Chapter 11
Leon Voss was brought to the estate before dawn.
He walked into the empty wedding ballroom and saw Thomas under guard.
Then Valentina.
He stopped.
“Boss.”
Thomas laughed.
“Coward.”
Leon ignored him.
Valentina placed Thomas’s phone on the table.
“Matteo.”
Leon’s face changed.
No denial.
Good.
“What happened?”
Thomas said:
“Don’t answer.”
Leon looked at him.
Years of obedience.
Then at Valentina.
“Matteo discovered Thomas still controlled six crews privately.”
Valentina’s jaw tightened.
Same pattern.
Thomas had already built a second command structure while Matteo was alive.
“What did Matteo do?”
“Confronted him.”
“And?”
“Thomas told him to leave you.”
Valentina closed her eyes for half a second.
Same motive Thomas had admitted.
Matteo chose her.
“What did he say?”
Leon looked ashamed.
“He laughed.”
Thomas’s face twisted.
Again.
Men laughing at his authority seemed to become death sentences.
Leon continued.
“Matteo said Valentina would lead better than either of you.”
Marcus looked down.
Thomas stared at Leon.
“You don’t need to repeat every insult.”
Valentina opened her eyes.
“Continue.”
“Thomas ordered me to follow.”
“To kill him?”
“No.”
Leon shook his head.
“To frighten him.”
Thomas immediately said:
“Exactly.”
Leon looked at him.
“At first.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Leon continued.
“The crash happened.”
“Accident?”
“Yes.”
Valentina stared.
That mattered.
Thomas had not caused the initial crash?
Leon continued.
“Matteo was alive.”
Her breath stopped.
“He called Thomas.”
Silence.
“What did Thomas do?”
Leon looked at the floor.
“Told me not to bring him back.”
Thomas said:
“He was already dying.”
Leon turned.
“He was talking.”
“He had internal injuries.”
“You didn’t know that.”
Thomas’s face reddened.
Leon continued.
“Matteo asked for Valentina.”
Valentina’s hands tightened.
Thomas shouted:
“He had made his choice!”
Silence.
There it was.
Matteo had not been killed by a planned crash.
He had been abandoned after one because Thomas saw opportunity.
Different method.
Same betrayal.
Leon whispered:
“I obeyed.”
Valentina looked at him.
He did not beg.
Good.
Some guilt should not be softened.
Then Leon added:
“Matteo left something in the car.”
Thomas’s head snapped toward him.
Valentina noticed.
“What?”
Leon looked at her.
May you like
“A voice message.”
Thomas went completely still.
