Chapter 2
I moved everyone inside except Javier, Clara, my children, and six men I trusted.
Family gatherings are useful because they reveal who leaves too quickly.
Three cousins tried.
I noticed.
I remembered.
But I did not stop them yet.
Leo took me to the hedge beside the old garden wall where he said he found the key that morning. He had been chasing a soccer ball when it rolled beneath a stone bench. Behind the bench, one brick had been loose.
Inside was a small metal box.
The box remained.
The key did not.
I looked at Javier.
“You took it.”
He folded his arms. “You already searched me.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I removed you from my son. I haven’t searched anything yet.”
Clara looked at him.
He looked back.
Another silent conversation.
I was getting tired of those.
Leo stood beside me.
“Dad, he kept asking where I put it.”
Javier scoffed. “Because children shouldn’t play with family property.”
I looked at my son.
“Did he ask nicely?”
Leo’s mouth tightened.
“No.”
Javier smiled faintly. “He wouldn’t answer.”
There it was.
Justification.
I had heard men like Javier use it for years.
If he had listened.
If he had answered.
If he had obeyed.
Cruelty always became reasonable after enough ifs.
Mia stepped closer to Leo.
“He said Leo was soft.”
I looked at Javier.
“Did you?”
He shrugged.
“Your son cries too easily.”
Leo’s face hardened.
Javier continued.
“A Romano boy should learn not to panic just because someone puts him on the ground.”
I stared at him.
“My son was supposed to learn strength from a forty-one-year-old man kneeling on his spine?”
His smile disappeared.
Clara finally spoke.
“Dante, this is getting out of control.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
I pointed toward Leo.
“That was out of control.”
Then toward Javier.
“This is me finding out why.”
One of my guards approached.
He held up something wrapped inside a handkerchief.
The black key.
Found beneath the barbecue table where Clara had been standing.
Javier turned toward her.
She looked shocked.
Too shocked.
Planted.
I almost smiled.
“Interesting.”
Clara stepped backward.
The key had not fallen from Leo.
May you like
Someone had taken it from him and tried to move it away from Javier.
Which meant husband and wife were not protecting the same secret.
