Chapter 12
Preston asked me to meet him alone.
I refused.
Enzo stayed.
So did Celeste.
No private versions anymore.
Preston accepted that.
Good.
He placed the engagement ring on the table.
I had left it in the cedar box.
Apparently Celeste gave it to him.
“I’m not asking you to wear it.”
“Good.”
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
Better.
He looked exhausted.
“I want to tell you what happened in that room.”
“I was there.”
His face tightened.
“I mean before.”
He explained Warren spent the entire morning humiliating him.
Calling him weak.
Saying every Marconi man would laugh behind his back once I controlled the marriage.
Telling him I would keep my name, my capos, my authority, and eventually reduce him to decoration.
I listened.
Then asked:
“And that made the golf club appear in your hand?”
He looked down.
“No.”
Good answer.
“My father gave me the fear.”
He swallowed.
“I chose what to do with it.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
That mattered to her.
Preston continued.
“I thought if you were afraid of me once, I’d never have to be afraid of losing control later.”
There it was.
Ugly.
Honest.
I looked at him.
“Do you understand why there is no future for us?”
“Yes.”
No bargaining.
No promise to change for me.
Good.
“What happens to me?” he asked.
“That’s not my decision.”
He frowned.
“You assaulted the head of Marconi inside a Marconi protected suite.”
Enzo almost smiled.
“Organizational consequences belong to the family.”
Preston nodded.
No command.
No alliance rights.
No access to Marconi meetings.
No role through Warren’s name inside our territory.
He accepted everything.
Then he looked at his mother.
“What happens with us?”
Celeste answered.
“I don’t know.”
He nodded.
That was harder than punishment.
Uncertainty.
May you like
No guaranteed forgiveness just because confession finally arrived.
I respected her for giving him exactly as much truth as she had.
