Chapter 6
Grace knew more than she realized.
Not facts.
Memories.
She remembered Marcus waking her in the middle of the night two days before he died. He made her promise three things.
Keep the bear.
Never trust anyone who insults service work.
And if Vittorio Marzano ever asks who your father was, tell him he was scared for him.
Grace had been twelve.
She thought Marcus meant he feared I might die someday because of Mafia life.
Now she understood.
“So he tried to warn you?”
“Maybe.”
“Why didn’t he just tell you?”
That question hurt.
I had been thirty-one then.
Already surrounded by men who filtered access to me.
Carlo.
Lorenzo.
Diana.
Half the old captains.
Maybe Marcus tried.
Rafe returned with something else.
An old household ledger?
No.
I told him I wanted no paperwork.
He brought a person.
Thomas Hale.
Retired groundskeeper.
Eighty.
Still angry.
He looked at Grace and immediately started crying.
“Marcus’s girl.”
Grace froze.
Thomas removed his hat.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
He looked at me.
“I saw Marcus the night before the warehouse.”
I waited.
“He came here.”
“To the estate?”
“Yes.”
“He asked to see you.”
I frowned.
“I was here.”
Thomas nodded.
“That’s what he said.”
“Who stopped him?”
Thomas looked toward Diana.
She laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Thomas continued.
Carlo intercepted Marcus at the service entrance.
They argued.
Marcus kept saying, “Vittorio needs to know before tomorrow.”
Carlo refused him entry.
Then Mark appeared.
Mark was twenty-six.
Already running errands for his father.
Grace looked at him.
“You were there.”
Mark’s face tightened.
Thomas nodded.
“He told Marcus that people like him do not summon Marzanos.”
I felt something inside me turn cold.
Mark had spent years dismissing Grace as help because he had learned the same contempt young.
“What did Marcus do?”
Thomas looked down.
“He left.”
Grace whispered, “And the next day he died.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Mark.
“You kept the man who saved my life away from me the night before someone tried to kill me.”
“I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Maybe true.
Not enough.
“What did you know?”
He said nothing.
Thomas answered.
“That Carlo was frightened.”
Diana stood.
“My husband is dead.”
Thomas looked at her.
“So is Marcus.”
That silenced her.
Then Thomas turned to me.
“Carlo said one thing after Marcus left.”
“What?”
Thomas swallowed.
“He said if Bennett talks tomorrow, nobody in that warehouse comes home the same.”
May you like
The assassination attempt had not been a surprise.
It had been a deadline.
