Chapter 13
Sebastian’s voice changed.
Not fearful.
Meaner.
“You ungrateful bastards.”
The captains did not move.
He pointed toward the first.
“Who paid your wife’s surgery?”
Then the second.
“Who put your son in a crew when nobody wanted him?”
Then the third.
“Who cleared your brother’s debt?”
His face twisted with contempt.
“You ate from my hand.”
The first captain looked at him.
“That’s what you thought loyalty was.”
Sebastian laughed.
“It is.”
“No.”
The man stepped back.
“It’s what ownership is.”
Sebastian’s eyes hardened.
Rocco watched.
There was nothing left to expose.
Only a man revealing himself.
Celeste looked toward Donna.
The old woman sat now.
Nora beside her.
A cloth against her forehead.
Celeste’s eyes lingered.
Donna noticed.
“What?”
Celeste’s mouth tightened.
“Nothing.”
Donna waited.
Celeste finally said:
“You're enjoying this.”
Donna looked surprised.
“No.”
Celeste scoffed.
“Please.”
“You wanted me gone.”
“I wanted you kind.”
Celeste laughed.
The sound was bitter.
Donna continued.
“I wanted Rocco happy.”
“You wanted him manageable.”
Donna’s eyes narrowed.
Celeste leaned closer.
“You mothers are all the same.”
“You call control love because you learned to smile while doing it.”
Donna looked at her for a long moment.
Then:
“Maybe sometimes.”
Celeste’s expression changed.
She had expected denial.
Donna continued.
“I have interfered.”
“I have worried too loudly.”
“I have asked questions Rocco didn't want.”
Her voice softened.
“But I never kicked you because you disagreed with me.”
Celeste’s jaw tightened.
Donna looked toward the dirty basin far beyond the passage.
“And I never asked you to kneel.”
Silence.
Celeste looked away.
Rocco saw it.
Not remorse.
But the first moment she could no longer make herself the victim.
Then Matteo brought Sebastian’s own two lieutenants inside.
Both had surrendered their weapons.
Sebastian laughed.
“You too?”
One answered:
“You never told us Hale men would wear Serrano colors.”
“You didn't need to know.”
Sebastian’s face hardened.
“You needed to obey.”
There it was again.
The same philosophy.
Rocco looked at him.
“That's why you lose.”
Sebastian turned.
“You think this is loss?”
Rocco said nothing.
Sebastian spread his arms.
“I still know every Hale route.”
“Every Bellacorte weakness Celeste told me.”
Her face tightened.
“Every man Vincent complains about.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
Sebastian smiled.
“You can strip pins.”
“Men remember.”
Rocco nodded.
“Yes.”
Sebastian’s smile widened.
Then Rocco added:
“They'll remember you tried to dress them like Serrano and leave them dead under my chapel.”
The smile disappeared.
Silence.
Sebastian finally looked around.
No one stood beside him.
Not Celeste.
Not Hale captains.
Not Bellacorte.
His arrogance remained.
But now it had no audience willing to mistake it for authority.
Rocco stepped closer.
“Leave Boston.”
Sebastian laughed.
“No.”
Rocco held his gaze.
“You asked what power looks like without violence.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
Rocco continued.
“Tomorrow, every Hale captain knows you have no crew.”
“Every Serrano hears you planned to frame them.”
“Every Bellacorte knows you entered my estate through a grave tunnel.”
His voice became quiet.
“You can stay.”
A pause.
“But you'll stay as the man everybody knows is alone.”
May you like
Sebastian stared.
For the first time, leaving looked less humiliating than remaining.
