Chapter 9
Nolan broke first.
Not because Salvatore threatened him.
Because Hattie stopped protecting him.
When both were brought back into the dining room separately, Hattie blamed everything on Nolan before he even sat down.
“He moved Elena.”
Nolan stared at her.
Hattie continued. “He handled Vieri. He chose the location. I only knew what I needed to know.”
Nolan laughed.
The sound was ugly.
“You told me she could never come back.”
Hattie’s face tightened.
Salvatore said nothing.
He let betrayal do the work.
Nolan turned toward him. “You want Vieri?”
“Yes.”
“He was alive last month.”
Adelaide covered her mouth.
“Where?”
“Old Carbone hunting property north of the vineyard.”
Anthony frowned. “That lodge burned.”
“The lodge did.”
Nolan smiled weakly. “The cellar didn’t.”
Hattie snapped, “Shut up.”
Nolan looked at her.
“You starved a seventy-five-year-old woman for six days and now you want loyalty?”
Hattie’s expression became vicious.
“She knew the key existed.”
“She didn’t know where Elena was.”
“She knew enough.”
Nolan shook his head.
“No. You just liked making her beg.”
That landed differently.
Hattie had called the starvation necessary.
Nolan had just revealed it was also pleasure.
Adelaide looked away.
Salvatore saw the shame return and immediately moved closer to his mother.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“You did not beg.”
“I almost did.”
“You survived.”
Hattie laughed. “How sentimental.”
Salvatore turned.
“The woman you chained is the only reason you still have teeth.”
Hattie stopped smiling.
Then Nolan spoke again.
“Elena isn’t at the cellar anymore.”
Salvatore’s eyes returned to him.
“When was she moved?”
“Three days ago.”
“By who?”
Nolan hesitated.
Hattie suddenly looked afraid.
That told Salvatore the answer mattered.
Finally Nolan said, “Someone inside your current command.”
Anthony went still.
Salvatore had expected old traitors.
May you like
He had not expected a man still standing beside him.
And only five people had known Salvatore would be away at the Mafia meeting that afternoon.
