Chapter 6
Leo asked to hear every recording of his father.
I said no.
He hated me for about ten minutes.
Then I explained.
“They belong to him too.”
Leo looked confused.
“Dad’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“That means—”
“It means we don’t turn every private moment of his life into evidence because Marcus recorded it.”
That stopped him.
We listened only to the files connected to the Circle.
The rest stayed closed.
One recording hurt enough.
Adrian speaking to me six years ago.
I had forgotten the conversation.
We were in the club lounge.
He said:
“Marcus is building a family beneath you.”
I laughed.
On the recording.
Actually laughed.
Then I said:
“He’s dramatic. Let him feel important.”
I closed my eyes.
Leo said nothing.
Did not need to.
I had been warned.
Not fully.
Enough.
Adrian continued.
“If you wait until he becomes dangerous, he’ll already have people depending on him.”
My younger voice answered:
“You worry too much.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the tablet.
Leo whispered:
“You didn’t believe him.”
“No.”
“You loved Uncle Marcus?”
“Yes.”
That was why.
Not stupidity alone.
Trust.
Family.
History.
I had grown up with Marcus.
He taught me to ride.
Covered for me when I wrecked my father’s car at sixteen.
Held Leo at Adrian’s funeral.
Human beings are difficult because betrayal does not erase old kindness.
It contaminates it.
Leo asked:
“Does that mean Dad died because you didn’t listen?”
There it was.
The question I had already asked myself.
“No.”
He frowned.
“I failed to listen.”
I forced myself to meet his eyes.
“Marcus arranged the danger. Grant carried it out. Adrian’s death followed from their choice.”
I touched my chest.
“My failure belongs here.”
Then pointed toward Marcus’s office downstairs.
“Theirs stays there.”
Leo breathed slowly.
Reaction before explanation.
Good.
Then he said:
“He tried to make me hate you.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
Marcus had spent years telling Leo that I loved Lily more because she was my child.
That once I had a daughter, Leo became “extra family.”
My jaw clenched.
Leo laughed bitterly.
“I thought he was just being mean.”
No.
He was dividing heirs.
May you like
Adrian was gone.
If Leo resented Lily, Marcus could stand between both branches of Bellandi forever.
