Chapter 7
I had six capos in the museum.
One was betraying me.
Preston knew which one.
That made him valuable.
For approximately thirty seconds.
Then Leo solved part of the problem.
I brought Claire and my grandson back downstairs.
Not because I wanted Leo near danger.
Because Claire refused to stay hidden while men discussed what Daniel had done to her family.
Daniel saw her enter.
Immediately smiled.
“Back for another scene?”
Claire ignored him.
He tilted his head.
“Careful, sweetheart.”
Her steps slowed.
Reflex.
Daniel saw it and enjoyed it.
“That's better.”
I walked between them.
Daniel looked at me.
“What?”
I lowered my voice.
“You still think she belongs to you.”
“She is my wife.”
He emphasized my.
Claire looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“She eats in my house.”
Sleeps in my house.
Raises my son.
He smiled.
“So yes.”
Claire went pale.
“In my house, she does what I say.”
I looked at my daughter.
Not him.
“Do you want to go back to that house?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Daniel laughed.
“She'll come back.”
Claire stared at him.
“Why?”
His confidence returned.
“Because you always do.”
That was what abusers mistake for proof.
Returning.
As if fear is consent.
As if surviving until morning is loyalty.
Then Leo pointed toward Mauro.
“Grandpa.”
Mauro smiled at him automatically.
“Yes, buddy?”
Leo frowned.
“Uncle Preston talks to him.”
The gallery went silent.
Mauro's smile stayed in place.
Too long.
Preston closed his eyes.
I looked at my consigliere.
Eighteen years.
My right hand.
The man who had been sitting beside me when Leo screamed.
“What does he mean?”
Mauro laughed lightly.
“I've spoken to Preston hundreds of times.”
Leo shook his head.
“Secret talking.”
Mauro's expression changed.
“Leo.”
My grandson hid behind Claire.
Daniel snapped:
“Stop listening to him.”
There.
All three of them reacting to the same child.
I crouched.
“When did Uncle Preston talk to Mauro?”
Leo pointed toward the fossil-preparation hallway.
“Daddy made me wait.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
“When?”
Leo thought.
“Before cake.”
Mauro spoke.
“He's confused.”
Preston suddenly laughed.
Mauro turned.
Wrong move.
Preston smiled at him.
“Now who's nervous?”
Mauro's face hardened.
I looked from one to the other.
“You moved the freight time.”
Mauro said nothing.
Preston did.
“He picked the museum.”
I felt the betrayal settle.
Not shock.
Something colder.
“Why here?”
Preston leaned back.
“Ask him.”
Mauro stared at me.
I waited.
Finally he spoke.
“You've changed.”
Of course.
The oldest excuse in our world.
“You're leaving routes untouched.”
He continued.
“Making peace where your father would've taken territory.”
My jaw tightened.
“And Claire?”
His eyes moved toward her bruises.
Then away.
“That was Daniel.”
“Leo?”
“Preston.”
He was dividing guilt.
Trying to keep his hands clean.
I stepped closer.
“You listened through my wall.”
“Yes.”
“You opened my freight entrance.”
Silence.
“You invited armed men into a children's birthday party.”
His face hardened.
“You turned a council meeting into a birthday party.”
There it was.
Contempt.
Not for Daniel.
Not Preston.
For me.
“A boss who runs out of council because a little girl gets cake on her dress—”
Claire flinched.
Mauro saw it.
Kept going.
“—isn't the man I followed eighteen years ago.”
I stared at him.
Then smiled.
Very slightly.
“My daughter was being beaten ten feet from me.”
“She is an adult.”
“She's my daughter.”
Mauro laughed.
“And that is exactly the problem.”
Behind me, several capos shifted.
Not away from me.
Away from him.
He noticed.
Too late.
I asked one question.
“What was supposed to happen to Claire and Leo after I died?”
Mauro's face didn't move.
Preston's did.
I saw it.
Mauro looked at him.
Preston looked away.
May you like
There was another secret.
And whatever they planned for my daughter and grandson had never been Daniel's idea.
