Chapter 2
I cleared the banquet salon.
Not everyone.
Only the people whose loyalties I already understood.
Nora went upstairs with my oldest bodyguard, Michael Russo, and her nanny.
She did not want to leave.
That mattered.
“Daddy stays?”
“Yes.”
“Caleb stays?”
“Yes.”
Her face tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I need answers.”
She thought.
Then pointed at Michael.
“He’s your guard?”
“Yes.”
Michael crouched.
“Always.”
Nora stared at him as though the word had become complicated.
That hurt more than I expected.
Once she left, I locked the salon doors.
Not to trap anyone.
To keep the rest of the house from becoming theater.
Caleb sat opposite me.
Evelyn beside him.
Four compromised guards stood against the wall.
I placed the counterfeit pin on the table.
“Who made these?”
Caleb smiled.
“You think this is about metal?”
“No.”
I tapped the pin.
“I think metal is how stupid men make betrayal feel ceremonial.”
His expression changed slightly.
Good.
“Who?”
Evelyn answered.
“A jeweler in Nevada.”
Straightforward.
Interesting.
“Why forty?”
“Because not everyone who serves needs to be a capo officially.”
I looked at her.
“Then what does the pin mean?”
“Recognition.”
“From who?”
She smiled faintly.
“From the people who actually keep this family functioning.”
There.
Parallel legitimacy.
Not formal titles.
An internal badge.
A whisper network.
Wear this pin in private rooms and you know who belongs to Caleb.
I turned toward Frank.
“When did you get yours?”
“Five months ago.”
“Money?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
He swallowed.
“Twenty thousand.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was small.
Because it was precise enough to solve a problem but not enough to look like a life-changing bribe.
“What did you do for it?”
“At first?”
Interesting.
“At first.”
“Nothing.”
That was how it began.
Reward before obligation.
Then?
“Small things.”
“What things?”
“Schedule changes. Letting Caleb know when you left the estate. Which guards traveled with you.”
My hands became still.
“Information about Nora?”
Frank looked down.
There.
I leaned forward.
“What information?”
“School pickup. Doctor visits. Which nights she slept in your room.”
I stopped breathing for one second.
Caleb’s smile disappeared.
Good.
He knew something had shifted.
“You bought my guards to monitor my daughter.”
Evelyn cut in.
“To monitor you.”
May you like
I looked at her.
“That is not better.”
