Chapter 10
The council challenge happened early.
My choice.
I summoned every senior captain the next morning.
No theater.
No ambush.
The red key sat in front of me.
The old phones remained downstairs.
Unused.
Rafael stood.
Martin stood beside him.
Three other captains joined them.
Five.
Less than Celina promised.
Interesting.
I looked around.
“Anyone else?”
Nobody moved.
Rafael cleared his throat.
“We’re asking for balance.”
“You already said that.”
“A formal elder council.”
“No.”
Several men shifted.
Rafael seemed surprised.
“You haven’t heard the terms.”
“I heard enough in my mother’s kitchen.”
Silence.
I continued.
“My wife starved my children and abused my mother while two of you helped create the pressure she was trying to satisfy.”
Rafael’s face hardened.
“We didn’t authorize that.”
“No.”
I nodded.
“You simply wanted results without responsibility.”
No answer.
I placed the red key on the table.
“This is what you wanted access to.”
Men stared.
“My father’s emergency network.”
More silence.
“I will not use it.”
Celina, seated under guard near the wall, looked at me sharply.
Rafael frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if I need dead men’s loyalties to remain boss, I shouldn’t remain boss.”
That unsettled them.
Good.
Power hates when the other person is willing to lose it.
I looked around.
“If you believe the Serrano family needs someone else, say it.”
Nobody spoke.
Celina laughed bitterly.
“They’re afraid.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at her.
“But I’m giving them the choice you denied my mother.”
That silenced her.
One by one, two captains sat.
Then another.
Martin followed.
Rafael remained standing alone.
He looked around.
His face changed.
May you like
The rebellion had not failed because I threatened anyone.
It failed because once fear disappeared, most men discovered they did not want what Celina promised badly enough to own the cost.
