Chapter 12
Leon had kept the recording.
Not from courage.
From fear.
“If Thomas ever turned on me…”
Valentina understood.
Insurance.
Everyone around Thomas eventually learned to build some.
Leon handed over an old phone.
One saved audio file.
Matteo’s voice filled the ballroom.
Weak.
Breathing hard.
“Val…”
Valentina closed her eyes.
Ethan was asleep upstairs.
He did not need to hear this.
Matteo continued:
“If this reaches you, Thomas knows.”
Pause.
“He knows I found the silver crew.”
Thomas stared at the floor.
Matteo:
“Do not fight him angry.”
Valentina almost laughed through pain.
He knew her.
“Make him speak.”
Pause.
“He always tells the truth when he thinks cruelty sounds intelligent.”
Several capos looked toward Thomas.
Perfect.
The recording continued.
“He’ll call Ethan weakness.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Ethan had barely been one then.
Matteo:
“He’ll call me sentimental.”
Pause.
“He’ll tell you family distracts leadership.”
Valentina stared at her father.
Every prediction had come true.
Then Matteo said:
“He is wrong.”
Silence.
“The reason people follow you is because you know what must never become expendable.”
Valentina’s eyes filled.
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“Dead men become philosophers.”
Marcus looked at him with disgust.
Matteo’s voice weakened.
“If I don’t come home…”
Long pause.
“…don’t let Ethan learn love means begging powerful people not to hurt him.”
The recording ended.
No one moved.
Thomas finally said:
“He chose you.”
Valentina looked at him.
“Yes.”
“He betrayed me.”
“No.”
“He turned my organization against me.”
“No.”
Thomas’s voice rose.
“He laughed at me while I was trying to save this family!”
Valentina stepped closer.
“You left him dying because he laughed.”
“He chose weakness.”
“You restrained me while Ethan drowned.”
“He chose weakness too.”
The room went silent.
Thomas realized.
Too late.
He had just put a dying man and a drowning child into the same category.
People who deserved what happened because they did not obey him.
One silver-crest capo removed his old ring.
Then another.
Thomas watched.
“What are you doing?”
The first man answered:
“Listening.”
Thomas’s face changed.
May you like
Because Matteo had been right.
All Valentina needed was for Thomas to keep talking.
