”
“Wrong answer.”
Raymond smiled.
“That is why your father could never control it.”
“Then what survives?”
“Promises. Threats. Favors. Old fear.”
“Vittorio?”
“Trying to kill it.”
“Rosalie?”
“Trying to understand it.”
“Where is she?”
Raymond’s face darkened.
“I helped her disappear.”
Carmine stopped.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She asked.”
“Everyone says that.”
“Because it’s true.”
Carmine’s voice became low.
“Where did you send her?”
Raymond looked toward Anthony.
Then back to Carmine.
“She made me promise I would only tell you after you chose Leo over revenge.”
Carmine said nothing.
Raymond smiled sadly.
“Today you did.”
He walked to an old cabinet and removed a small brass bell.
One strike.
Soft.
“Rosalie called this the final test.”
“Where is she?”
Raymond gave Carmine a place.
An abandoned convent near Lake George.
Four hours north.
Carmine’s heart began pounding.
“When did you last see her?”
“Eight months ago.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why hasn’t she come home?”
May you like
Raymond looked at him.
“Because she believes the person who ordered her ambush still eats at your family table.”
