Chapter 11
The senior Hale capos arrived by sunset.
No wedding decorations.
No music.
Just twelve men around the hotel conference table.
Catherine stood behind me.
Daniel stayed with Mia.
Clara was asleep.
Victoria and Richard under guard in separate rooms.
Leon sat across from me.
Stephen beside him.
I placed the Hale signet on the table.
Everyone stared.
Leon smiled.
“Dramatic.”
“No.”
I looked around.
“Simple.”
I pointed to Leon.
“He knew I had a daughter for four years.”
Murmurs.
Leon leaned back.
“Private matter.”
“Richard threatened her mother.”
Silence.
“Stephen helped hold Daniel Marlowe for eight months.”
More murmurs.
Stephen snapped:
“He found restricted information.”
I stared.
“He became a father.”
Nothing.
“And you used his newborn daughter as leverage.”
A capo named Dominic frowned.
“What?”
Stephen looked at Leon.
There.
Not everyone knew.
Good.
I continued.
“Victoria locked Clara inside a wall today because she wanted Elena's letter.”
Dominic stared.
“Four years old?”
“Yes.”
Leon sighed.
“This is exactly why children don't belong near business.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
“What?”
“This is why business doesn't belong near children.”
Silence.
A few men shifted.
Leon laughed.
“You've changed.”
“Yes.”
“Soft.”
“No.”
I pointed toward Stephen.
“Soft is needing a four-year-old to control her father.”
Silence.
Dominic nodded once.
Leon saw it.
His face tightened.
Another capo spoke.
“North corridor worth all this?”
Stephen answered:
“Yes.”
Wrong.
The room turned slightly against him.
I asked:
“How much profit?”
He gave a number.
Large.
I nodded.
“How many families live along the access blocks?”
Silence.
He didn't know.
I did.
Twenty-three.
I told them.
Leon rolled his eyes.
“Civilians.”
“Yes.”
“Not ours.”
I stared.
“Until their blood is on our floor.”
Silence.
Another capo nodded.
Leon looked disgusted.
“Your father never thought like this.”
Catherine spoke.
“Yes, he did.”
Everyone turned.
My sister's voice shook.
“He closed the east route after a child was hit.”
Leon stared.
Catherine continued.
“He told me command means being responsible for people who never know your name.”
Silence.
I looked at her.
That was Dad.
I hadn't remembered.
Leon laughed.
“Convenient memory.”
Catherine looked at him.
“No.”
She wiped her eyes.
“I've spent four years choosing convenient silence.”
Silence.
“This one isn't.”
Good.
I looked around.
“If anyone here wants Leon's model…”
I pushed the signet forward.
“Say it.”
No one moved.
Leon smiled.
“They're afraid.”
Dominic answered.
“No.”
Leon turned.
Dominic continued.
“We're listening.”
Silence.
Then another capo:
“I didn't know about the girl.”
Another:
“Or Daniel.”
Another:
“Or Elena.”
Piece by piece.
Leon had compartmentalized.
Just like all men who fear collective knowledge.
I looked at him.
“You built support by making sure nobody saw the whole thing.”
He said nothing.
I continued.
“Now they do.”
His smile disappeared.
Then Richard's voice came from the doorway.
“You still don't.”
Everyone turned.
He had escaped his guard? Better a bodyguard escorted because he demanded to speak? Let's say bodyguards brought him because he insisted he had more info. Two guards held him.
Richard smiled.
“Adrian thinks Elena's letter was the last secret.”
I stared.
“What else?”
He looked at Leon.
Leon went pale.
Good.
Richard laughed.
“Tell him what happened to Adrian's father.”
May you like
Silence.
My heart stopped.
