Chapter 4
Edwin remembered the meetings.
That was what broke the pattern open.
Three times in the last month, senior capos had been invited to my private suite under the excuse of bringing business directly to me while I recovered.
Three times, I had experienced severe spasms within twenty minutes of their arrival.
At the time, I hated the coincidence.
Now I hated the design.
“Who arranged those visits?” I asked.
Edwin did not answer.
He looked at Lucia.
She smiled faintly.
“Your captains needed reassurance.”
“No. They needed a performance.”
Grant laughed.
“You gave them one.”
I looked at him.
He continued because men often confuse another man’s injury with permission.
“You threw a glass at Paolo. You couldn’t finish the Harbor discussion. You nearly fell transferring from the chair.”
June flinched.
He enjoyed that.
I did not.
“What happened before those meetings?”
Edwin frowned.
Then remembered.
“Mrs. Santoro always asked the kitchen to delay lunch.”
Lucia’s face changed.
Dr. Hart looked at me.
Medication was supposed to be taken with food.
Not always mandatory.
But enough to matter.
June understood before Edwin did.
“She delayed meals and stretched the doses.”
Hart nodded slowly.
“Which would make breakthrough pain much more likely.”
I looked at Lucia.
She shrugged.
“He still chose how to behave.”
There it was again.
Pain as moral failure.
Reaction as guilt.
“What did the capos hear afterward?”
Grant answered this time.
“That you were getting worse.”
Lucia turned toward him.
He ignored her.
“That you were unpredictable. Angry. Maybe not ready for meetings.”
I leaned forward.
“Who said it?”
Grant smiled.
“You know who.”
Lucia.
My cousin.
The woman who took over household coordination after the attack because she insisted family should handle family.
That was why outside nurses did not last.
That was why June had been hired cheaply and suddenly.
Penniless.
Unknown.
Easy to intimidate.
Except she had ignored the threat.
I looked at her.
May you like
Lucia had expected a caretaker desperate enough to obey.
Instead, she hired the first person in the house with nothing to lose by choosing me over the job.
