Chapter 7
I had Leonard tied to a dining chair.
Not because I wanted a spectacle.
Because I wanted him where everyone could see him.
Damian stared at him.
“You were mine.”
Leonard laughed.
“No.”
That single word broke something in Damian.
For months he had thought he was building a faction.
Recruiting relatives.
Recruiting capos.
Turning my security.
But someone had been building him.
I looked at Leonard.
“Who?”
He shook his head.
“Doesn't matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“You'll find out.”
“I prefer now.”
He smiled.
I walked behind him.
Then stopped.
No threats.
No violence.
Just one question.
“What did they promise you?”
His smile faded.
That was the right question.
People rarely betray for ideology.
They betray for something specific.
“Money?”
Nothing.
“Position?”
Nothing.
“A way out?”
His eyes changed.
There.
“A way out of what?”
He looked at Damian.
Not me.
Interesting.
I turned.
“Damian.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Leonard is afraid of you.”
Damian laughed.
“He should be.”
Leonard closed his eyes.
Wrong answer.
I looked back at him.
“Did Damian threaten you?”
Silence.
Marguerite stood.
“This is pointless.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
“You recruited family.”
Then Damian.
“You recruited capos.”
Then Leonard.
“And someone recruited the people you thought belonged to you.”
That was the real shape of it.
Layers.
Everyone using everyone else.
I looked toward Peter.
“You said tomorrow was the council.”
“Yes.”
“Who called it?”
“Damian.”
“Who suggested the date?”
Peter hesitated.
“Leonard.”
Damian's face changed.
I continued.
“Who suggested the black coins?”
Marguerite answered this time.
“Leonard.”
“Who told you my security would support the vote?”
Damian stared at him.
“Leonard.”
There it was.
Leonard had designed the entire thing.
Not because he wanted Damian in charge.
Because he wanted the family divided.
“Why?”
Leonard sighed.
“You've had peace for too long.”
I almost laughed.
Peace.
In my world, that meant fewer funerals.
Apparently someone found that inconvenient.
“Who benefits from us fighting each other?”
He looked away.
I already had the answer.
A rival family.
Maybe two.
Maybe more.
But I didn't need names yet.
I needed the betrayal in my own room.
“So the empty plates?”
Leonard smiled faintly.
“That was Marguerite.”
She stiffened.
“It was her idea.”
I looked at her.
She said nothing.
“Why children?”
Her eyes hardened.
“Because everyone needed to see what you had become.”
I nodded.
“No.”
I looked around the table.
“Everyone needed to see what you had become.”
She flinched.
Leonard leaned back against the chair.
“You still don't understand.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Tonight wasn't about removing you.”
I waited.
“It was about seeing who would follow Damian.”
I looked at the seven raised hands.
A list.
Exactly.
“And why does someone outside this room need that list?”
Leonard's expression went blank.
That was the first time he looked afraid.
I knew the answer before he gave it.
“They wanted to know who could be bought.”
My stomach tightened.
The raised hands weren't just conspirators.
They were targets.
Names ready to be recruited.
Turned.
Used.
May you like
Damian had believed he was building his own side.
He had actually been sorting my family for someone else.
