Chapter 15
Mark removed his capo pin before I asked.
He placed it on the table.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
“I helped him alter the guard list.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know Stefano planned the hit.”
“I believe that.”
He looked surprised.
“Does that matter?”
“Yes.”
Hope appeared.
I killed it immediately.
“It changes what you’re guilty of.”
Pause.
“It does not erase what you chose afterward.”
His face tightened.
Good.
For fourteen years Mark knew Marcus tried to reach me.
For eight years he knew Lorenzo was asking why.
He stayed silent because Diana told him truth would destroy his future.
That silence had consequences.
“You lose command.”
He nodded.
“You lose your crew.”
Another nod.
“You do not approach Grace or Maya unless Grace allows it.”
That hurt more.
Good.
Then Diana laughed.
“So he loses everything because of one stupid decision at twenty-six?”
Grace looked at her.
“No.”
Diana turned.
“He loses it because he kept making the same decision for fourteen years.”
Silence.
Exactly.
Diana stared at her.
Grace did not look away.
I turned to Diana.
“You lose household authority. Family invitations. access to my capos. You will not direct staff in any Marzano property.”
Her face went white.
“You cannot reduce me to nothing.”
“No.”
I glanced toward Grace.
“You did that to other people.”
Then back to Diana.
“I’m only removing your ability to do it again.”
She stepped closer.
“I raised half this family.”
“And taught them what?”
Her mouth opened.
Closed.
Grace answered.
“That people below you don’t count.”
Diana’s eyes flashed.
I stopped her before she could speak.
“You do not insult Grace again.”
“Or what?”
“Nothing theatrical.”
That unsettled her.
“You simply leave.”
The ballroom doors were behind her.
Same doors she tried to drag Grace and Maya toward on Christmas.
Now she looked at them.
Then at me.
For once, nobody moved to help her.
That was the consequence she feared most.
Not pain.
Not humiliation.
Irrelevance.
She left alone.
Mark remained.
He looked at Grace.
“I’m sorry.”
She did not answer.
He nodded anyway.
No forgiveness.
May you like
No demand.
Just the beginning of living without control over whether the person he hurt made him feel better.
