Chapter 6
Domenico watched the edited clip only once.
Then placed the phone down.
Richard waited for anger.
Nothing came.
That irritated him.
“You want to deny it?”
“No.”
Domenico’s answer was immediate.
“I hit you.”
Richard’s eyebrows lifted.
“And Helen?”
“I drove the table toward her.”
“So you're admitting instability.”
“I’m admitting what I did.”
Domenico leaned forward.
“You're the one who needs the beginning deleted.”
Richard’s smile weakened.
That was the battle now.
Not whether Domenico had used violence.
Whether the family would see what came before it.
Domenico ordered no retaliation against the capos who received the footage.
He did not seize phones.
Did not threaten anyone who questioned him.
Instead he sent one message:
FULL RECORD WILL BE PRESENTED AT COUNCIL.
Richard read it.
“You think context saves you?”
“No.”
Domenico’s gaze held his.
“But it may destroy you.”
The unedited footage was harder to recover than expected.
Richard’s legacy credentials had disabled several estate cameras ten minutes before Lily was chained.
Guest videos filled some gaps.
Not all.
Then Ethan asked to speak with Domenico again.
The boy sat at the edge of Lily’s bed while she slept.
His hands were folded between his knees.
“You mad at me?”
“No.”
“Grandpa said you would be.”
“Why?”
Ethan swallowed.
“Because I got the cake.”
Domenico’s expression softened.
“That wasn't your fault.”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
“Grandma said I had to eat it where she could see.”
Domenico went still.
“Who?”
“Lily.”
The cake had not merely been favoritism.
Helen wanted Lily to watch Ethan receive what she was denied.
A deliberate emotional punishment.
Ethan’s voice shook.
“I didn't want it.”
Domenico sat beside him.
“I know.”
Ethan rubbed his palms together.
Then whispered:
“Grandpa said if you loved Lily more than the family, you’d hit him.”
Domenico stopped breathing for a moment.
“What?”
Ethan looked frightened now.
“He told Grandma.”
Domenico’s eyes narrowed.
“What exactly?”
The boy tried to remember.
“He said… if the chain didn’t make you hit him, they needed another plan.”
Domenico’s face became unreadable.
Richard had not merely expected violence.
He had designed the punishment to produce it.
May you like
But if the chain failed—
there had been another plan.
