Chapter 13
I stripped Enzo of every Castellano channel that evening.
No crews.
No council.
No access through old captains.
No family estate privileges.
He laughed.
“You think this erases me?”
“No.”
I had learned that answer well.
“It removes your ability to hurt people through men who think I approve.”
His face hardened.
Matteo lost rank.
Completely.
He accepted it without argument.
Good.
“You want forgiveness?”
I asked.
He shook his head.
“No.”
Better.
“What do you want?”
“A chance to apologize to Audrey when she’s older.”
I stared at him.
“When she chooses.”
He nodded.
Correct.
Vanessa lost everything tied to me.
The marriage still existed in name that night.
Emotionally, it was over before the garden water dried.
She looked at me.
“You’re throwing away a marriage over one child’s bruises.”
I went completely still.
“One child.”
She heard it too late.
I stepped closer.
“My child.”
Her face changed.
“And my first wife’s death.”
Silence.
“And months of staged accidents.”
Nothing.
“And the fact that you heard Enzo say he would continue until Audrey was removed.”
Her eyes filled.
I kept going.
“You keep shrinking what you did until it sounds survivable.”
She stared.
“It was survivable.”
There.
The ugliest sentence.
Audrey survived.
Therefore Vanessa wanted credit for not doing worse.
I looked toward the garden doors.
“No.”
My voice stayed low.
“A child surviving you does not make you safe.”
She started crying.
I felt nothing I trusted.
Love had existed between us.
Maybe some piece remained.
That did not restore access.
I had learned that from too many families too late.
Someone can be loved and still be unsafe.
Someone can regret and still remain outside.
Vanessa whispered:
“Will Audrey hate me?”
I thought about it.
“That is hers.”
Not mine.
No promise.
May you like
No punishment.
Her feeling belonged to her.
