Chapter 4
Miriam refused to leave the house.
Alessia wanted her somewhere secure.
Miriam stared at her daughter across the breakfast room.
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Deciding for me because you're frightened.”
Alessia’s mouth tightened.
“I’m not frightened.”
Miriam held her gaze.
Alessia looked away first.
That surprised them both.
Miriam lowered her voice.
“He knew you would react if he hurt me.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Alessia’s breathing slowed.
Anyone close to her knew she loved her mother.
That alone did not explain Garrett’s certainty.
Then Miriam said:
“He’s been asking about your temper.”
Alessia looked up.
“For how long?”
“Months.”
Miriam had dismissed it at first.
Garrett asked what Alessia was like after her father died.
What made her lose sleep.
Who could calm her down.
Who she would kill for.
Miriam hated the questions.
But Garrett always disguised them as a husband trying to understand his wife.
“I thought he was trying to help you.”
Alessia laughed once without humor.
“Apparently he was studying me.”
Miriam’s eyes became wet.
“I should have told you.”
“No.”
Alessia reached across the table.
“You shouldn't have had to suspect my husband.”
Miriam did not take her hand immediately.
That pause hurt.
Then she did.
Later that afternoon, Alessia reviewed Garrett’s movements during the three months before the gala.
Private dinners.
Meetings with capos.
Security discussions.
Family events.
Nothing openly disloyal.
Then one pattern emerged.
Whenever Alessia traveled, Garrett scheduled private meals with men who usually reported directly to her.
He called them “relationship dinners.”
One capo, Nicholas Dane, had attended five.
Alessia summoned him.
Nicholas entered confidently.
Too confidently.
“You met my husband five times without telling me.”
“He's family.”
“Was.”
Nicholas’s eyes flickered.
Alessia saw it.
“What did he want?”
“Nothing.”
She leaned back.
Her voice became softer.
“Nicholas.”
His hands tightened behind his back.
“He asked what would happen if you became… unstable.”
Miriam’s face changed.
Alessia remained still.
“What did you tell him?”
“That nobody would remove you.”
“And?”
Nicholas looked toward the closed door.
“He said they wouldn't need to.”
Alessia’s voice dropped.
“Explain.”
Nicholas hesitated.
Then placed a folded document on the table.
Garrett had been collecting signatures from senior men.
Not pledges to overthrow Alessia.
Pledges to remain neutral if “a domestic crisis made temporary operational leadership necessary.”
At the bottom were six names.
Alessia recognized five.
May you like
The sixth made Miriam stop breathing.
It belonged to Alessia’s most trusted capo.
