Chapter 12
Marco tried to blame Camilla.
I expected it.
He lasted twelve days.
Then requested a private meeting and arrived prepared to explain how my cousin controlled him.
I refused privacy.
Rafe stayed.
So did Enzo.
Marco hated that.
Good.
“Camilla wanted the second table more than I did.”
“Maybe.”
“She pushed the Livia issue.”
“Maybe.”
“She hated Sofia.”
I looked at him.
“Careful.”
He stopped.
“You’re trying to discover whether someone else’s guilt makes yours lighter.”
His expression hardened.
“I followed orders too.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“You gave them.”
Dean had made that clear.
Marco arranged the staged threats.
Marco switched drivers.
Marco told Dean to flee after Sofia crashed.
Camilla may have designed the family control.
Marco operationalized it.
Different roles.
Same consequences.
He tried another excuse.
“Sofia was tearing you away from everything.”
I almost smiled.
“You mean she was making me difficult to control.”
“She made you soft.”
There it was.
Villain language always gets boring eventually.
“What does soft mean?”
Marco hesitated.
I answered.
“I stopped letting men terrify families over debts.”
Silence.
“I stopped letting captains punish children.”
Silence.
“I wanted my daughter raised outside this house.”
His jaw tightened.
“So yes.”
I leaned closer.
“Sofia made me softer toward people who never deserved our cruelty.”
My voice dropped.
“She made me harder toward men like you.”
Marco looked away.
He lost every Valenti role.
Every access point.
Every crew.
I did not banish him from Camilla.
That was her relationship to decide.
But neither of them would come near Livia without my daughter wanting it and me approving.
Marco laughed bitterly.
“You’re letting a four-year-old run the family.”
“No.”
I stood.
“I’m letting a four-year-old decide who touches her.”
May you like
He had no answer.
Amazing how radical bodily autonomy sounds to people raised on ownership.
