Chapter 5
Marcus had been taking photographs.
Not many.
Enough.
My security chief found them in the family event archive.
Isabella standing behind the portrait opening.
Isabella wearing the collar.
Isabella sitting on the little cot.
One photo showed Marcus holding a plate outside the passage while she reached toward it.
Caption:
HOUSE PET LEARNING PATIENCE.
I read it twice.
Then looked at him.
“You shared this?”
His expression changed.
“With who?”
Silence.
My security chief answered.
“A private family group.”
Twelve members.
My aunt.
Marcus.
Several cousins.
Two older capos.
No me.
No Margaret.
No one who might stop it quickly.
I opened the chat.
One cousin responded with a laughing symbol.
Another wrote:
Lorenzo would kill you if he saw this.
Marcus replied:
He won’t.
That line interested me.
Not hopefully.
Confidently.
I looked at him.
“Why were you so sure?”
He stared back.
Then Victoria spoke.
“Because you never notice anything when business is in front of you.”
That hurt because it contained truth.
Not justification.
Truth.
She had studied my habits.
Council meeting begins.
Lorenzo disappears behind double doors.
Lorenzo assumes his daughter is with trusted family.
Use that time.
I looked at the photo again.
Marcus had not only participated.
He enjoyed knowing I was nearby and unaware.
That was a different kind of cruelty.
May you like
Not discipline.
Dominance.
