Chapter 3 - THE MOTHER’S WARNING
Sophia fell asleep holding the damaged doll.
Adriano sat beside her.
He had ordered new stuffing brought to the room but had not repaired the seam.
Not yet.
He wanted to see where the hidden bundle had rested.
Sophia’s fingers remained wrapped around the doll’s arm.
Adriano looked at her face.
Children slept with absolute trust when they believed adults controlled the world.
That thought hurt.
Eighteen months earlier, Sophia’s mother had died because Adriano failed to control anything.
Her name was Elena.
She had never loved the Bellacorte world.
She tolerated it because she loved him.
That difference had caused more arguments than Adriano wanted to remember.
“Your family doesn’t protect people,” she once told him.
“It protects itself.”
He called her dramatic.
He remembered that now.
Downstairs, Victoria had claimed Elena knew about Nico.
That was impossible.
Or it should have been.
Adriano returned to the sitting room after midnight.
Only Victoria remained.
He had Lucian moved to another room.
She noticed immediately.
“Where is my husband?”
“Alive.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It’s enough.”
Victoria sat.
Adriano remained standing.
“How did Elena know about Nico?”
Victoria looked at the black key.
“She found Saint Orsin.”
“When?”
“Six months before she died.”
“Why?”
“Because she was following me.”
Adriano’s face hardened.
“You met Nico.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“A man who claimed he knew him.”
“Name.”
“Gabriel Voss.”
Adriano knew it.
Every old family did.
Gabriel Voss had been a fixer between families thirty years ago.
No formal allegiance.
No official rank.
He arranged meetings no one admitted happened.
He vanished after the Saint Orsin fire.
“Alive?”
Victoria nodded.
“Or he was six months before Elena died.”
“What did he tell her?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Try.”
Victoria looked tired suddenly.
“Elena confronted me after seeing Gabriel leave my house.”
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“She asked about Nico?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I denied everything.”
“Why?”
Victoria’s eyes flashed.
“Because your father made us swear.”
“He was dead by then.”
“Some fear survives the man.”
Adriano understood that too well.
“What happened next?”
“Elena found Gabriel herself.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Lucian help?”
Victoria said nothing.
Adriano saw the answer.
“He did.”
“He didn’t know what she wanted.”
“What did Gabriel tell her?”
Victoria looked toward the door.
“Ask Lucian.”
Adriano smiled slightly.
“You’re learning.”
He had Lucian brought back.
Lucian entered angry.
His wrist showed red marks where guards had held him.
Adriano did not apologize.
“Gabriel Voss.”
Lucian stopped.
“Who told you?”
“Your wife.”
He looked toward Victoria.
She did not meet his eyes.
Adriano continued.
“You helped Elena reach him.”
Lucian exhaled.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said she needed someone outside Bellacorte.”
“To investigate us.”
“To investigate something.”
“What?”
Lucian looked at the serpent token.
“The Custodian.”
Adriano sat now.
“Tell me.”
Lucian’s voice lowered.
“The Custodian began as a safeguard after Adriano’s grandfather became ill.”
He spoke of a family rule created in secret.
If a boss became weak, reckless, compromised, or threatened the survival of Bellacorte, a small inner circle could remove him without open civil war.
At first it was meant to prevent bloodshed.
Then power corrupted it.
The Custodian stopped waiting for disasters.
He began creating them.
A weak boss could be replaced.
A strong boss could be weakened.
A son could disappear.
A marriage could be broken.
A rival could be encouraged.
Everything became justified as survival.
“Who was Custodian when Nico disappeared?” Adriano asked.
Lucian answered carefully.
“Your uncle Mariano.”
Adriano remembered him.
His father’s older cousin.
Always quiet.
Always beside the family without appearing to want anything.
Dead twenty years.
“And now?”
Lucian looked at Victoria.
Adriano slammed one hand against the table.
“Stop.”
Both looked at him.
“One more shared glance and I separate you permanently.”
Lucian’s jaw tightened.
“We don’t know.”
Adriano stared.
“Then why did you try to take the doll?”
“Because Elena told me what she hid.”
Victoria turned sharply.
“You said you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know where.”
Adriano stood.
“What did she hide?”
Lucian looked at the doll upstairs as if he could see through the ceiling.
“A way to identify the current Custodian.”
Adriano’s face hardened.
“The key?”
“Part of it.”
“The bell?”
“Part.”
“And the token?”
Lucian nodded.
“Three pieces.”
Adriano stepped closer.
“What happens when they’re together?”
Lucian swallowed.
“They lead to the place where Elena believed the Custodian kept the names of everyone still loyal to him.”
Adriano’s mind went immediately toward revenge.
Names.
Targets.
Answers.
Then he remembered Elena arguing with him.
Your family doesn’t protect people. It protects itself.
He looked at Lucian.
“Why put this in Sophia’s doll?”
Lucian’s expression changed.
“That is what frightened me.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena told us she would only hide it somewhere the Custodian would never dare search.”
Adriano’s voice became quiet.
“My daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And tonight Victoria tried to take it.”
Victoria stood.
“I was trying to move it before someone else saw.”
“You grabbed Sophia.”
“I panicked.”
“Your panic does not excuse touching my child.”
“I know.”
Adriano looked between them.
“Who else knows the doll mattered?”
Neither answered.
Then a sound came from upstairs.
May you like
A child screaming.
Adriano was out of the room before anyone else moved.
