Chapter 3
Victor wanted me conscious enough to be seen.
That was the part Dana finally understood.
She had been told the substance would make me unsteady, confused, and physically weak for several hours. No details. No name. Victor controlled the bottle and the timing.
The council was arriving at noon.
I had forgotten that detail because the meeting was routine.
Apparently Victor had not.
“What happens at noon?” I asked.
He leaned against the table.
“You know.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
He stared at me.
Every quarter, the senior Ferraro capos came to the estate for an internal command review. No formal votes. No paperwork. No legal nonsense.
Just men.
Reputation.
Confidence.
The kind of room where one bad hour could become a story repeated for ten years.
Dana looked at me.
“He said they needed to see you unable to lead.”
Victor muttered, “Enough.”
She turned toward him.
For the first time, anger displaced fear.
“You said nobody would get hurt.”
Victor laughed.
“You believed that?”
That was cruel enough to clarify everything.
Dana stared at him.
Then something changed in her face.
She was done protecting him.
“He said if Julian became weak in front of the capos, the old men would finally understand.”
“Understand what?” I asked.
Victor answered.
“That they chose wrong.”
There it was.
No more disguise.
I leaned back.
“You waited four years to say that.”
“I waited four years for you to prove it.”
I almost smiled.
“Then why manufacture the proof?”
His jaw tightened.
Good.
That landed.
Milo shuffled along his perch.
Victor looked at the bird with open hatred.
The parrot stared back.
Then, in Victor’s voice:
“Make him spill the cup.”
Dana went pale.
I looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
She closed her eyes.
“The cup wasn’t the end.”
Victor turned.
Too late.
I continued.
“What happened if I didn’t drink enough?”
Dana whispered, “They had a second way.”
“They?”
That word mattered.
Not Victor.
They.
I looked at him.
“You’re not the center of this.”
For the first time that morning, my brother looked genuinely frightened.
May you like
He had wanted me to believe this was his plan.
Which meant someone more dangerous wanted to remain invisible.
