Chapter 5
Victor had used Ellie to measure the adults.
Marcus admitted that after I pressed him.
The first video received only six reactions.
Victor noticed.
The next morning, he called three of those who had not reacted.
Not to ask why they ignored the video.
To discuss their positions inside the family.
Everyone understood.
The next video received fourteen laughing reactions.
The one after that received twenty-two.
By the fifth video, nearly everyone reacted.
I stared at the list.
“Fear.”
Marcus nodded.
“Mostly.”
My father laughed.
“Loyalty.”
I turned toward him.
“No.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
I pointed at the screen.
“You made adults laugh at a child because they thought silence might cost them.”
Victor folded his arms.
“That means they respect the family.”
“It means they respect punishment.”
“Same difference.”
I saw it then.
The world inside my father’s head had never changed.
Power was fear.
Love was obedience.
Family was whatever survived him.
When I took control of the organization at twenty-three, I thought I had removed him from command.
I had only removed his title.
He still controlled rooms through habit.
People laughed because Victor Caruso laughed.
People stayed silent because Victor Caruso noticed silence.
And Ellie had become the easiest object he could use to prove he still mattered.
I looked at Marcus.
“Who refused?”
He hesitated.
“Four people.”
“Names.”
He gave them.
Two older capos.
One aunt.
And Nina Caruso.
My father’s younger sister.
I knew Nina had stopped attending family gatherings recently.
I assumed arthritis.
She was sixty-three.
Maybe not.
“What happened to them?”
Marcus looked at Victor.
“Nothing official.”
I stared.
“Marcus.”
“Nina was told Ellie would not be visiting her anymore.”
My breathing changed.
Victor had isolated my daughter from the one adult who refused to laugh.
“What else?”
“One capo lost access to weekend meetings.”
Another had two crews reassigned.
Tiny punishments.
Plausible.
Enough.
I looked at Victor.
“This was never about teaching Ellie anything.”
He smiled.
“No?”
“No.”
May you like
My voice went cold.
“You were teaching everyone else that you could still hurt someone I loved and make them applaud.”
