Chapter 8
Marcus had known for three weeks.
He discovered Elena accidentally outside a medical office.
Recognized her from an old security photo.
Silvio had shown him the image months earlier with one instruction:
If this woman appears near Dante, call me first.
Marcus did.
Then he watched Silvio’s reaction.
Too fast.
Too afraid.
So instead of reporting Elena’s location, he lied.
Said he lost her.
Then found her privately.
Listened.
Asked questions.
Eventually believed her.
I looked at him.
“Why not tell me immediately?”
He lowered his eyes.
“Because I didn’t know who around you belonged to Silvio.”
Fair.
Painful.
Then:
“I needed to get her into a room where he couldn’t intercept her.”
The engagement reception.
Two hundred witnesses.
My own guards.
Planetarium security.
Ironically, the most public private event of the year became the safest route.
Elena arrived through the staff entrance.
Victoria saw her within minutes.
Everything followed.
I looked at Marcus.
“You risked your position.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“My mother was sent away once.”
The room went quiet.
Different family.
Same old methods.
Marcus’s mother became pregnant outside an approved marriage at nineteen.
Her relatives relocated her.
Told everyone she chose to leave.
She never returned.
He grew up with the story.
When Elena told him people were trying to make her disappear for being pregnant with the wrong man’s child, he understood immediately.
Silvio whispered:
“You betrayed me.”
Marcus looked at his godfather.
“No.”
Then:
“I stopped obeying you.”
Important distinction.
I liked him for it.
Silvio did not.
The old strategist looked at me.
“You can’t dismantle twenty years of alliances over one pregnancy.”
I stared.
“One pregnancy?”
My voice dropped.
“My child.”
Then I looked at Victoria.
“One woman.”
Elena.
Then Preston.
“One attempt to erase her.”
Then back at Silvio.
“And one lie that made everyone in this room think someone else chose my life.”
Silence.
“You already dismantled the alliance.”
May you like
I smiled faintly.
“You just waited until tonight to tell me.”
