Chapter 5
Grant broke first.
Not completely.
Just enough.
“North house.”
Maura turned toward him.
His face tightened.
“What?”
I asked.
Grant swallowed.
“She was going to the north house.”
Mia looked confused.
I wasn't.
The north house sat forty miles outside the city.
Quiet.
Private.
Used when someone needed to disappear without leaving Vitale territory.
“Why?”
Grant hesitated.
Maura answered.
“To teach her independence.”
I stared at her.
“You packed my daughter for a secret trip.”
“Temporary.”
“Without telling me.”
“You would have overreacted.”
Mia looked at her.
“I don't want go.”
Maura smiled.
“You would have gotten used to it.”
I walked toward my aunt.
“How long?”
“Few days.”
Grant said nothing.
I looked at him.
“How long?”
He swallowed.
“Until council settled.”
Maura's head snapped toward him.
There.
I smiled.
“Settled what?”
“Nothing.”
“Grant.”
Silence.
I put Mia's overnight bag on the table.
“What happens tonight?”
He looked at Maura.
Again.
Always her.
“Grant.”
His jaw tightened.
“Council votes.”
I frowned.
“On what?”
Maura laughed.
“You really don't know?”
I looked at her.
She seemed delighted.
“Half your capos think you've become weak.”
“Do they?”
“Yes.”
“Which half?”
Her smile faded slightly.
“Enough.”
“What are they voting on?”
Grant answered.
“Temporary command.”
I looked at him.
“For whom?”
He didn't need to say it.
I already knew.
“You.”
Grant looked away.
Mia's little Christmas house sat between us.
The recording suddenly felt heavier.
Girl goes upstairs.
Lorenzo drinks.
Grant sits in his chair.
I understood.
Not everything.
Enough.
“What was in the bottle?”
Maura smiled.
“Wine.”
“No.”
“You're becoming paranoid.”
“What was in it?”
She laughed.
“Something to help you rest.”
The room went still.
Grant stared at her.
That interested me.
“You didn't know.”
He looked at me.
“I knew he was supposed to drink.”
“Drink what?”
“I didn't ask.”
Maura's expression hardened.
“Because you trusted me.”
Grant looked at her.
“What did you put in it?”
“Nothing dangerous.”
That was not an answer.
Maura looked back at me.
“You've barely slept in months.”
“You planned to drug me.”
“I planned to calm you.”
“You planned to remove me from council.”
“You needed rest.”
“You planned to move my daughter forty miles away.”
“She needed discipline.”
“You planned to put Grant in my chair.”
“The family needed leadership.”
Every act renamed.
Drugging became rest.
Kidnapping became discipline.
Betrayal became leadership.
Maura believed language could clean anything.
I looked at Grant.
“Did you know Mia was going north?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know she wasn't allowed to tell me?”
He shrugged.
“Children don't make command decisions.”
Mia heard.
Again.
Grant looked at her.
“Don't stare.”
I stepped toward him.
He continued anyway.
“You're five.”
His voice turned mocking.
“You don't get a vote because you glued cotton to a box.”
Mia cried.
He smiled.
“You think Daddy changes plans because you're sad?”
I said:
“Yes.”
Grant's smile faded.
I walked toward Mia.
“Twelve men.”
My security chief looked at me.
“Boss?”
“To the north house.”
Maura's expression changed.
“Why?”
I looked at her.
“Because you aren't this stupid.”
Silence.
“You told Grant north because you expected someone to hear it.”
Grant frowned.
Maura stayed still.
“The bag was too easy to find.”
Nothing.
“You wanted me to send men there.”
Grant looked at his mother.
“You said—”
Maura cut him off.
“Quiet.”
That told me.
Grant hadn't known.
I looked at my chief.
“Send two.”
He nodded.
“Where do the other ten go?”
I looked at Maura.
“The place she actually planned to take Mia.”
Her smile returned.
“You don't know.”
“No.”
I picked up the little Christmas house.
“But my daughter might.”
Mia looked at me.
“What did Grandma tell you about the trip?”
She thought.
Maura stepped forward.
“Mia.”
My voice cut across hers.
“Don't.”
Maura stopped.
Mia looked at me.
“She said no windows.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
“Big bell.”
Maura's face changed.
Grant looked confused.
I wasn't.
There was only one windowless room on Vitale property near a large bell.
The old family chapel.
Below it sat the original stone wine vault.
Unused for years.
Forty feet from the council chamber.
Not forty miles away.
Forty feet.
Maura hadn't planned to take Mia away.
She planned to keep her beneath my own house.
Close enough to control me.
Far enough that I wouldn't know.
Then Grant whispered:
“Mother…”
He finally understood too.
“You told me she was going north.”
Maura looked at him.
“You only needed to know what kept you useful.”
Grant stared.
May you like
For the first time that night, he realized he wasn't her partner.
He was another tool.
