Chapter 12
I closed the club for one month.
That decision caused more panic among wealthy members than a shooting probably would have.
Good.
The building needed silence.
We removed Dominic’s private office first.
Behind one wall were duplicate books.
Cash.
Unapproved contracts.
Photographs of properties marked by acquisition priority.
He had been preparing to expand the same structure across three neighborhoods.
Victor had been small.
Dominic wanted scale.
That was the difference between inheritance and ambition.
Maeve visited twice during renovations because Daniel delivered bread to the workers.
The first time she saw me standing normally, she pointed at my legs.
“Still work.”
I laughed.
“Yes.”
“Wheelchair fake?”
“Yes.”
She frowned.
“That’s lying.”
Fair.
I crouched.
“It was.”
“Bad?”
“Sometimes.”
She thought about it.
“Did you say sorry?”
Children are exhausting.
“Not yet.”
She held out her hand.
“To who?”
I looked around the lobby.
That was the right question.
Not Dominic.
The people I deceived to learn the truth were not harmed by the disguise.
But the deeper lie was years old.
I had let myself believe owning a neighborhood meant understanding it.
I did not.
So when the six business owners came to review repayment arrangements, I told them the truth.
“I should have known.”
The florist shook her head.
“You can’t know everything.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
“But I built a structure where men could use my name for years without the people beneath them believing they could reach me directly.”
That part was mine.
Daniel listened.
Then said:
“So change it.”
Simple.
Difficult.
I did.
Every Castellano property received a direct complaint line outside local managers. Independent review by men who did not benefit from the collections. No neighborhood payment could be created without written approval visible to me and Antonio.
Not paperwork for bureaucracy.
Visibility.
I wanted fewer shadows.
Dominic mocked it from where he remained under guard.
“You’re turning Mafia into customer service.”
I almost smiled.
“No.”
May you like
I looked at him.
“I’m making theft harder for cowards who hide behind my face.”
