Chapter 14
Anna knew nothing about the second van.
That was the truth.
Vittorio believed her.
Anthony didn't want her for information she had.
He wanted information he thought she had.
That distinction mattered.
Vittorio looked at her.
“What have you cleaned recently besides the blue room?”
Anna thought.
“Everything.”
Celeste laughed.
“Useful answer.”
Anna ignored her.
“Your study.”
Vittorio nodded.
“The west library.”
Another.
“The council room.”
Mauro looked up.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Anything unusual?”
Anna hesitated.
Then remembered.
“One drawer was locked.”
Vittorio’s private council cabinet.
“Which?”
“The lower one.”
Vittorio looked at Mauro.
That drawer held no money.
No documents that mattered.
It held one thing Anthony might want.
An old iron key.
Vittorio’s father had used it for the Queens underground meeting chamber.
A neutral site beneath an abandoned restaurant.
Old capos still remembered it.
Vittorio hadn't used it in years.
But the chamber represented something powerful.
Any meeting held there could claim continuity with the old Romano order.
Anthony wanted legitimacy.
The key.
He assumed Anna had seen it while cleaning.
Or moved it.
“Did anyone ask you about a key?”
Anna went pale.
Yes.
Vittorio saw it.
“Who?”
“Celeste.”
Celeste froze.
Anna looked at her.
“Three weeks ago.”
Vittorio turned.
Celeste said:
“I ask staff questions.”
Anna continued.
“She asked whether I cleaned the lower drawer.”
Celeste snapped:
“Because you miss corners.”
Anna’s voice strengthened.
“She asked what was inside.”
Silence.
Celeste looked toward Anthony.
There.
Connection.
Vittorio understood.
Anthony had used Celeste.
Celeste used Anna.
Anna didn’t know the answer.
So the pressure escalated.
Food withheld.
Hours increased.
Hands burned.
Mia threatened.
Finally blue-room captivity.
All to break her into remembering something she never saw.
“You starved her over a key.”
Vittorio’s voice was quiet.
Celeste rolled her eyes.
“She missed meals.”
Anna stared at her.
“Three days once.”
Celeste shrugged.
“Still alive.”
Mia began crying again.
Celeste snapped:
“Stop.”
Vittorio moved.
Anthony raised one hand.
“Enough.”
Vittorio looked at him.
Anthony’s patience had ended.
“So sentimental.”
He looked toward Anna.
“She had one job.”
Anna flinched.
Anthony continued.
“Clean.”
Then Mia.
“And keep the child quiet.”
Vittorio's face hardened.
Anthony turned toward Celeste.
“You failed both.”
Celeste stared.
Even now, being criticized by Anthony mattered to her.
“Where is the key?” Anthony asked Vittorio.
Vittorio almost smiled.
“You built all of this without knowing?”
Anthony’s face tightened.
“Where?”
“No.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
Everyone turned.
He looked at Anthony.
“You used us for a key?”
Anthony ignored him.
Marco continued.
“You said the vote made me boss.”
Anthony finally looked at him.
“You believed that?”
Marco’s face collapsed.
Celeste whispered:
“Marco.”
He shouted:
“Shut up.”
Then pointed at Anthony.
“You let me drug him.”
“Yes.”
“Let Celeste starve Anna.”
“Yes.”
“Let us set the vote.”
“Yes.”
“And I was temporary?”
Anthony stared.
“Painfully.”
Marco lunged.
Guards restrained him.
He screamed:
“You old bastard!”
Anthony didn't flinch.
“You were always too emotional.”
Vittorio almost laughed.
The irony.
Then Marco made his final mistake.
He pointed at Mia.
“This is because of that kid.”
Silence.
Mia hid behind Anna.
Marco shouted:
“If she had kept her mouth shut, none of this happens.”
Anna turned.
Marco continued.
“She ruins everything.”
Vittorio stepped forward.
Marco kept talking.
“Just like her mother.”
Anna went white.
“Marco.”
“No.”
He laughed.
“Look at her.”
He pointed.
“Red hands. Crying kid. Always some problem.”
Then his voice became vicious.
“If Anna had learned to obey, nobody would've needed to starve her.”
That sentence ended whatever sympathy any capo still had.
Dominic Rizzo removed his capo pin.
Placed it on the table.
Then looked at Marco.
“You're finished.”
Another capo followed.
Then another.
Not surrendering to Vittorio.
Rejecting Marco.
Anthony watched his coalition disappear.
Celeste stared around the room.
Reese looked almost amused.
Vittorio stood in the middle of it all.
Then he reached into his jacket.
Pulled out the old iron key.
Anthony’s eyes locked onto it.
Vittorio held it up.
“This?”
Anthony’s expression finally broke.
Vittorio looked toward the fireplace.
Then threw the key into the flames.
Anthony shouted:
“No!”
Everyone froze.
Vittorio watched the old iron darken.
“You wanted a room beneath Queens.”
He turned back.
“You should’ve built one.”
Anthony stared at the fire.
Years of planning.
Gone in one movement.
Then Vittorio gave one final order.
“Open the doors.”
Mauro frowned.
“Boss?”
“All of them.”
The salon doors opened.
Hallway.
Patio.
Service corridor.
No trap.
No secrecy.
Vittorio looked at every capo.
“No private vote.”
Then at Anthony.
“No midnight council.”
Then Celeste and Marco.
“No frightened servants.”
Finally Anna and Mia.
“No more closed rooms.”
Silence.
Anthony’s power had depended on shadows.
May you like
Vittorio removed them.
And for the first time that night, the conspiracy had nowhere left to hide.
