Chapter 14
Dominic looked at Victor like a priest watching his altar reject him.
“You don’t understand what this family requires.”
Victor laughed softly.
“That sentence ruined enough people.”
Rosa moved beside him.
Dominic stared at her.
“You too?”
She looked at Mia.
“Yes.”
For once, no justification.
Just yes.
I stepped forward.
Dominic tightened his hand on Mia’s shoulder.
She winced.
My voice dropped.
“Let her go.”
He looked at me.
“You’ll destroy Romano.”
“No.”
One more step.
“You’re proving Romano survived men like you.”
His face hardened.
“You think love runs organizations?”
“No.”
I looked at Mia.
“Judgment does.”
“Children need discipline.”
“Yes.”
“Fear.”
“No.”
“They need to understand consequences.”
“Yes.”
He almost smiled.
Then I finished.
“So do you.”
Victor moved first.
Not violence.
He simply reached out and took Mia’s hand.
Dominic stared at him.
For a second I thought he would fight.
Then Rosa spoke.
“Dominic.”
He looked at her.
“It’s over.”
Old people sometimes need old voices to understand endings.
His grip loosened.
Mia ran to me.
I lifted her.
She wrapped both arms around my neck.
“I kicked him.”
I almost laughed.
“Where?”
“Shin.”
“Good.”
Dominic looked offended.
Rosa almost smiled.
Then Mia whispered against me:
“He said Mom wanted me here.”
I went still.
I looked at Dominic.
“You used Sofia.”
He said nothing.
“Again.”
Victor stepped closer.
Dominic finally spoke.
“Sofia respected family structure.”
I almost pitied him.
Even after her recording.
Even after exposure.
He still needed the dead woman to agree with him because the living had stopped.
I took out my phone.
Played Sofia’s recording.
Her voice filled the old hall.
Leo does not need fear to become strong. Mia does not need silence to become respected.
Dominic’s face changed.
Not surprise.
He had heard it.
Of course.
“You knew.”
He looked away.
There.
The final truth.
This was never misunderstanding.
He knew Sofia disagreed.
He used her anyway.
Because tradition was not memory.
It was editing.
I looked around the old convent.
May you like
Men like Dominic survived by deciding which parts of the dead stayed useful.
That ended with him.
