Chapter 13
Samuel did not attack.
He wanted to be seen.
That made him more dangerous.
He stood at the top of the main staircase.
Forty-three.
Dark suit.
No attempt to resemble Grant Hale now.
The face Enzo had trusted for nine years remained the same.
Only the posture changed.
Grant used to lower his eyes half a degree around Enzo.
Samuel did not.
“So this is you.”
Samuel smiled.
“This has always been me.”
Mason stepped forward.
“You wore my brother’s name.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because dead men make excellent introductions.”
Mason’s face hardened.
“Where is Grant?”
Samuel looked toward Luca.
“He knows.”
Luca said nothing.
Enzo saw.
Again.
“Luca.”
His brother’s jaw tightened.
“Grant died nine years ago.”
Mason stopped breathing.
“You knew?”
“For seven.”
Mason turned.
“You told me he might be alive.”
“I needed you inside Enzo’s house.”
Silence.
The betrayal was clean.
Luca had used his friend’s dead brother as motivation.
Enzo looked at him.
“You became Father.”
Luca flinched harder than if Enzo hit him.
Samuel smiled.
“There.”
He descended one stair.
“The family always does the work for me.”
Luca’s voice became cold.
“You’re proud of living through other people’s weakness.”
“No.”
Samuel looked at him.
“I’m realistic.”
Enzo stepped forward.
“What does Maria know?”
Samuel’s expression changed slightly.
Good.
A real question.
“Ask her.”
“No.”
Enzo’s voice lowered.
“You brought us here to control the order of truth.”
Samuel smiled faintly.
“You’ve improved.”
“Rebecca?”
“I told you.”
“You didn’t kill her.”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer may save your life for thirty seconds.”
Helena whispered:
“Enzo.”
He ignored her.
Samuel continued.
“Rebecca discovered someone in Maria’s family knew what Carmine had done before Luca vanished.”
Enzo frowned.
“Maria was eleven.”
“Her father.”
Thomas Sutton.
Estate groundskeeper.
Quiet man.
Died five years ago.
Enzo remembered him mostly as someone who fixed gates and brought pears from the south orchard.
Another invisible person.
“What did Thomas know?”
“Everything.”
“Why?”
“He was Damian’s first driver.”
Silence.
Maria’s father had driven Luca between North Orchard and Damian’s mountain house.
The same night Helena watched him taken.
Thomas Sutton.
Not Owen.
Owen drove Luca’s car away.
Thomas drove Luca.
Two cars.
Two witnesses.
Rebecca later found Thomas.
He confessed.
Then told her something about her own family.
“What?”
Samuel looked at Enzo.
“Rebecca’s father knew Damian.”
“No.”
“Of course he did.”
Samuel smiled.
“People like you only see mafia men when they wear suits.”
Rebecca’s father, Andrew Vale, had run a small towing business.
Years earlier he moved damaged vehicles for Carmine.
He saw too much.
Damian sometimes used him.
Rebecca grew up believing her father had simply worked long nights.
Andrew died when Rebecca was twelve.
Natural illness.
Probably.
No empty grave needed.
But before dying, he left certain stories with Thomas Sutton.
Years later Thomas told Rebecca.
One involved another girl.
E.
Rebecca’s half-sister.
Their father had a child before marrying Rebecca’s mother.
The girl was raised elsewhere.
“What does this have to do with Leo?” Enzo asked.
Samuel’s smile disappeared.
“The sister married Damian Rusk.”
Silence.
Luca looked at Enzo.
Helena whispered:
“No.”
Rebecca’s half-sister, Elaine Vale, had been Damian’s secret wife.
The wife nobody knew existed.
And their child—
Samuel.
Enzo stared.
“You.”
Samuel nodded.
Rebecca had been Samuel’s aunt.
Leo was his blood relative.
Not through Caradonna.
Through Rebecca.
Suddenly Samuel’s interest in Leo looked different.
Not succession.
Blood from a hidden branch.
“What did Rebecca discover?”
“That I was Grant.”
“She knew you were her nephew.”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“She asked me to leave.”
Samuel laughed softly.
“Imagine that.”
“Not threatened.”
“Not exposed.”
“Leave.”
Luca said quietly:
“She offered you an exit.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I refused.”
“Why?”
Samuel’s eyes darkened.
“Because people like Rebecca think goodness is a door everyone wants.”
He believed inheritance mattered.
Not Caradonna inheritance.
Damian’s work.
The Steward network.
Samuel had spent his life being trained to continue it.
Rebecca asked him to become nobody.
He heard insult.
“She died eleven days later,” Enzo said.
“Yes.”
“And you still claim coincidence.”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“I claim I did not order it.”
“Who knew she met you?”
“Damian.”
“Anyone else?”
“Owen.”
“Thomas was dead.”
“Yes.”
“Luca.”
“Afterward.”
Enzo stared.
Then understood the missing person.
“Maria.”
Samuel’s expression barely changed.
Maria had known Rebecca was investigating something.
Not details.
Enough.
Rebecca trusted her because Maria’s father had confessed part of his old role to his daughter before dying.
Enzo looked at Samuel.
“You came here to make me doubt her.”
“I came here because you should.”
“No.”
Enzo shook his head.
“Not without hearing her.”
Samuel laughed.
“Rebecca taught you something after all.”
Then Helena moved.
She had been quiet too long.
She pulled a small pistol from beneath her jacket and aimed at Samuel.
“You used my father.”
Samuel looked at her.
“Your father used everyone he could reach.”
“You killed him.”
“My father ordered it.”
“Same blood.”
Samuel smiled.
“Careful. That logic reaches Leo too.”
Helena’s hand trembled.
The sentence struck exactly where it needed to.
For one horrible day she had punished Leo for his father’s blood.
Now Samuel placed her own philosophy before her.
She lowered the gun.
Not for Samuel.
For herself.
Samuel looked disappointed.
Then Enzo heard a faint sound outside.
An engine.
Samuel smiled.
“You took too long.”
Enzo’s face hardened.
“What did you do?”
Samuel looked at him.
“I didn’t come here to kill you.”
Then at Luca.
“Or him.”
“Why?”
“To keep both Caradonna brothers away from the estate.”
Enzo was already reaching for his phone.
No signal.
Samuel’s smile widened.
“Maria is alone with Leo.”
Enzo hit him.
May you like
Once.
Then ran.
