Chapter 7
The silver crest identified Thomas’s private loyalists.
Nine men arrived.
All expected the conclave.
None expected Valentina to be standing beside the pool holding a recording of attempted murder.
Thomas’s confidence returned when he saw them.
“Good.”
Valentina noticed.
He still believed numbers meant authority.
One silver-crest capo stepped forward.
“Sir.”
Not Boss.
Sir.
To Thomas.
Valentina waited.
Thomas gestured toward her.
“Valentina is distressed.”
She almost smiled.
“Distressed?”
“Her son fell into the pool.”
The lie arrived effortlessly.
Vanessa immediately added:
“It was chaos.”
Marcus nodded.
Guests who had laughed earlier began looking at the ground.
Valentina lifted the tablet.
Thomas’s expression changed.
“Turn that off.”
“No.”
She played the clip.
We’ll stage it to look like an accident.
Every man heard it.
Then Thomas:
I’ll hold her long enough.
Silence.
The silver-crest capo stared.
“Thomas?”
He answered:
“Context.”
Valentina stopped the recording.
“What context?”
Thomas’s voice sharpened.
“This organization needs a leader who doesn’t stop functioning whenever a child cries.”
The capo looked toward Ethan’s wet towel abandoned on a chair.
“He was drowning.”
Thomas shrugged.
“He was supposed to.”
There.
Open.
Raw.
No escape.
Even Marcus stared.
Thomas saw their faces and became angrier.
“What?”
Nobody answered.
“He’s one child.”
Valentina’s eyes hardened.
Thomas continued.
“One life against the Moretti organization.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Thomas, stop.”
He turned.
“Don’t become weak now.”
Valentina looked at Vanessa.
The bride flinched.
Thomas was losing control because his cruelty finally had an audience he couldn’t intimidate.
One silver-crest man removed the pin from his lapel.
Thomas stared.
“What are you doing?”
The man placed it on the cocktail table.
Thomas’s face reddened.
“I gave you your crew.”
The capo answered:
“And she kept it alive.”
Valentina said nothing.
Another pin came off.
Then another.
Thomas looked at Marcus.
“Do something.”
Marcus froze.
Vanessa watched him.
The command exposed him too.
Not partner.
Weapon.
Then Ethan appeared at the upstairs terrace door wrapped in a robe.
Valentina’s guard tried to turn him back.
Ethan pointed toward Thomas.
“Grandpa has another phone.”
May you like
Thomas went completely still.
And every remaining silver-crest man looked at him.
