Chapter 13
Grant finally became nervous.
Not Vanessa.
Grant.
That told me the bedroom device was his idea.
“What happens if I survive South Ridge?”
He smiled.
“Hypotheticals.”
I held up the transmitter.
“Answer.”
Vincent did.
“Second team comes here.”
Grant turned.
“You coward.”
Vincent laughed.
“Still calling people cowards while sitting under guard?”
I looked at him.
“Second team does what?”
“Secures Daniel.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“For?”
“Voss wanted leverage over the capos.”
Grant interrupted:
“You were supposed to leave the country.”
I turned.
There.
Again.
Different promises.
Vincent looked at Grant.
“No.”
Grant’s expression changed.
Vincent continued.
“Voss told me Daniel stays alive until the routes transfer.”
Vanessa whispered:
“He told me Daniel would come back.”
Silence.
I almost pitied her.
Almost.
“What did he tell you?”
“That after everything settled, Daniel would understand.”
I stared.
She truly believed she could starve Sophia, remove Maria, help ambush me—
then marry me afterward.
“You thought I would forgive this.”
She touched her engagement ring.
“I thought you’d understand why.”
“Why?”
“Because you were shutting us out.”
“Us?”
“Me.”
Finally.
No strategy.
No Voss.
Jealousy.
“You listened to Maria.”
“She works here.”
“You protected Sophia.”
“She is a child.”
“She isn’t yours.”
The words came out hard.
Sophia heard.
Vanessa didn’t care.
“You changed plans for her.”
“She was hungry.”
“You came home and the entire house stopped because a maid’s daughter cried.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Exactly.”
She had spent months interpreting compassion as insult.
I looked at Maria.
“You knew she hated Sophia?”
Maria lowered her eyes.
“She was worse when you traveled.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Vanessa answered for her.
“Because I told her what happened to women who make bosses choose.”
Maria went pale.
I stared at Vanessa.
“What did you tell her?”
She smiled.
“That Luis made one choice.”
Pause.
“And Maria could make another.”
Maria whispered:
“She said if I complained, Sophia would lose more than meals.”
The room changed.
May you like
Vanessa had threatened the child long before five days of starvation.
And Maria had been surviving inside my mansion while I mistook silence for safety.
