Chapter 7
No one moved.
I looked at Dominic.
He looked at the bird.
Wrong order.
He should have looked confused.
Instead he looked angry.
“Ruby stays where?” I asked.
No answer.
I stood.
“Where?”
Dominic’s expression did not change.
Victor did.
He turned toward him.
“You said the kid wasn’t involved.”
There.
Another piece.
I looked at my brother.
“What were you told?”
Victor swallowed.
“That if Julian failed at council, Ruby would remain in the house.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“He said continuity.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Victor laughed bitterly.
“You love that word.”
I looked at Dominic.
“Explain continuity.”
He did not.
So Milo did.
Older voice.
Dominic.
“Children learn early.”
Dana covered her mouth.
I stared at him.
Not killing Ruby.
Something worse in its own way.
Using her.
A three-year-old daughter of the sitting boss was symbolic gold inside an old Mafia family. Keep her close. Raise her under older control. Present her later as proof Ferraro blood remained intact even if I was removed.
The plan did not end with my humiliation.
It reached into her childhood.
“You wanted my daughter.”
Dominic finally looked at me.
“I wanted Ferraro preserved.”
“She is not a family asset.”
“She is an heir.”
“She is three.”
“And one day she won’t be.”
There it was.
The same sickness that makes adults justify cruelty years before the child can even spell the word inheritance.
I stepped closer.
“What exactly were you going to tell her?”
Dominic’s silence answered too loudly.
Victor looked sick now.
For the first time, he looked like a man realizing the coup he joined had a child waiting at the bottom of it.
“Dominic.”
He turned.
“You told me she stayed with me.”
Dominic smiled.
“I told you she stayed.”
Victor’s face collapsed.
Not with guilt.
Not yet.
With the humiliation of finally understanding his importance.
None.
I looked at my brother.
“You were bait for me.”
He said nothing.
“You provoke me. I suspect you. You help poison my reputation. Then Dominic exposes you after the council and takes Ruby ‘for stability.’”
Victor stared at Dominic.
“You planned to bury both of us.”
Dominic shrugged.
“You both inherited too much ego.”
I almost laughed.
Coming from him, it was art.
Then Thomas came downstairs fast.
Too fast.
“Boss.”
I turned.
“Ruby’s room is empty.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What?”
“The guard outside was pulled away by a false message.”
Dominic did not look surprised.
I did not ask another question.
I looked at him.
He smiled.
May you like
The breakfast plan had already failed.
The Ruby plan had not.
