Chapter 2
I did not let Garrett leave.
Not yet.
He had wanted an audience when he humiliated my mother.
He could have one while explaining why.
I seated Miriam beside me.
Not behind.
Beside.
Evelyn noticed immediately.
“You’re making this emotional.”
I looked at her.
“My husband kicked my mother onto the floor.”
“And that is precisely why you should calm down before confusing household insult with family structure.”
Household insult.
Interesting phrase.
Miriam’s fingers tightened around the arm of her chair.
I heard it before I saw it.
Fear.
My mother was afraid of Evelyn.
That was new.
“What has she been saying to you?”
Evelyn laughed.
Miriam did not answer.
I turned fully toward her.
“Mom.”
She looked at me.
“For months.”
My jaw tightened.
“What?”
“Garrett has been coming to my rooms.”
I looked at him.
His expression barely changed.
Miriam continued.
“He told me I should stop attending private dinners unless invited. Stop speaking to captains alone. Stop sitting beside you at family events.”
My hands became cold.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Garrett answered.
“Because she understood.”
I looked at him.
He smiled.
“Your mother is not stupid.”
“No.”
My voice lowered.
“She raised me.”
That smile disappeared.
Miriam continued.
“Evelyn told me a married boss needs one household voice.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“And that voice was supposed to be Garrett.”
“Eventually.”
The honesty surprised even the capos.
Evelyn saw their reaction and corrected herself.
“Beside you.”
“No.”
I leaned back.
“You said eventually.”
Silence.
Good.
I looked toward the three men who remained.
“Did Garrett promise you something?”
Captain Russo answered first.
“No.”
Captain Vale looked at the floor.
Captain Mercer said nothing.
Garrett laughed.
“They don’t need promises. They understand tradition.”
“What tradition?”
He looked toward Miriam.
“The boss marries. The husband becomes the center of the house. The widowed mother steps back.”
My mother lowered her eyes.
I saw it.
That bothered me more than Garrett’s words.
Someone had been saying this long enough that part of Miriam had started believing it.
I turned toward him.
“You married the head of the Carbone organization.”
Garrett’s jaw tightened.
“You did not marry into an empty chair.”
Then Captain Vale finally spoke.
“That’s not what Evelyn told us.”
May you like
Everyone turned toward him.
And Evelyn’s face changed.
