Chapter 9
Marco expected worse.
That irritated him.
I could see it.
He had prepared himself for violence.
Violence would have simplified his guilt.
Instead I made him answer questions.
Every staged threat.
Every payment.
Every conversation after Sofia’s death.
He hated that more.
Eventually he said:
“You think losing position is enough?”
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“Then what?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Consequences do not always arrive finished.
He had two adult children.
A marriage.
Personal businesses.
A life outside Valenti authority.
I would not destroy innocent people to make myself feel balanced.
That would turn me into the Table.
But Marco would never again command men under my name.
Never advise me.
Never enter private family security discussions.
That was permanent.
Camilla faced something different.
She asked to apologize to Livia.
I said no.
Not yet.
“She’s three.”
“I know.”
“Then she’ll forget.”
Wrong.
I looked at her.
“Maybe.”
Then:
“But forgiveness is not something you schedule because the victim is young.”
She cried.
I let her.
Months later, if Livia wanted to see her, we would decide then.
No forced reconciliation for family photographs.
The antique vase remained shattered in storage.
One staff member asked whether to restore it.
I said not yet.
I hated the object.
Then realized the vase had done nothing.
It had simply broken.
Everything ugly came from people.
May you like
Still, I could not look at it.
Not yet.
