Chapter 9
Nico refused to go to the theater.
Vincent called him directly.
“You know the second lesson.”
Silence.
Then Nico:
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Choice.”
“Explain.”
Another pause.
“Matteo puts two people in danger.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“Then?”
“The child chooses who gets hurt.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“To teach responsibility through guilt.”
Vincent felt disgust turn physical.
“How old were you?”
“Eight.”
“Who did you choose?”
Nico said nothing.
Vincent understood there was still a wound.
“Who?”
“My mother.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Matteo had made his eight-year-old son choose between two people.
“Who was the other?”
“Isabella.”
Vincent’s mother.
The woman who later hid Nico.
“What happened?”
“I chose my mother.”
“Did Matteo hurt Isabella?”
“No.”
Vincent frowned.
“He hurt my mother anyway.”
Nico’s voice became hollow.
“He wanted me to learn choices don’t guarantee control.”
Vincent understood why Isabella took the boy.
Matteo had broken something beyond family discipline.
“Second lesson tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Leo.”
“Probably.”
“Two people.”
Nico went silent.
Vincent knew.
“Emma.”
“Maybe.”
“Me?”
“Matteo wants you watching.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“He wants Leo to choose between me and Emma.”
“Or someone else he trusts.”
Vincent immediately thought of Peter.
Then Sofia’s dead brother Gabriel.
Then Dominic.
Someone close.
Someone emotionally useful.
“What happens if we don’t go?”
Nico answered:
“He’ll create the lesson elsewhere.”
Vincent hated the truth.
Matteo controlled location only if they followed.
But refusing did not protect Leo if Matteo could enter the estate.
Vincent looked toward Peter.
“Where’s Andrew?”
Peter shook his head.
“Still missing.”
Vincent made a decision.
“Dominic comes.”
Peter stared.
“Sir?”
“Matteo expects him.”
Dominic was brought upstairs.
Vincent looked at him.
“You’re going to the theater.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“As bait.”
“Yes.”
“And if he kills me?”
Vincent looked at him.
“That depends how useful you are before then.”
Dominic accepted it.
No complaint.
Maybe because shame finally outweighed pride.
Emma entered.
“You’re not taking Leo.”
“No.”
“Then what is Matteo expecting?”
Vincent looked at her.
“A frightened father.”
Emma understood.
“So don’t give him one.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“Sofia said the same thing without being here.”
Emma reached into her apron.
A small silver whistle.
“What is that?”
“Sofia gave it to me with the key.”
“For?”
“I didn’t know.”
Nico’s voice came through the speaker from Vincent’s phone.
“Three notes.”
Everyone looked at the device.
Emma held the whistle.
“What?”
Nico continued:
“If Sofia had that, she reached the third room.”
Vincent frowned.
“What third room?”
“Silence Room is first.”
“Fear.”
“Yes.”
“The theater?”
“Choice room.”
“And third?”
“Escape.”
Vincent stared.
“Matteo trained escape.”
“No.”
Nico’s voice hardened.
“He trained pursuit.”
The third lesson was not for the child being conditioned.
It taught the pursuers.
How far would family chase?
What would they sacrifice?
Sofia had discovered all three rooms.
“What does the whistle do?”
“Old signal.”
“Meaning?”
“If you hear three notes, someone inside Matteo’s crew is turning against him.”
Emma looked at the whistle.
“Who gave Sofia that?”
Nico said:
“Gabriel.”
Sofia’s brother.
Alive.
Maybe still inside Matteo’s circle.
Vincent looked toward the clock.
11:10.
Forty-five minutes to the theater.
He turned to Peter.
“Lock the estate.”
Peter hesitated.
“My son.”
Vincent looked at him.
“I’m bringing him home too.”
Peter’s face changed.
“Sir—”
“No promises.”
Vincent’s voice stayed steady.
“But Matteo has been using our children as currency long enough.”
He looked at Dominic.
At Emma.
May you like
At the black pin.
“Tonight we stop paying.”
