Chapter 3
Dominic answered Valentina’s call on the fourth ring.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Valentina.”
She stood alone inside her father’s old study.
Grant waited outside under guard.
Adelaide sat in the adjoining room with Leo.
“Where are you?”
“Driving.”
“With my mother’s envelope?”
Silence.
Valentina heard the faint rhythm of a turn signal.
Then Dominic exhaled.
“Yes.”
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“Turn around.”
“I can’t.”
Valentina’s eyes narrowed.
“Wrong answer.”
Dominic’s voice softened.
“You need to listen before you threaten me.”
The sentence irritated her because almost nobody spoke to her that way.
Dominic continued.
“Adelaide gave me instructions two weeks ago.”
Valentina froze.
“What?”
“If anything happened before she spoke to you today, I was supposed to take the envelope off the estate.”
Valentina’s gaze shifted toward the adjoining doorway.
Her mother had not told her that.
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t trust Grant.”
“That explains Grant.”
Dominic paused.
“She didn’t trust you either.”
Valentina’s breathing stopped.
The room felt smaller.
“Explain.”
“I can't.”
“You just did.”
“No.”
His voice tightened.
“I’m following your mother’s instructions.”
Valentina stared through the window toward the garden.
Adelaide sat with Leo wrapped against her side.
Her face looked older than it had that morning.
Dominic said:
“You want the envelope?”
“Yes.”
“Then come alone.”
Valentina’s jaw tightened.
“No bodyguards?”
“No capos.”
“Why?”
Another pause.
“Because your mother believed the contents could split the family before you understood what you were looking at.”
The line disconnected.
Valentina stood motionless.
Then Adelaide appeared in the doorway.
“You spoke to Dominic.”
Not a question.
Valentina looked at her mother.
“You told him to steal your own envelope.”
“To remove it if Grant tried to take it.”
“He did.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't trust me with it.”
Adelaide’s eyes lowered.
For the first time, shame appeared.
“Not immediately.”
Valentina’s voice became colder.
“Why?”
Adelaide rubbed both palms together.
“You react fast when someone you love is threatened.”
Valentina stared at her.
The garden fight answered the accusation for both of them.
Adelaide continued.
“What I found needed you thinking before you started punishing people.”
Silence.
Then Valentina asked:
“What did you find?”
Her mother looked toward Leo.
The child was drawing circles in spilled sugar with one fingertip.
Adelaide’s voice dropped.
“Proof that Grant has been running a second chain of command inside this family.”
Valentina’s expression hardened.
May you like
Then Adelaide added:
“And I’m the one who gave him permission to build it.”
